Early 1970s
Photographer: Robert Brigham

Scientists from Woods Hole institutions don’t study just fish, shellfish, and marine mammals – they also go to sea to gather oceanographic and environmental data. The NOAA Fisheries scientist here is deploying a Nansen bottle from the side of the Albatross IV.

Designed in 1910 by a Norwegian scientist, Nansen bottles were metal cylinders that scientists attached to a cable at intervals and lowered into the ocean to gather water samples and temperatures from specific depths.

From the 1920s until the 1970s, Nansen bottles were the standard method for obtaining data about salinity, temperature, and oxygen concentrations at different depths.

Today scientists use a combination of electronic sensors and/or a plastic cylinder called a Niskin bottle.