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Illustration series showing how a mooring float exploded from intense pressure.

Illustration series showing how a mooring float exploded from intense pressure.
Illustration series showing how a mooring float exploded from intense pressure.
Illustration series showing how a mooring float exploded from intense pressure.
Illustration series showing how a mooring float exploded from intense pressure.
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265056
Cook, John E.
Illustration series showing how a mooring float exploded from intense pressure.
Illustration
01/12/2016
BuoyDamage-v7-pages-r1.jpg
Caption from Oceanus magazine, Vol. 51, No. 2, pg. 17:
1) The moorings top string of sensors was attached with a weak link so that it would detach if caught on an iceberg and prevent the whole mooring from being dragged away.
2) The mooring was designed to be pushed down by iceberg keels and float back upright after icebergs passed.
3) But a huge iceberg pushed the mooring down to a depth where intense water pressure caused the moorings top float to implode.
4) Having lost its buoyancy, the entire mooring fell to the seafloor, but the researchers later retrieved it (opposite page).
Illustration by Jack Cook
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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