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Clap Trap sediment trap surface buoys stowed on deck.

Clap Trap sediment trap surface buoys stowed on deck.
Clap Trap sediment trap surface buoys stowed on deck.
Clap Trap sediment trap surface buoys stowed on deck.
Clap Trap sediment trap surface buoys stowed on deck.
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35233
Buesseler, Kenneth
Clap Trap sediment trap surface buoys stowed on deck.
Still Image
08/04/2005
media/vertigo_summer05/DSCN6665.JPG
"Clap" traps
Our Clap traps are sediment trap moorings designed to collect sinking particles using simple collection tubes suspended in the ocean at a single depth. We use three to collect particles at depths of 150, 300 and 500 meters. They are so named because most upper ocean traps are open tubes of some design, but ours ?clap? shut when the 3-5 day mission is over. They are also unique in that we use a pair of "holey sock" drogues (guess how they got their name) as a sea anchor, so that the tubes travel at a speed that is close to the water they are sitting in at depth (which is much slower than the surface ocean currents where the buoy floats).
Image of The Day caption:
A set of "clap traps" await deployment on the fantail of the research vessel Roger Revelle in the summer of 2005. Clap traps are moored instruments designed to collect particles and sediments as they sink out of surfaces waters into the deeper ocean. They are so named because while most upper ocean traps are open tubes, the traps designed by WHOI chemist Ken Buesseler and engineer Jim Valdes "clap" shut when their 3- to 5-day mission is over.
Photo by Ken Buesseler
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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