See some warning signs from the boat HERE
We sample mud from the sea floor of the Gulf of Mexico.
The sea floor is thousands of meters deep.
Meters are how scientists and people in other countries measure stuff.
We don't have anyone who can go down to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico with a bucket and get the mud so we use a research vessel and equipment.
The Bridge of the Gyre. From left to right; Jason, Jack, Nick, Shorty up on the bridge, and Jacob.
3,000 meters of Plasma Rope.
Empty tube holders, there is a valve on the top to seal in the water from the floor and a guilotine at the bottom to hold up the mud for the journey back up.
Empty cores soon to be filled with mud.
The Multicorer mud extraction device.
Liz, John and Julian make adjustments before the drop.
Multicorer you go down there and don't come back until you are full of mud.
Multicorer comes back full of mud.
Paul and Art bring the full cores onto the deck.
Perfect cores with clay on the bottom, sloppy mud in the middle and cold water from the deep on the top.
The plunger pushes the mud out of the tube.
A cross section of the core.
A bag full of hazardous materials.