Equipment

- WHOI's Sensors and Samplers: Check out this link which takes you WHOI's Sensors and Samples


Quick Access to Equipment:
- Long Coring: Watch this animation of how the new "long coring" (piston) process works

How a piston corer works 
*Note: while this type of corer is used widely in the field of oceanography, WHOI keeps it on the cutting-edge side! And currently uses the "Long Core" shown in the animation above. The Long Corer does not use a trigger arm. Instead the piston is triggered topside through a remote release system. The description and image below/to the left are included to give you a broader picture of the piston-style corer. 
After being lowered on a wire from the side of a ship, the piston corer approaches the seafloor preceded by the small gravity corer. 

Upon contact, the tripping arm "opens," sending the piston corer on a fast fall to the bottom. 

As the piston corer penetrates the seafloor, the piston inside stops at the sediment surface. The action of the piston creates a pressure differential at the top of the sediment column. This allows the soft material to enter the core liner without disruption. 

Within seconds, the process is complete. Crew on the ship then haul the wire in until the corer is free of the seafloor. (Illustration by Fritz Heide, WHOI)

Dog Dish: Holds the control mechanisms used to sense the seafloor and release the piston corer for the long core.  The dog dish also buffers the shock of the release of the core system.