A rosette system for the collection of trace metal clean seawater

Abstract

We designed a large-volume rosette sampler for collecting seawater with minimal trace metal contamination. The system uses eight modified 30-liter Go-Flo bottles secured to a Nylon II-coated stainless steel frame. The instrument is deployed with a dedicated winch with polyurethane-coated, three-conductor Kevlar hydroline. A prototype was used as part of the U.S. JGOFS Equatorial Pacific sampling program during spring and fall 1992. A redesigned model was used during the 1993 IronEx experiments and is currently being deployed in the Arabian Sea. The results of trace metal analyses collected on these cruises indicate that samples recovered are comparable to current single Go-Flo casts.