Seawater sampling and collection

This video documents methods for collecting coastal marine water samples and processing them for various downstream applications including biomass concentration. nucleic acid purification, cell abundance, nutrient and trace gas analyses. For today's demonstration samples were collected from the deck of the HMS John Strickland operating in Saanich Inlet. An A-frame derrick, with a multi-purpose winch and cable system, is used in combination with Niskin or Go-Flo water sampling bottles. A Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth (CTD) sensor is also be used to sample the underlying water mass. To minimize outgassing, trace gas samples are collected first. Then, nutrients, chemistry, and cell counts are determined. Finally, waters are collected for biomass filtration. The set-up and collection time for a single cast is approximately 1.5 hours at a maximum depth of 215 meters. Therefore, a total of 6 hours is generally needed to complete the four-part collection series described here.