This week I am sailing on the R/V Endeavor off the coast of Rhode Island.  The cruise is lead by chief scientist Melissa Omand.  We’ll be deploying three different types of sediment traps and many other instruments that will resolve the physical and chemical  environment over short time periods and small spatial scales.  These types of measurements will help us study the complex processes that are important in transporting particles and phytoplankton out of the surface ocean and into the deep ocean.  Today we were preparing sediment traps, and realized we needed to make a few new parts.