Clio: The Greek Daughter that Studies the Ocean
As the research vessel approaches the 7th station, a team and I have collected hundreds of filters from deployments by Clio. Now, you may be asking - who is Clio?
Clio is an autonomous underwater vehicle designed to sample dissolved and particulate seawater biochemistry across the ocean basins while mapping the global ocean. The vehicle is created to efficiently using vertical thrusters to move vertically through the ocean, drift laterally to observe water masses, and integrate with research vessel operations to map large horizontal scales up to a depth of 6,000 meters. Computational programming allows Clio to swim through the ocean and return to the surface for retrieval after a set time.
To assemble Clio, we prepare two filter holder stacks that hold nine filters each. In each filter holder, we rinse the sides and place the desired filter in the holder. From there, we use titanium clamps to hold the filter together. We finish by stacking the filter holders on top of each other and set them in place with more titanium clamps. The stacks of filters are placed inside Clio, where sample inlets expose the filters to ocean water at various depths. The filters are intended to hold a number of microorganisms, including zooplankton and phytoplankton. Once Clio returns to the surface, a team and I deconstruct all the clamps on the filter holders. We slice the filters into several pieces for a variety of analysis, including protein, DNA, and particulate metal.
Sometimes, we even get larger species such as this crab! Overall, Clio is a relatively new vehicle and still in the process of development, but deployments so far have been successful. I'm excited to see all of the samples we've collected using Clio at the end of this cruise!
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