Gallery
Photo album:

Sampling at the Mesoamerican Reef

Once a dive wraps up, the wetlab is a hub of activity. All of the samples have to removed from the ROV sample boxes and properly processed, and the clock is ticking - there is a limited amount of time that biological samples can be preserved in such a way that they will be useful to scientists in the future. A certain amount of analysis of the samples happens on board, but most of the heavy work occurs later in one of several labs to whom we ship the samples once we arrive on shore.