The VPR is in a protective cage. The round, black doughnut-shaped object is the strobe light source to illuminate the plankton in the water. Opposite it is the magnifying camera. The system takes about 64 images per second of a small volume of water half way between the camera and the strobe, showing details of plankton organisms that would be barely visible to the naked eye.

Note that safety comes first -- everyone wears a hard hat and life vest. Tag lines keep the instrument from swinging and banging against the ship.

VPR Launch and Recovery Video (WMV)

The MOCNESS (Multiple Opening and Closing Net Environmental Sampling System) has nine nets that can be opened and closed on command to sample the plankton in discrete depth layers. It also has sensors to measure the water depth, temperature and salinity. The nets can have different mesh sizes to capture different sized organisms.

MOCNESS Launch Video (WMV)
MOCNESS Recovery Video (WMV)

Videos courtesy of Peter Wiebe (WHOI)