A ROSETTE SYSTEM FOR THE COLLECTION OF TRACE-METAL CLEAN SEAWATER

We designed a large-volume rosette sampler for collecting seawater wit h minimal trace metal contamination. The system uses eight modified 30 -liter Go-Fro bottles secured to a Nylon II-coated stainless steel fra me. The instrument is deployed with a dedicated winch with polyurethan e-coated, three-conductor Kevlar hydroline. A prototype was used as pa rt of the U.S. JGOFS Equatorial Pacific sampling program during spring and fall 1992. A redesigned model was used during the 1993 IronEx exp eriments and is currently being deployed in the Arabian Sea. The resul ts of trace metal analyses collected on these cruises indicate that sa mples recovered are comparable to current single Go-Fro casts.