Cups!

Last week we followed through with the oceanographic tradition of sending Styrofoam cups down to the bottom of the ocean with the CTD rosette. After decorating our cups, we sent our art work down to 2,600m below sea level to shrink them. The pressure at depth pushes all of the air out of the Styrofoam, dramatically changing both their texture and size. It was our first time sending down cups, and so Thanda and I had taken some back home to decorate with family, as well as decorating some on the ship. Thanda drew memes and moorings, Shawnee drew the Irminger sea, and I decorated my cup with moorings, fish, and gliders. Right before we sent them down with the CTD rosette we carefully wrote the latitude, longitude, and the depth the CTD was going down to. We even used Styrofoam cups from Truly Yogurt, an ice cream store in Wellesley. Hilary said that different types of Styrofoam shrunk different amounts, so we were interested to see how the cups compared.

Hilary attached our laundry bag full of cups to the CTD rosette, making sure to securely attach the bag to the CTD, and even use zip ties to create columns of cups so that they would shrink evenly, and not fall into each other. We had learned that cups had shrunk together last year, and that it was hard to pry them apart, so we did our best to prevent it. We sent down the CTD and waited for our cups to return.

All of our carefully decorated cups before they went onto the CTD

After working and waiting, the CTD rosette returned with our cups! I was surprised by how much they had shrunk.

The CTD rosette being lowered into the water with our cups in a mesh laundry bag zip tied to the CTD frame

While none of the cups had shrunk together like they did last year, some of our cups had bubbles in them! In the cups with bubble the top part of the cup had shrunk, but then at the bottom some cups the lower rim simply remained unchanged, while with others you could clearly see bubbles. It was fun to think about how that air went to 2600m below sea level and back up, all the while keeping the shape of the cup the same. However other than the couple of cups that had bubbles, the other cups turned out really well!

Post ocean cups! The white cup in the background is the original cup size, and shows how much the cups have shrunk

It was really fun decorate cups and take part in this oceanographic tradition, and especially thinking about bringing home a very original, priceless souvenirs for friends and family.

Shawnee (left), Thanda (middle), and me (right) with our cups on the CTD