Together with scientists and technicians from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) the system was tested in the Bay of Bengal, not far away from Chennai, India. ‘It was really a very good experience for us to collect in situ deep sea samples for the first time in India using NIOZ HPS system’, said Dr Kirubagaran, Head of the Marine Biotechnology Division.

The system can take samples of microbes in the deep ocean to a depth of 6,000 m, and bring them to the surface while maintaining their ambient pressure.

For the National Institute of Ocean Technology, an autonomous body under ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India (NIOT), this is a next step in their deep ocean microbial sampling and incubation project.

This High Pressure sampler was developed in collaboration with FTD and the Microbial Oceanography Lab of the University of Vienna.

/////

The test panel on board in front of the high pressure sampler unit. Sven Ober (second from right) represented NIOZ during the test cruise.