GO FLO Repair: Dr GO-FLO presents: Cleaning your new General Oceanic's GO-FLO. [Training video]

Abstract

The video shows how to disassemble and clean [ and reassemble] GO Flo bottles used in GEOTRACES to take uncontaminated marine water samples. 23.44 mins. A go-flo bottle is used to collect water samples for research of plankton, nutrient, pigment particles etc. A go-flo bottle is similar to a Niskin bottle except that a go-flo bottle is designed to avoid sample contamination. A water sample collected by a Niskin bottle can be contaminated by a microlayer present on the water surface enriched in organic material, trace elements and dust. The go-flo bottle is lowered into the water by a cable from the research vessel. It features a close-open-close operation. Contrary to the Niskin bottle, the go-flo bottle enters the water closed to avoid any possible contamination with the water surface. The top and bottom of the bottle are equipped with a stopper ball, which first have to rotate 90 degrees to open or close the bottle. As the bottles are lowered into the water, the increased hydrostatic pressure causes the pressure release valve to pop in and the balls to rotate 90 degrees and thereby opening the bottle. Generally, this happens at a depth of approximately 10 m. Just like the Niskin bottle, the go-flo bottle is provided by a messenger. This is a weight that is launched at specific depth of interest form a research vessel down to the go-flo bottle. The messenger will trigger a chain reaction to close the bottle.

The go-flo bottle can be deployed individually, serially or composed in a rosette.