Images(2)

Nansen Bottle

Date1950s

Object number00055778

NameNansen Bottle

MediumMetal

DimensionsOverall: 706 × 170 × 160 mm

ClassificationsTools and equipment

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift of CSIRO

Terms

DescriptionOceanographic metal cylindrical water-sampling bottle with two valves, known as a 'Nansen Bottle'. The Nansen Bottle was used to record ocean data at sea such as the water’s chemical composition, density structure, biota and more of the marine food web.HistoryFridtjof Nansen was a Norwegian Arctic explorer and oceanographer that improved the original rudimentary water sampler device from the nineteenth century. His resulting creation, the 'Nansen' bottle was developed in 1894 and fitted with a mercury thermometer to record temperature at a desired depth. A reversing thermometer, this instruments' mercury column was designed to break when inverted at a specified depth. By looking at the thermometer’s graduated capillary, a temperature could then be gauged by the amount of mercury retained inside. The Nansen bottle proved reliable in harsh environments and was widely used by oceanographers until the 1960s, when it was superseded by Shale Niskin’s 'Niskin bottle'. SignificanceNansen’s design was popular amongst oceanographers for a long time as it was particularly accurate and dependable in harsh environments. As the ocean became more accessible to explorers over the 20th century, the Nansen bottle was able to be deployed and record data on extensive areas. This created a bank of data characterising the water’s chemical composition, density structure, biota and more of the marine food web. In contemporary designs, CTDs and other sensors are attached to the frames holding multiple samplers together when deployed. These sensors add to the wealth of information about the water column recorded for each deployment, bettering our understanding of each unique environment.