Today – Sunday - was a beautiful day spent on the deck of Nansen sorting through sediment grab samples collected using a Van Veen grab sampler.
The Van Veen grab is a small grab system that, upon reaching the seabed, scoops and collects a small area (0.1 m2) of surface sediment.
The sediment is then washed through a series of sieves to separate animals of different sizes.
The team was very surprised to discover that at almost 2 km depth on the Madagascar Ridge the sediment consisted of a very fine sand covered with tiny shells of pelagic animals called pteropods, commonly known as sea butterflies.