1. A Nansen bottle is a device for obtaining samples of water at a specific depth. It was originally designed in 1894 by Fridtjof Nansen and further developed by Shale Niskin in 1966 and is more commonly known as a Niskin bottle. == Description == The Nansen bottle (originally of brass metal) is designed for the capture of water deep in the ocean. It is essentially an open tube with a wide valve at each end connected together by a solid rod. A bottle is attached to the cable at its bottom using a clamping design and at its top by a tripping mechanism. A messenger weight is suspended below the clamping design. A heavily-weighted cable is lowered from a ship and multiple bottles are attached at calculated intervals in order to place them at specific depths. When the final bottle has been attached and lowered, the bottles are held at depth until the thermometers stabilize at temperature. A messenger weight is then sent down the cable to start a cascading triggering of the bottles. When the weight... from wikipedia.org