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ESP

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A team from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) deploys an Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) in the Gulf of Maine.

Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) samplers manufactured by McLane are a component of 12 buoys in the Gulf of Maine and Long Island Sound, at the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) station. This monitoring station reports temperature, salinity and meteorological conditions and tracks harmful algal blooms that cause red tide. 

Principal Investigator Don Anderson of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) calls NERACOOS a "critical step towards [our] long-term dream of having a network of instruments moored along the coast of the Gulf of Maine, routinely providing data on the distribution and abundance of [harmful algal blooms] and toxins. 

The ESP provides in situ collection and analysis of water samples from the subsurface ocean. The instrument is an electromechanical/fluidic system designed to collect discrete water samples, concentrate microorganisms or particles, and automate application of molecular probes which identify microorganisms and their gene products.