Crushed cupby *senoritafish

Traditional Art / Drawings / Animals

And why, do you ask, do we send styrofoam cups down with oceanographic instruments? Because this nifty thing happens: at 500 meters, the pressure crushes them to a third or a quarter of their original size. We even discovered some brands of cups crush more than others; some crushed down almost to the size of thimbles.

Mine is the deformed one in the center.

I got to participate in a research cruise in late July, tagging sharks in the Southern California Bight. The day after the ship got back to port, there was supposed to be some kind of tour for Congressional staff, so the scientific crew thought it would be neat to make souvenirs for them. We all made drawings on styrafoam cups, then later, they put them in a mesh bag and attached them to the CTD drop (an oceanographic device that measures conductivity [that is, salinity] and temperature at depth) that was done every evening.

Sharpie markers and styrafoam cups.

Will probably move to scraps later.