Geoff Wheat deployed a new sampling tool this week. The multi temperature fluid sampler (MTFS) was designed to collect water at very hot temperatures (up to 140 C within a small range). The tool was designed without electronics so it could sustain the high temperatures. A shape metal alloy pin was developed to trigger at different temperatures down the water column and the tool acts like a syringe, collecting water at various depths. The highest temperature at which microbial life can exist is not yet fully know. Jeff’s MTFS can help microbiologists learn more about the limits of life.

The tool was deployed in the previously drilled bore hole, U1309-D, at a rate of 5 meters per hour, stopping every 100 meters for 3 minutes to allow the temperature probe to equilibrate to the surrounding water. The first deployment attempt was successful to a degree. The tool loosened the walls of the hole and prevented some of the samples from being taken. Jeff found a good amount of debris in some of his fluid samples and now he has ideas about how to revise the tool for more accurate sampling technique next time. Nonetheless, Kristin Dickerson has been working to model the data that were collected.