The Niskin bottle is a development of the Nansen bottle patented by Shale Niskin in March 1966. Instead of a metal bottle sealed at one end, the 'bottle' is a tube, usually plastic to minimize contamination of the sample, and open to the water at both ends. Each end is equipped with a cap which is either spring-loaded or tensioned by an elastic rope. The action of the messenger weight is to trip both caps shut and seal the tube.
A reversing thermometer may also be carried on a frame fixed to the Niskin bottle. Since there is no rotation of the bottle to fix the temperature measurement, the thermometer has a separate spring-loaded rotating mechanism of its own tripped by the messenger weight.
A modern variation of the Niskin bottle uses actuated valves that may be either preset to trip at a specific depth detected by a pressure switch, or remotely controlled to do so via an electrical signal sent from the surface. This arrangement conveniently allows for a large number of Niskin bottles to be mounted together in a circular frame termed a rosette. As many as 36 bottles may be mounted on a single rosette.
Thermistor temperature sensors are more commonly employed on Niskin bottle rosettes due to their higher accuracy compared to mercury thermometers.
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