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This paper summarizes the design and performance of our recently developed gas-tight fluid sampler WHATS II, especially designed to collect seafloor venting gas-rich fluid from submersibles/remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). It consists of four 150-cm 3 stainless steel sample cylinders, eight ball valves, a motor-driven arm, a rail, a peristaltic pump, a control unit, and a flexible Teflon tube connected to a titanium inlet tube. All the parts have been designed to be used at undersea as deep as 4000 m. The motor-driven arm on the rail can open and close each of the four cylinders. By pumping out distilled water that has filled an open cylinder and the dead spaces of the sampler, we can fill the cylinder with sample fluid. WHATS II can take a maximum of four different gas-tight samples in a series. The whole operation can be arranged from the cabin, etc., of a submersible/ROV. Use of only one motor to operate eight valves makes the sampler small, light (21 kg in sea water), and easy to handle. In addition, the sampler is able to collect an almost uncontaminated gas-tight sample from the seafloor. To date, the sampler has been used in more than 90 dive surveys by Japanese submersibles/ROVs, including Shinkai 2000, Shinkai 6500, and Hyper Dolphin, with a success rate of >90%.

We demonstrate the phototactic behavior of self-propelled micrometer-sized oil droplets in the presence of azobenzene-containing surfactants. These droplets respond sensitively to UV light irradiation due to a variation in the interfacial tension at the droplet surface induced by the molecular conversion of the azobenzene-containing surfactants.

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Deep-sea geofluid systems, such as hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, are key to understanding subseafloor environments of Earth. Fluid chemistry, especially, provides crucial information toward elucidating the physical, chemical, and biological processes that occur in these ecosystems. To accurately assess fluid and gas properties of deep-sea geofluids, well-designed pressure-tight fluid samplers are indispensable and as such they are important assets of deep-sea geofluid research. Here, the development of a new flow-through, pressure-tight fluid sampler capable of four independent sampling events (two subsamples for liquid and gas analyses from each) is reported. This new sampler, named WHATS-3, is a new addition to the WHATS-series samplers and a major upgrade from the previous WHATS-2 sampler with improvements in sample number, valve operational time, physical robustness, and ease of maintenance. Routine laboratory-based pressure tests proved that it is suitable for operation up to 35 MPa pressure. Successful field tests of the new sampler were also carried out in five hydrothermal fields, two in Indian Ocean, and three in Okinawa Trough (max. depth 3,300 m). Relations of Mg and major ion species demonstrated bimodal mixing trends between a hydrothermal fluid and seawater, confirming the high quality of fluids sampled. The newly developed WHATS-3 sampler is well-balanced in sampling capability, field usability, and maintenance feasibility, and can serve as one of the best geofluid samplers available at present to conduct efficient research of deep-sea geofluid systems.