Woods Hole sits on Cape Cod’s southernmost tip. Once a bustling whaling harbor, it’s now home to fewer than 800 people and a host of marine research centers. Most students passing through Boston University’s Marine Program have probably done a research or study stint in Woods Hole. When the marine program was founded in 1969, it was headquartered at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, not moving its academic offices to BU’s Charles River Campus until 2006.

On June 25, 1992, three students stood in the water off the coast of Cape Cod and conducted an experiment—and we’d like you to help us figure out what they were doing. The notes attached to the image in the BU photo archive are succinct: “Students participate in a project as part of the CLA Biology BUMP program in Woods Hole.” And that’s about all we have. It looks like there’s a set of wind cups at the top of the apparatus, so our guess is they were taking a measurement of the weather, but why? The student in green appears to be noting some important statistic; the student in red just seems to be enjoying a beautiful June evening. And as for the third student, perhaps they’re taking an underwater measurement, maybe a fish is flitting past their toes, or they could just have the short-straw job—keep the pole steady.

If you’re in the photo or would like to share your memories of being a student researcher, email the editor at thurston@bu.edu. And for those wondering what we learned about a group of geology students from 1981, check out the letters to the editor.