Image

Experiments at Sea

June 9, 2016

Scientists sailing on R/V Atlantis as part of the NASA-NAAMES expedition will use these large plastic containers to incubate microscopic marine plants and the tiny animals that eat them. The plants, called phytoplankton and the zooplankton grazers that rely on them for food are part of the world’s largest phytoplankton bloom in the North Atlantic each year. The incubation experiments are designed to measure how phytoplankton growth changes with grazing pressure. The cruise and its on-board experiments are one part of the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study to assess how plankton—and the aerosols they produce—affect clouds and climate. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)