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Ice Breaker

December 12, 2014

WHOI biogeochemist Amanda Spivak and guest student Kelsey Gosselin had to clear ice from a frozen pond in Rowley, Mass., last month to get access to the water and mud beneath. The location is part of the Plum Island Ecosystem Long Term Ecological Research site (PIE-LTER), which itself is part of a worldwide network of sites created by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct research on long-term, broad-scale ecological issues. Studies in the PIE-LTER are helping develop a better understanding of the long-term response of local ecosystems, such as these relatively under-studied salt marsh ponds, to changes in climate, land use, and sea level.(Photo by Kelsey Gosselin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)