Hot Mud

WHOI marine chemist Ken Buesseler (center) holds two vials of ocean sediment collected from the Pacific seafloor 50 miles from the damaged Japanese nuclear power plant, Fukushima Dai-ichi. In June 2011, Buesseler led an international team of researchers on a cruise to examine the severity, spread, and impacts of radionuclides in the ocean off the northwest coast of Japan. In August of this year, he presented the most recent findings from his work and the work of other researchers on the continued impacts of the accident on the marine environment. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)