Multimedia Items
What is the biological carbon pump?
Scientists have long known that the ocean plays an essential role in capturing carbon from the atmosphere, but a study from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) shows that the efficiency…
Read MoreBiological Carbon Pump
Biological Carbon Pump Once the solubility pump introduces carbon into surface waters, the ocean twilight zone’s biological carbon pump (BCP) plays an important role in the rapid removal of a…
Read MoreIllustration depicting the ocean’s Biological Carbon Pump
Illustration depicting the ocean’s Biological Carbon Pump (Illustration by Natalie Renier, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Read MoreThe ocean’s carbon pump works better than we thought!
Scientists have long known that the ocean plays an essential role in capturing carbon from the atmosphere, but a study from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) shows that the efficiency of the ocean’s “biological carbon pump” has been drastically underestimated, with implications for future climate assessments. Marine chemist Ken Buesseler and his co-authors call on their fellow oceanographers to adopt a new metric for estimating the depth of the ocean’s sunlit layer, thus its ability to take up carbon.
Read MoreTrapping Carbon
WHOI marine chemist Ken Buesseler (foreground left) observes as research associate Steve Pike (center left) and a crewmember of the U.K. research vessel RSS Discovery prepare to deploy a sediment trap into…
Read MoreCalcium in the Carbon Cycle
MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student Sara Rosengard measures the amount of calcium in seawater samples using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICPMS). The amount of calcium helps Rosengard determine…
Read MoreMarine Infochemicals
In a recent study, WHOI scientists found that single-celled marine phytoplankton like these Melosira sp. can release “infochemicals” that signal marine bacteria to rev up their metabolisms and decompose phytoplankton…
Read MoreKrill Close-up
In 2009, former MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student Andrew McDonnell captured this image of an Antarctic krill off the West Antarctic Peninsula. McDonnell was on a cruise with WHOI chemist Ken…
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