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Carbon Capture

October 20, 2015

MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Sarah Rosengard converts organic carbon to carbon dioxide by slowly increasing its temperature from room temperature to 800°C (1,470°F) at WHOI’s National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (NOSAMS) Facility. The “mass spec” is used by scientists around the world to analyze the origin of carbon in the marine ecosystem, study ocean circulation in the distant past, and understand the cycling of carbon in the modern ocean. Such work is particularly essential to monitor changes in the global carbon cycle, as rising CO₂ levels cause changes in the world climate. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)