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Catcher in the Sea

December 29, 2014

Scientists and crew aboard the research vessel Knorr deployed a sediment net trap on a 2012 cruise in the North Atlantic to collect particles sinking from the sea surface. The research, led by biogeochemist Ben Van Mooy, is investigating whether particles emit chemical compounds that marine microbes can “sense,” thereby attracting the microbes capable of metabolizing carbon-containing particles. “It’s like smelling cookies in the oven,” Van Mooy said. His findings could eventually fine-tune estimates of how much carbon sinks to the deep ocean and, as a result, the amount of carbon dioxide the ocean absorbs from the atmosphere. (Photo by Suni Shah, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)