Image

Finding HABs with ESP

Research associate Bruce Keafer inspects a new instrument known as the environmental sample processor (ESP) in the lab run by WHOI senior scientist Don Anderson. The robotic instrument will be deployed off the New England coast in spring 2011 to identify and monitor harmful algal blooms (HABs). The ESP detects and identifies tiny organisms in the sample by analyzing the DNA in water samples that it takes. It also detects chemicals in the water. Built by McLane Research Laboratories of Falmouth, Mass., the ESP was purchased by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and loaned to Anderson for his project. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)