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Piercing the Ice

October 20, 2016

Scientists drill a hole through meter-thick sea ice to collect water samples in the Arctic Ocean. MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student Lauren Kipp was among scientists from several research institutions who took part in this 2015 expedition for GEOTRACES, an international program designed to study the chemistry of all major oceans over the next decade. Kipp studies radium, a naturally occurring isotope that she uses to track nutrient and other inputs from land to the ocean. Other participating scientists will analyze the water samples for beryllium-7, an isotope that provides clues to how chemicals enter the ocean from the atmosphere. (Photo by Lauren Kipp, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)