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Sampling the Gulf

Amanda Demopoulos (left) from the U.S. Geological Survey and Helen White from Haverford College remove push cores from one of the sample baskets attached to the front of the submersible Alvin during a 2010 cruise to the Gulf of Mexico. The trip took Alvin and the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry on a mission to study deep-water corals near the site of the well that leaked millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf earlier in the year. In early 2012, White was lead author on a paper detailing the group’s findings about the impact of the oil on the corals and the ecosystems they support.(Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)