Seeing Red in New England Waters

A CTD is raised after collecting water samples in the Gulf of Maine. (Photo by Mike Carlowicz, WHOI)

MIT/WHOI Joint Program student Mike Brosnahan pours water samples through sieves that collect algae and other microscopic plants. (Photo by Mike Carlowicz, WHOI)

Working in the wet lab onboard R/V Oceanus, Deana Erdner, Research Associate in the WHOI Biology Department, prepares Alexandrium-filled water samples for testing back in shore-based labs. (Photo by Mike Carlowicz, WHOI)

Deana Erdner examines water samples under a microscope to make a preliminary estimate of Alexandrium cells before other samples can be analyzed with other molecular and genetic techniques ((Photo by Mike Carlowicz, WHOI)

Bruce Keafer, Research Associate in Biology, helps recover a sediment core sampler that was lowered to the seafloor from the fantail of the R/V Oceanus. (Photo by Mike Carlowicz, WHOI)

Bruce Keafer, Research Associate in Biology, holds a sediment sample retrieved from the Gulf of Maine. Cells in the sandy mud should allow researchers to learn about past and potential future blooms of Alexandrium. (Photo by Mike Carlowicz, WHOI)

Dennis McGillicuddy, Associate Scientist in Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering (AOP&E), assembles a drifter that will track ocean currents in the Gulf of Maine. The drifters were built by James Manning of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, who tracked them from shore (via satellite) after McGillicuddy launched them. (Photo by Mike Carlowicz, WHOI)

Dennis McGillicuddy, Associate Scientist (AOP&E), and Ruoying He (right), Assistant Scientist (AOP&E) deploy a drifter in the Bay of Fundy. (Photo by Mike Carlowicz, WHOI)