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Swimming for Science

August 18, 2015

WHOI chemist Ken Buesseler (left) and technician Jessica Drysdale give long-distance swimmer Ben Lecomte instructions in how to test seawater for radioactive isotopes of cesium released from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Lecomte will wear a prototype RadBand cesium collector during his trans-Pacific swim from Tokyo to San Francisco beginning in September. His support crew will also process seawater samples to help Buesseler in his effort to track the spread of contaminants from the damaged reactors in Northeast Japan since 2011. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)