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Tracking Salt Marsh Carbon

March 5, 2017

WHOI scientists are studying this Waquoit Bay salt marsh to better understand the role wetlands play in storing carbon and exporting it to the coastal ocean. Here, research assistant Kate Morkeski (right) observes as first-year WHOI-MIT Joint Program student Mallory Ringham filters a recently-collected water sample. They will take all their samples back to WHOI to analyze them for dissolved inorganic carbon, pH, and alkalinity. The work is part of ongoing research led by WHOI marine chemist Aleck Wang to assess how salt marshes export carbon compounds to the coastal ocean, and the impact of those exports on the coastal carbon cycle and seawater chemistry. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)