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Watery Wi-fi

September 14, 2014

Post-doctoral investigator Mike Brosnahan worked from a raft that supported an Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) on a frigid March day in Nauset Marsh in Orleans, Mass. The IFCB continuously records microscope images of phytoplankton, including the dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense, a species that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning. The raft was equipped with power and a wireless Internet connection to run the IFCB, several other computers, and a winch to measure water temperature, salinity, chlorophyll concentration and light. From it, he can monitor the measurements in real-time on his smart phone or laptop, and can notify local and state shellfish wardens if he sees a bloom developing in the marsh. (Photo courtesy of Alexis Fischer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)