Wrestling with RATS

On a coral reef off Palau, MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student Tom DeCarlo (left) and WHOI geologist Pat Lohmann position a device called “RATS” (Robotic Analyzer for Total CO₂ system in Seawater). RATS is the brainchild of WHOI scientists Bill Martin and Fred Sayles. It pulls seawater through chambers to measure its concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon and pH, in situ. In this experiment, led by Anne Cohen’s lab, data collected by RATS (and another device called RAS, or Remote Access Sampler), are used to calculate ocean acidification on Palau’s reefs and investigate corals’ ability to grow under such conditions. (Photo courtesy of Anne Cohen, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)