Raise a Tall Glass

Working in open water in Antarctica’s Ross Sea, WHOI biogeochemist Mak Saito deploys a water sampler from the R/V Nathaniel Palmer. The object of the CORSACS project (Controls On Ross Sea Algal Community Structure) was to learn more about the chemical, biological, and physical factors that control the growth and abundance of two types of phytoplankton in the Ross Sea. Saito and colleagues found that vitamin B₁₂ is an essential ingredient for growing the marine plants that are critical to the ocean food web and Earth’s climate. (Photo by Tyler Goepfert, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)