Back to sea!
This spring we celebrated a return to fieldwork with two cruises in two oceans.
We celebrated the end of our pandemic fieldwork hiatus with two cruises this spring. First, Nicola represented our lab aboard the James Cook as part of the North Atlantic EXPORTS experiment for a 33-day, three-ship extravaganza to study carbon export during the highly productive spring bloom period. Sailing from the UK, Nicola logged three successful deployments of our RESPIRE traps--in situ incubation chambers for studying microbial respiration on sinking particles. A major accomplishment!!
Closer to home, Alyson, Barbara, and Justine participated in a two-week cruise in the southern California Current as guests of the Choy lab on the R/V Revelle. Our experiments were designed to evaluate the role of nitrifying microbes in the ocean's carbon cycle. We also had the opportunity for some fun opportunistic experiments with higher trophic levels (fish!) and witness a stunning bloom of pyrosomes.
