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A Flying Fish of Sorts

Spray gliders, like this one deployed from the R/V Atlantis in September, are robotic submarines that “fly” underwater without a human controller. In September Chief Scientist Dr. Tim Eglinton and others undertook a research cruise to study carbon cycling on the continental margin in the northwest Atlantic.  A particular emphasis was to examine the Atlantic Ocean’s Deep Western Boundary Current, which runs from Cape Hatteras to Nova Scotia, and explore its role in moving particulate organic carbon (POC) moves through the water. Scientists believe that current-driven transport of POC over continental margins is important for the supply of organic carbon to deep-ocean sediments. (Photo by Timothy Eglinton, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)