Image

Sleuthing for contaminants

In a WHOI chemistry laboratory in the mid-70s, researchers Helen Mikelas and Bruce Tripp extracted and concentrated organic contaminants from seawater, including PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls—toxic compounds used in industrial manufacturing, banned in 1979 but highly persistent environmental pollutants.) This research was part of efforts to understand the fate and effects of such contaminants in the deep and coastal ocean and how they cycle between sediment, water, particles and marine life.
(Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives)