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Cell Counts

On the research vessel Oceanus in May 2008, the backside of a hatch to the lower decks serves as the bulletin board and presentation backdrop for oceanographer Dennis McGillicuddy as he briefs the science team. In the final science meeting of a cruise to study harmful algal blooms in New England waters, McGillicuddy points out the concentrations of Alexandrium fundyense that the group observed in the western Gulf of Maine—four times higher than has ever been measured in the region at that time of year. The data lent credence to earlier predictions of a potentially large bloom season. The science team departs again today to continue their observations, which aid both this year’s coastal resource management and long-term efforts to model and predict such blooms.
(Photo by Erin Dupuis, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)