Happy Easter (Island)

Conditions change markedly moving west across the South Pacific from Chile, where coastal waters are filled with essential nutrients–including nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron–to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), where nutrients are sparse. Not surprisingly, the abundance and kinds of marine microbes also change. In the fall of 2010, WHOI chemist Dan Repeta led a research cruise to explore the chemistry and biology of that stretch of ocean. The cruise ended on Easter Island, where WHOI researchers (left to right) Dawn Moran, Sheean Haley, Tyler Goepfert, Sonya Dyhrman, and Daniel Tabersky fell in line with a collection of Moai stones at Ahu Tongariki.(Photo courtesy of Daniel Tabersky, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)