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Life on (and under) the ice

WHOI marine biogeochemist Mak Saito snapped this image of two Emperor penguins while working in Antarctica in November 2009. Over the past two years, Saito and his colleagues have shared the sea ice with penguins and other animals while sampling seawater chemistry and studying phytoplankton.  “We still have many questions about how elements get into the ocean and how different phytoplankton use them as nutrients,” says Saito. “There are critical questions for how marine ecosystems work.”

(Photo courtesy of Mak Saito, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)