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Sampling a Salt Marsh

Coastal wetlands play a critical but poorly understood role in global climate, transferring carbon between the atmosphere, sediments, and coastal ocean. The amount of carbon—and carbon dioxide—moving in and out of salt marshes changes throughout the year, and, to better understand that movement, WHOI and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are measuring how these levels vary with tides and seasons at this Cape Cod salt marsh. Here, WHOI research assistant Kate Morkeski works with a recently collected water sample as MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Mallory Ringham and USGS research assistant Sandy Baldwin look on (left to right). (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)