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Snow Below

Crew on the RV Atlantic Explorer enjoyed a spectacular sunset during a research cruise in September 2009 in the Sargasso Sea as part of the Twilight Zone Explorer research project led by Ken Buesseler. The goal of this NSF-funded research project was to develop new tools to measure the movement of marine snow, a term used to describe biogenic particles that slowly settle through the ocean. These particles are enriched in organic carbon and hence important to understanding the ocean’s role in the global carbon cycle and climate change.(Photo by Ken Buesseler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)