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Testing the waters

Scientists aboard the Australian research vessel Aurora Australis studied the natural cycling of iron in the Southern Ocean in 2001. Ken Buesseler, a marine chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, was aboard that expedition, and in 2002 he served as chief scientist of the Southern Ocean Iron Experiment (SOFeX). The three-ship operation investigated the results of adding iron to stimulate a phytoplankton bloom in the Southern Ocean.(Photo by Ken Buesseler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)