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Working under icebreaker’s “Guard”

Working out on the ice in the reassuring presence of the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy, scientist Katrin Iken (left, from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks)—assisted by technician Pat Kelly (right, University of Rhode Island) and science writer Helen Fields (center)— prepares a cylindrical sediment trap to hang below the ice and catch particles falling down through the ice-covered ocean. The three  participated in a spring 2009 research cruise led by WHOI biologist Carin Ashjian, to study the productive ecosystem of the Bering Sea in a time of changing climate.
(Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)