Skip to content

R/V Atlantis cruise (2009)

Cores, incubated in situ with a fluorogenic probe, are offloaded from the MBARI ROV Tiburon. These cores were collected as part of a DOE-funded project (with Jim Kennett, UCSB) on the effects of carbon dioxide sequestration on deep-sea foraminifera.
This launch of Alvin was before Joan's first Alvin dive, in 2000, to seeps in the Gulf of Mexico. This was part of a NOAA NURC funded project (with Barun Sen Gupta, LSU) to determine foraminiferal ecology and cell biology at seeps. (S.S. Bowser)
This photo was taken while Bernhard was SCUBA diving under ~12-m-thick Antarctic sea ice. She has spent nearly 2 years in the Antarctic, over 9 seasons, working of foraminiferal ecology and cell biology. This work has been funded by NSF Polar Programs and was in collaboration with Sam Bowser (Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health). (S.P. Alexander)
In order to get deep-sea benthic foraminifera back to the lab alive so that we can culture them, we must sieve sediments quickly just after box-core recovery so that they do not die in the hot sun. This work is funded by NSF Ocean Sciences Marine Geology & Geophysics, and is in collaboration with Dan McCorkle (WHOI), Tom Chandler (University of South Carolina) and Tim Shaw (University of South Carolina). (K. Hintz)
In order to keep the contained benthos alive, multicores must be moved into a cold van as soon as possible after the corer is secured on deck. For this project, we use the FLEC method (developed by Bernhard and colleagues, see Limnology & Oceanography 2003) to determine, on the micron scale, where deep-sea benthic foraminifera are living with respect to the sediment-water interface. This provides information to better interpret the stable isotopic and trace metal signatures recorded in their shells. This work is funded by NSF Ocean Sciences Marine Geology & Geophysics, and is in collaboration with Dan McCorkle (WHOI), Tom Chandler (University of South Carolina) and Tim Shaw (University of South Carolina). (K. Hintz)
Collecting stromatolite samples on Highborn Cay (Bahamas) to determine if they have associated benthic foraminifers. This project, funded by a WHOI Independent Study grant, is hoped to provide enough data to form the basis of a larger biological and geological project to be proposed in summer 2006.
Collecting cores for micron-scale life position determinations (see Bernhard et al., 2003 Limnology and Oceanography) of magnetotactic bacteria in marsh microbial mats (Woodneck Beach, Cape Cod). This project, with Katrina Edwards (WHOI MC&G) and Sheri Simmons (WHOI-MIT Joint Program student), is to modify our life-position method to allow simultaneous fluorescent in situ hybridizations (FISH). Funded by WHOI's Ocean Life Institute. (W.E.N. Austin)