Mercury in the ocean

Mercury in the ocean comes from natural sources such as volcanoes and hydrothermal vents but a majority can be attributed to atmospheric deposition from anthropogenic sources, mainly the combustion of coal and other fossil fuels. Mercury is present in the environment in four different forms, one of which – methylmercury – is toxic. The US Environmental Protection agency has compiled a list of fish species with the highest concentrations of mercury and has advised limited consumption of certain fish. Because of its toxicity to developing fetuses, pregnant women are advised to not eat any fish during their pregnancy.

Our part in GEOTRACES (Dr. Lamborg and myself) is to understand the distribution and interaction between each of the four species of mercury in a major ocean basin. This will allow us to better understand how methylmercury is produced and help us to speculate major sources of mercury to the ocean.

http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=79706&sectionid=1000

There is a great interactive map of mercury in the ocean in this article and also a lot of other interesting links!

A peak inside one of the bubbles :)

Here are the main lab "bubbles" home to a number of trace-metal chemists.

Mom - here's the gym. You can't really see everything but there is an eliptical, rowing machine and exercise bike. Working out at sea is way harder than I expected. I did some lunges and squats and it felt like I had balance balls strapped to my feet!