Gradients 5 cruise in the tropical Pacific

Laura Bretherton, Niall McGinty, and Kevan Merrow participated in the Simons Foundation-funded Gradients 5 cruise as part of the SCOPE research program.

During 28 days at sea, Laura, Niall and Kevan collected dozens of samples of phytoplankton and zooplankton communities for analysis back in the lab. When all the processing is done, we will have much better knowledge of elemental (C, N, P) and macromolecular content and ratios for these communties across a gradient that spans the oligotrophic gyre to the equatorial upwelling.