Photo of the Week: Plankton Ahoy

Citizen scientists smile for the camera during a plankton-gathering session off Antarctica earlier this month. Scripps Oceanography graduate student Allison Lee, left, was working with tourists off the icy continent to help gather data for phytoplankton ecologist Maria Vernet's Fjordphyto project.

Participants were navigating to specific coordinates, tracking wind and temperature data, and otherwise documenting the details as samples were collected. Phytoplankton samples will be genetically sequenced to analyze which species were present.

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Related Image Gallery: Photo of the Week 2018