Johnson Lab departs on research cruise in the Pacific Ocean to study climate change

The Johnson Lab departs today for an open ocean expedition from Honolulu, Hawaii to San Diego, California aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson, a major research vessel of the National Science Foundation (NSF).  The goal of the POWOW (Phytoplankton Of Warming Ocean Waters) research cruise is to measure the abundance, diversity and activity of phytoplankton (the base of the food web in the ocean) and associated bacterial and viral communities across temperature (and other environmental) gradients to understand how climate change may impact ocean ecology and biogeochemistry.  The project is officially titled “Collaborative Research: Seasonal and decadal changes in temperature drive Prochlorococcus ecotype distribution patterns” and funded in part by NSF to Duke University.  Our team includes postdoc Thais Bittar, graduate student Alyse Larkin, and 7 undergraduates.  The team is blogging during the trip.