My team and I collect coral cores from a Montastrea coral in Curacao. Drilling requires a lot of teamwork and communication, without being able to speak to each other – quite a challenge. (photo: Pat Lohmann)Pat Lohmann cores a brain coral, Diploria strigosa, at Hog Reef in Bermuda. He uses an underwater pneumatic drill powered by compressed air from a SCUBA tank. The core can be removed from the cylindrical bit. (photo: Alice Alpert)Graduate student Liz Drenkard collects tissue samples from Jarvis Island in the Central Equatorial Pacific. She will use these to investigate coral metabolic health. (Photo: Chip Young)We usually conduct drilling operations from small boats such as Zodiacs. There is a lot of gear involved: SCUBA gear and tanks, drills, sampling bags, and other tools. It’s a tight squeeze! (photo: Alice Alpert)Science team members plan for the next diving session in the central equatorial Pacific. Although we prepare for months ahead of time, changing conditions in the field mean that many operational decisions must be made in real time. (Photo: Emily Penn)Labeled coral cores dry in preparation for shipping back to Woods Hole. (photo: Alice Alpert)Water chemistry is important for understanding coral reef ecosystems and their interaction with ocean currents. Here we collect surface water for radiocarbon analysis. (Photo: Emily Penn)Once the cores are dried, I cut them into slabs and drill small samples at regular intervals going back in time. (Photo: Hannah Barkley)Aside from the grueling hours and physical work, field work can be fun! Here we sail in the remote Pacific (Photo: Liz Drenkard)Ok and ready to dive! (Photo: Tony Wang)Snorkelers provide a link between drilling divers and the surface, shuttling supplies and serving as lookouts. Here team members pose above a massive Porites coral colony several meters across. (Photo: Chip Young)Pillar coral at Curacao shows its true colors thanks to an underwater flash camera. (Photo: Pat Lohmann)A sculptural garden of brain coral, fire coral, and sea fans in Bermuda. (Photo: Alice Alpert)A large manta ray slowly flaps over a central Pacific reef (Photo: Chip Young)The remote reefs we study still support large shark populations. (Photo: Chip Young)There’s nothing like sailing off into the sunset. (Photo: Emily Penn)I have also worked two summer seasons at the US Antarctic Program’s Palmer Station on the Antarctic Peninsula. (Photo: Alice Alpert)I was part of a Long Term Ecological Research project studying the physical and ecological effects of climate change here, which is one of the most rapidly warming places on earth. (Photo: Alice Alpert)Fieldwork involved water sampling to study nutrients and bacterial populations.Palmer Station is located near a penguin colony. The ice-loving Adelie population is crashing, while sub-polar species such as these Chinstrap penguins are moving in. (Photo: Edgar Woznica)Icebergs provided spectacular scenery. (Photo: Alice Alpert)
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