A marine chemist is a scientist who studies chemicals and their effects in the oceans and marine environments. They help understand how pollution and other factors affect marine life and ecosystems. Full definition
Led by Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist and marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the team found that a small fraction of contaminated seafloor sediments off Fukushima are moved offshore by typhoons that resuspend radioactive particles in the water, which then travel laterally with southeasterly currents into the Pacific Ocean. (sciencedaily.com)
It's «nice chemistry,» says marine chemist Jeffrey Bada of the University of California (UC), San Diego, but he is not convinced that hydrothermal vents, or any other likely habitat on early Earth, could have provided the conditions created in the lab: «The processes outlined are not likely to take place on a significant scale on the Earth or elsewhere.» (sciencemag.org)
«Microbes eat [hydrocarbons] like we eat at a buffet: they like some compounds better than others,» explained marine chemist Chris Reddy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution during an August 19 press conference announcing the existence of such oil plumes — though their findings also published in Science suggested microbes were consuming the plume slowly in late June due to low levels of oxygen depletion. (scientificamerican.com)