Doctoral students from the University of South Florida recently joined the Gulf of America/Mexico Ecosystems and Carbon Cruise (GOMECC), a recurring research expedition organized by NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program that brings together scientists from across the U.S. to collect data on ocean carbon chemistry, track long-term changes, and assess how coastal and offshore ecosystems are responding to ocean acidification.
The USF students who joined the cruise — Macarena Martín Mayor, pH technician, Juan Millán Otoya, who measured calcium concentrations in seawater and Naja Murphy, who focused on organic alkalinity measurements — come from USF’s CO? Chemistry Lab led by Dr. Robert Byrne, Distinguished University Professor. The USF lab has become a cornerstone for carbon system measurements in Gulf expeditions and many of the high-precision tools used during the expeditions were developed by Byrne at USF.
- Learn more about GOMECC here
Cruises like GOMECC-5 embody GCAN’s mission to synthesize knowledge, guide research priorities, coordinate collaborative efforts and communicate insights on coastal and ocean acidification to advance understanding, inform management, and support resilient marine ecosystems and communities. GCAN will shared news and updates from GOMECC-5. Here is our first video — a conversation with pH technician and Ph.D. candidate Macarena Martín Mayor.
Stay tuned for more exclusive video interviews from the team’s shipboard setup and lab preparations!
