Senior Scientist
Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry
Seventeen years ago, when I first came to WHOI as a guest student from Germany, and then returned a year later as a postdoctoral scholar, I had no idea that someday most of my research would center around the chemical composition of rivers. The chemistry of these watery superhighways tells us how rocks weather and erode in the mountains and how plants, microbes and animals shape the chemical signature of the water that ultimately nurtures the coastal oceans. As a geologist who specializes in geochemistry, few processes are as exciting to study and beautiful to experience as water falling on rocks, traversing the land and eventually ending up in the ocean.
MIT/WHOI Joint Program Student
Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry
Britta Voss is embarking on the second year of her attempt to weave together the organic and inorganic geochemical tales of the Fraser River. She is excited to explore the biogeochemical processes which determine the chemical signatures of this dynamic system from the Rockies to the floodplain. From the perspective of her undergraduate experiences in oceanography, she is interested in the role of rivers in transferring and transforming carbon sequestered on land to the coastal ocean, where it may be buried or further recycled. She feels particularly lucky to be conducting researching in the idyllic Fraser valley, although she fears she may be becoming more familiar with British Columbia than her native Washington.
MIT/WHOI Joint Program Student
Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry
Katie Kirsch is a first-year, MIT/WHOI Joint Program student with an interest in the role that rivers play in the global carbon cycle. She is excited to be helping Bernhard and Britta characterize the transport and transformation of carbon in the Fraser River by integrating its geochemistry with spatial data on the hydrology, geology and ecology of its watershed. Prior to beginning the Joint Program, she worked at the Woods Hole Research Center, where she used GIS, remote sensing and statistical modeling to quantify the carbon stock in forests. She is hopeful that her research will continue to improve climate models, thereby informing international climate policy.
