Maria Vernet has been a primary investigator on several research cruises off the Antarctic Peninsula, exploring one of the coldest marine ecosystems on earth. She's a marine scientist from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Maria has participated in various studies of phytoplankton ecology and physiology, from the effect of ultraviolet radiation on photosynthesis to grazing of coastal phytoplankton by the Antarctic krill. During winter 2008, she studied the ecology of phytoplankton within the marine ecosystem surrounding floating icebergs. From March 6 to April 15, 2009, Maria is on board the Nathaniel B. Palmer icebreaker in the northwest Weddell Sea, collecting plankton samples from under and around large icebergs that have broken off from an Antarctic ice shelf. Scientists are just beginning to study these intriguing iceberg ecosystems, which attract thriving communities of seabirds, phytoplankton, krill, and fish.
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