Dr Elanor Bell – Deputy Chief Scientist / Biogeochemist

I am a microbial ecologist by training but have turned my hand from whale food to the whales themselves. On this voyage we’ll be doing the first in-field experiments to test the theory that whales fertilise the ocean with iron, after eating iron-rich krill and excreting the metal in their faeces. We’ll sample water in areas with whales and krill, whales only, krill only, and neither species. The sampling will reveal where the iron goes, how fast it sinks, and whether primary production increases over time.

This page was last updated on 24 February 2022