Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Scientist Profile: Oliver Wurl

Nearby in the chemistry lab, Oliver Wurl is at work analyzing data from the Little Kilo Moana, or the Lil KM. The Lil KM is a skimmer that is aptly named after the large research vessel that carries it because, at __ long, it resembles a miniature of the ship. Using rotating glass disks partially submersed in water, the Lil KM collects a thin surface film of water, which is then collected into a storage container for analysis back at the lab. The Lil KM also collects water at a depth of one meter in order to note differences between this depth and the surface.

Wurl has a knack for explaining his work in layperson’s terms and picking up on any quizzical look I may emanate, at which point he stops to explain in further detail. After obtaining his undergraduate degree in environmental science at the University of Hamburg, Germany, he went to the University of Singapore for a PhD in marine science. Today he is a postdoctoral student studying ocean surface films at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sydney, Canada. He boarded the Kilo Moana with a German scholarship.

Wurl has always been interested in the way things work. He is excited to show off the Lil KM in action and asks me if I’ll be available to watch it in two days. He explains that research cruises like this one are especially exciting because of all the hands-on, interdisciplinary work that goes on. “It would be awful to have a ship with all chemists,” he laments, adding that part of the excitement is in meeting diverse people who all work together on one project.

He says all this in the lab, where he analyzes surfactants like carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids. The surface film of the ocean is enriched with these chemicals, and it is a complex world of study. Sometimes when you look out at the ocean you’ll see bright patches; these are the areas particularly enriched in surfactants. They alter the reflection of the light and appear brighter. Surface films impact certain processes like the exchange of greenhouse gases, affecting how much carbon dioxide the ocean actually takes up. Though scientists try to predict how much climate will have changed decades from now, their models incorporate a poor understanding of how the gas exchange at the ocean’s surface actually works.

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