Research Expeditions
Isla Malpelo (Colombia)
November 2023
We led an expedition in November 2023 in collaboration with the S/Y Acadia and SFF Malpelo. For this work, we collected coral cores, coral tissue, and seawater samples to understand modern conditions in this area and to better constrain how these conditions may have changed in the past. Led by postdoctoral researcher Alan Foreman, this sampling mission fulfilled all its goals, collecting 6 coral cores at 2 sites in Malpelo. To our knowledge this is the first sampling expedition to collect coral cores from this location. These cores will ultimately fill in a crucial gap in the historical reconstructions that currently exist for the area. Eventually this work will allow for the reconstruction of the history of the ODZ in this area going back across the 20th century, and will provide key data for modelling future changes in oxygen concentrations across the ETP. Ultimate understanding these processes will help develop environmental policies that aid both marine parks throughout the ETP and the migratory animals that transit between this beautiful reserve and others in the ETP (e.g. Isla Del Coco, Revillagigedo Archipelago, and the Galapagos).