Nick Hawco is a chemical oceanographer who is fascinated by life’s search for unique elements. Although they might compose only a few parts per trillion of ocean water, several metals – iron, cobalt, zinc, and manganese – remain essential for the metabolism of marine phytoplankton, animals, and bacteria. Out in the oligotrophic gyres, far from metal sources from the continents, these metals are even more scarce and life must efficiently use and recycle these dwindling resources. As part of SUBSEA project, Nick will work to understand how these metals are supplied to the remote South Atlantic and if their scarcity limits the ability for life to bloom in this large ‘ocean desert’. Nick Hawco is an associate professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in 2017.
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