Dr. Katlin Bowman is a chemical oceanographer that studies the toxic element mercury. She has participated in multiple U.S. GEOTRACES transects in the North Atlantic, eastern tropical South Pacific, and Arctic Oceans, and expeditions studying mercury cycling along the northwest Atlantic continental shelf. Her work focuses on the chemical transformations of mercury in the marine water column. Microorganisms in the ocean alter the chemistry of mercury, creating a toxic compound called methylmercury that accumulates in marine mammals. Humans are exposed to mercury primarily through the consumption of marine fish.
Katlin passed over the Teahitia seamount on the R/V Thompson in 2013 and will return to search for mercury released from nearby hydrothermal vents. The ocean contains a mixture of mercury from natural and anthropogenic sources and scientists are working towards quantifying how much mercury human activities have added – measuring mercury in hydrothermal vent plumes will better constrain estimates of natural mercury in the deep ocean.
Katlin received a B.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and is currently a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Read more about her past research expeditions at hginthesea.wordpress.com and www.huffingtonpost.com/katlin-bowman.
