Expedition Team
Kara Lavender Law, Principal Investigator
Kara received her PhD in physical oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and developed an interest in marine debris while teaching and sailing with SEA. Kara is on the oceanography faculty at SEA where she has taught more than 200 students in 10 SEA Semester classes about the ins-and-outs of oceanography onshore in Woods Hole, MA and at sea in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and Caribbean Sea.
For the past several years Kara has been researching plastic marine debris using SEA's 25-year data set consisting of plastic counts from more than 7500 plankton net tows that were carried out by over 7000 SEA students and scientists. Her interests include understanding how ocean physics determines the distribution of plastic and other marine debris, and the ultimate fate of plastic in the harsh ocean environment. When not thinking about the oceans or plastic, Kara is playing with her 1-year old daughter Kelsie, who looks forward to her first trip on a tall sailing ship someday.
Plastics at SEA: North Atlantic Expedition 2010 is funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program. Additional funding provided by Sea Education Association and Henry L. and Grace Doherty Foundation. American Chemistry Council provided support for web-based outreach. Crew gear provided by Patagonia. This expedition is in collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Woods Hole Sea Grant.
