Young Philippine chemist finds missing environmental data by turning to nuclear science (French Edition)

The gusting winds of Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the city on 8 November 2013, caused tsunami-like waves that carried debris containing organic materials, contaminants and human and animal corpses from the land into the ocean. Researchers and policymakers were unsure if the ocean would be able to cope with the volume of pollution that entered the ocean during the typhoon, which could have transformed the area into a dead zone lasting for decades. They needed to understand what was pollution and what was natural to know whether any measures were needed to assist the ocean in 'digesting' the debris so that it could return to its natural state of equilibrium. Isotopes are atoms of the same element with the same number of protons, but a different number of neutrons. While the chemical properties of all isotopes of one element are the same, their weight differs according to the number of neutrons they have. These weight differences enable scientists to distinguish them from each other when analysed using an isotope ratio mass spectrometer. Scientists can use this approach to identify the isotopic composition of a material. For these studies on water pollution, researchers tracked stable isotopes of nitrogen and carbon. Species of different origins contain specific, unique levels of isotopes that reflect the food they eat and the environment they live in. Scientists can study this isotopic composition and use it like a fingerprint to identify the presence of different types of organic matter in their surroundings. In the ocean, plants, like seaweed and seagrass, and stationary animals, like oysters, can tell scientists a lot about the current and past isotopic composition of the environment. Because these organisms do not move, as they take in food from seawater and grow, their isotopic composition develops to reflect the concentration levels of different substances in the ocean at that specific point in time. Therefore, researchers can measure the isotopic composition of these plants and animals to better understand the ocean's past.