New London — In the frigid cold Thursday, Mitchell College junior Claire Binfield waded out into the water at Ocean Beach to use a YSI device to sample water quality.

She is working with professor Christine Ramsay on a study of effects industrialized areas have on water by documenting phytoplankton counts, oxygen levels, pH, nitrates and other measures. Starting in October, Binfield and other student researchers have been taking levels with the scope and water samples at different locations in New London every two weeks.