Special News Events
Air France Flight 447
On April 4, 2011, a search team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) located the wreckage of the Airbus jet some 3,900 meters (nearly 2.5 miles) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
Japan, 2011
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake 80 miles off the northeast coast of Japan triggered a series of tsunamis that struck nearby shorelines and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
On April 20, 2010, the exploratory ocean drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and later sank in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Soon after the spill began, WHOI scientists, engineers, and technicians were called upon to apply the expertise they had gained from studying the marine environment, deep ocean, and seafloor to the Gulf spill.