Why Give to WHOI

Why is this Dive Platform Moving?
For more than four decades, WHOI's deep-sea submersible Alvin has transported scientists through ocean depths of 2.8 miles. Now a new sub is being built to continue that legacy and bring people even deeper (up to four miles). Alvin and the support team work from the WHOI-operated research vessel Atlantis, equipped for moving the 17 metric ton (35,200 pound) submersible into and out of the water. Trained divers (members of Alvin's team) assist with the sub's launch and recovery. (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Hunkering Down
"I've never seen a cold penguin," said ornithologist Grant Ballard of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory. "It can be minus 30, and they'll just be doing the same things they always do." The only time Ballard sees uncomfortable penguins is when it's too hot, which tends to happen around  the freezing point. (They stand still and pant, their beaks hanging open as if they were dogs.) Nevertheless, they make a pitiful sight when the relentless winds cake them with snow. The chicks are much more vulnerable to cold, so parents lower their flippers to shield them from the worst of the wind.
(Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Poor Woman's Umbrella
postdoctoral fellow Nicole Keller (Geology & Geophysics) takes a break from hiking the Barva volcano in Costa Rica in June 2008 to surround herself with the monstrous leaf of the Sombrillo de Pobre ("poor man's umbrella", or Gunnera insignis). Keller and WHOI volcanologist Alison Shaw hiked the volcano to collect samples ash and rock samples for a study of the sulfur cycle in volcanic systems. (Photo by Alison Shaw, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Landscape of history
Dense meter-high thickets of staghorn coral surround massive, rounded, ancient coral colonies in the background. WHOI scientist Konrad Hughen photographed this undersea landscape just 15 feet down while surveying corals on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, as a guide to potential future sampling. Hughen, in the WHOI Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department, and the Paleoceanography group, studies tropical climate change over time, by analyzing the composition of ancient corals' skeleton material. (Photo by Konrad Hughen, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Cracking up in Greenland
This researcher stands where hours earlier there was a lake, filled with melted ice water. Once drained, through a massive crack, scientists could step inside the lake bed and learn what happened. Sarah Das and Mark Behn at WHOI are investigating glacial lakes, which form atop Greenland's ice sheet each spring and summer as returning sunlight melts ice and snow. They have found that as lake grow larger, large cracks can open up at their bases, allowing the lake water to drain in a dramatic surge all the way the bedrock at the bottom of glaciers. The water lubricates the base of the glacier, like grease on a railroad track, allowing glaciers to flow faster toward the coast and discharge more ice to the ocean.  As global temperatures rise, more lakes and cracks may form, accelerating the flow of ice to the sea. (Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) )

Difficult But Necessary Work
WHOI biologist and veterinarian Michael Moore (red jacket) and David Taylor, a retired high school biology teacher and WHOI guest investigator, prepare to perform a necropsy on a right whale named Stumpy, who washed ashore in February 2004 near Nags Head, North Carolina. Researchers try to make the most of unfortunate circumstances, examining wounds for signs of lethal encounters with ships or fishing gear, and examining internal tissues for evidence of man-made or natural toxins. (Photo by Regina Campbell-Malone, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Angry Irminger
The research vessel Knorr, carrying WHOI scientists and international researchers, was several days into a month-long voyage to study the Irminger Sea when it smacked into an intense Atlantic storm. Writer Dallas Murphy, chronicling the expedition with daily journals from Knorr, described the storm as vicious. "It’s been blowing steadily 50 knots for most of the day, and guys told me they saw gusts to 73 knots this morning. That’s hurricane velocity. The seas are astounding, frightening and beautiful in their violence. Waves are averaging easily 30 feet, many far larger, but raw numbers don’t do them justice.... The entire ship shudders when she buries her bow in the face of the waves." Chief scientist Robert Pickart, who conducts research in WHOI's physical oceanography department, is coordinating the expedition. It ends October 30. (Photo by Daniel Torres, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Pulling Together
WHOI staff link up and swim together as part of their small boat safety training course in spring 2008. Scientific and technical staff who wish to pilot the Institution's small boats must get certified for operation and safety every three years. The training includes an opportunity to put on immersion suits (sometimes called "survival suits") and to practice how to survive a sinking boat in cold New England waters. The group forms a human chain because it increases the likelihood of survival if everyone stays together (versus drifting apart); it is easier for rescuers to spot a large group than an individual; and survivors can give each other encouragement and physical support. (Photo by Jayne Doucette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Through the hot sands
Undergraduate Andrew Delman (Yale University), scientist Andrew Ashton (blue cap, WHOI Geology and Geophysics Department) and Guest Student Nick Magliocca (red cap, Duke University) trek through the sand in the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on Cape Cod, Mass. in July, 2008. Using Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) they searched for below-the-surface deposits left by past storms, to investigate how barrier beaches respond to changes in storminess and sea level. As a WHOI Summer Student Fellow, Delman spent the summer collecting and analyzing data and developing a model of long-term barrier-beach evolution. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

St. Louis Has Nothing on this Arch
A zodiak carries a group of WHOI Associates and other ecotoursts through an iceberg arch off Antarctica. WHOI scientists Susan Humphris and Pat Lohmann from the Geology and Geophysics Department made their first-ever trip to Antarctica, leading Associates on a trip that blended adventure travel with education about the marine environment. Each year, WHOI Associates have a unique opportunity to travel to exotic destinations and explore natural wonders with a scientist as their guide. (Photo by Susan Humphris, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

In the pink
Beautiful, ugly, or just plain peculiar according to individual reactions, this pink see-through fantasia is a swimming sea cucumber seen about 2,500 meters deep in the Celebes Sea. In 2007 WHOI biologist Larry Madin led a team of scientists and photographers from the U.S. and the Philippines on an expedition to explore biodiversity in the deep Celebes Sea, supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Geographic Society, and the WHOI Ocean Life Institute. The team used scuba diving, nets, cameras, and ROVs to study the deep sea in this area that has been called a "cradle of biodiversity for shallow water marine animals."  (Photo by Laurence Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)