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| | 1. The Irminger
Sea is known for rocky weather, but WHOI research associate Dan
Torres found quiet water off the coast of Greenland
during an October research cruise aboard the WHOI-operated research
vessel Knorr. Buoys on the ship's deck were
attached to moorings recovered earlier in the month-long expedition to study
water density flowing through Denmark Strait.
(Photo by Daniel Torres, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) | | 2. Engineers and crew aboard R/V Oceanus work to
recover a deep-ocean mooring
in the northwest tropical Atlantic in summer
2008. The mooring recovery/deployment cruise, led by physical oceanographer Al
Plueddemann, allowed scientists to retrieve long-term data on the ocean and
atmosphere collected by instruments fixed to a mooring line stretched between
the surface and the seafloor—in this case, between 3,000 and 5,000 meters deep.
Data on salinity, temperatures, currents, acoustic data, and atmospheric
measurements all contribute to an understanding of how the upper ocean and atmosphere interact.
(Photo by Jeff Avery, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) | | 3. Are warmer ocean waters affecting Greenland's
ice sheet? To find answers, WHOI scientists this fall made use of a local,
small vessel able to navigate the iceberg-filled waters of Sermilik Fjord in East Greenland to collect temperature and conductivity
profiles up to 900 meters depth. They used this motorized fishing winch,
mounted on a WHOI-built frame that was adjusted to the vessel, along with a
CTD, which measures conductivity (salinity), temperature, and depth.
(Photo by Fiamma Straneo, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) | | 4. Engineer Doug Webb and WHOI
physical oceanographer Dave Fratantoni
examine the motor inside an ocean glider in Fratantoni's lab in February 2008.
Webb, a former WHOI employee who formed his own company in the 1980s, has spent
three decades trying to turn a science fiction
vision of ocean studies into a modern reality. Working for many years with
oceanographer Henry
Stommel and, more recently, Fratantoni, Webb and his team designed a
gliding, autonomous vehicle that extracts energy from the differences in ocean
temperature from the surface to the depths. This winter, Fratantoni and
colleagues successfully
sailed that "thermal" glider back and forth across the Caribbean dozens of times.
(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) | | 5. Engineers Will Ostrom (foreground) and Dan Duffany prepare
to test the ballast of a spar buoy off the WHOI dock in July 2008. The buoy was
built as a replacement for one that was destroyed during rough
North Atlantic weather that battered the research vessel Knorr
during a 2007 cruise for the CLIMODE project.
(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) | | 6. Greenland's mountains came into view this October from the stern of
the WHOI-operated research vessel Knorr.
WHOI scientist Bob
Pickart led a month-long expedition
to the storm-swept Irminger
Sea. Pickart
and colleagues wanted to learn about the origin of the flow of water through
Denmark Strait, which slices between Greenland and Iceland.
(Photo by Melissa Patrician, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) | Last updated: August 6, 2009 |
