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Dana Yoerger

Scientist Emeritus, Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering

Dana Yoerger is a Scientist Emeritus at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a leader in marine robotics. He mentors graduate students in oceanographic engineering through the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, focusing on control robotics, and design.
 
He has played key roles in developing the ROV Jason, the Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE), the AUV Sentry, and the hybrid ROV Nereus, which reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 2009. Most recently, he was the lead investigator on the development of the midwater exploration robot Mesobot.
 
Dr. Yoerger has participated in more than 90 expeditions, exploring mid-ocean ridges, mapping seamounts and volcanoes, surveying shipwrecks including the Titanic discovery, assessing the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and helping locate the Voyage Data Recorder of the merchant vessel El Faro.

Ocean Twilight Zone

Ocean Topic: Ocean Twilight Zone

What is the Ocean Twilight Zone, who lives there, and why is it important 

Twilight Zone Technology

Scientists use specialized tools and robots to explore the ocean’s dark, cold twilight zone and uncover its hidden life

Mesobot

Mesobot is a hybrid underwater robot that quietly tracks, observes, and samples twilight-zone marine life autonomously or via tether up to 1,000 m

Related Multimedia

A robot to explore the dark ocean!

Meet Mesobot, a deep-sea robot designed to follow ocean twilight zone creatures without disturbing them—capturing stunning footage and collecting eDNA samples

Rare look at animals in the ocean twilight zone

The ocean is vast, so scientists use two ocean robots to better spot and study elusive creatures from the deep, dark twilight zone

RMS Titanic

WHOI Topic: RMS Titanic

The wreck of RMS Titanic is studied to reveal its history, decay, and how deep-sea archaeology advances understanding of human and ocean interactions

1985 Discovery of RMS Titanic

In 1985, ocean explorers located the Titanic wreck using deep-sea technology, transforming underwater archaeology and understanding of the historic ship’s final resting place

40 years after the Titanic discovery

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution continues to advance ocean research and exploration

Related Multimedia

Ocean Encounters: Titanic & Beyond

From the Titanic's discovery in 1985 to the present day, deep-sea imaging has evolved, revealing breathtaking discoveries from the deep ocean and outer space

Summary of when Alvin visited Titanic in 1986

Dr. Robert Ballard summarizes the first time HOV Alvin and Jason Junior explored the wreck of the Titanic in 1986

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