Multimedia
The effects of ocean acidification on sound waves
Low-frequency ocean sound causes borate to change to boric acid, absorbing energy. Ocean acidification may reduce this, but WHOI scientists found the effect on sound travel is minimal.
Read MoreTransport of copepods through the water column
The Great South Channel ocean front forms where fresh coastal water meets saltier water, causing copepods to gather in dense patches as they sink and swim back up the front.
Read MoreHow Monsoon Shifts Transformed Ancient South Asian Civilizations
Maps showing changing monsoons led to the fall of Indus Valley cities and spurred the rise of farming communities across the Indian peninsula 4,500 years ago.
Read MoreInfographic depicting radioactive decay chains
All radioisotopes lose energy by emitting ionizing particles such as neutrons, protons, electrons, or photons. Each change follows a unique timetable, or half-life.
Read MoreThe Great South Channel ocean front
Map showing an ocean front where cold, dense water from the Great South Channel meets fresher flows from the New England Coastal Current.
Read MoreAir-sea daily rhythm
Daily, sunlight warms ocean surface waters; at night, cooled, heavier water sinks and mixes down, renewing the surface for the next day’s heat exchange cycle.
Read MoreIllustration depicting Air-Sea exchanges
Scientists have assumed that under calm conditions, the ocean’s surface layer doesn’t mix with deeper waters. New observations suggest that this may not be true.
Read MoreHow the Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) compound affects the environment
DMSP is synthesized by phytoplankton—the microscopic marine plants at the heart of the ocean food web—for a variety of beneficial uses.
Read MoreHow biomagnification works
Contaminants cling to tiny particles eaten by small fish, then concentrate up the food chain. Top predators like dolphins get the highest contaminant doses.
Read MoreLiquid Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry
Phytoplankton samples are filtered, compounds extracted and separated by chemistry, then analyzed by mass spectrometry to identify and compare organic carbon types.
Read MoreSources of dissolved iron in seawater
New research shows deep-ocean vents and sediments supply much dissolved iron to the central Pacific, traveling far—challenging the dust-only iron source view.
Read MoreIllustration depicting the chemical journey of leaf wax
By dating leaf waxes, scientists can examine links between climate changes and carbon storage on land.
Read MoreDeep Western Boundary Current Circulation
Map of Newfoundland coast showing drifter data revealing most of the Deep Western Boundary Current flows offshore near the Grand Banks.
Read MoreFormation cycle of piteraq winds
Piteraqs form when cyclones push cold air downhill, creating fast, turbulent winds funneled by valleys that accelerate and crash like giant mountain waves.
Read MoreIllustration depicting the formation of the Samoan Islands chain
Like Hawaii, the Samoan Islands formed over a volcanic hotspot.
Read MoreNorth Icelandic Jet
Map centered on the Iceland Sea Gyre, where turbulent waters cool and feed the North Icelandic Jet, returning cold water south via the Deep Western Boundary Current.
Read MoreThe ocean’s Biological Carbon Pump
Tiny ocean plants absorb CO? via photosynthesis, then sink or get eaten, moving carbon from surface waters to deep ocean—key to Earth’s carbon cycle.
Read MoreMicrobial life is discovered in vents
Scientists found 100-million-year-old microbial life in seafloor rocks near Portugal, thriving deep underground where hydrothermal fluids mixed with seawater.
Read MoreDifferent stages of photosynthesis
Phytoplankton photosynthesize in chloroplasts, using sunlight and CO? to make sugars and oxygen. Xanthophylls protect chlorophyll by adjusting light energy and burning excess as heat.
Read MoreHow a biofilm forms in the sea
Bacteria settle on surfaces, secrete slime, and grow into colonies. Some detach or are eaten by zooplankton. Large organisms can attach if the biofilm becomes thick enough.
Read MoreHow a Deep Hypersaline Anoxic Basin (DHAB) forms
Deep hypersaline anoxic basins form when salt dissolves into seafloor water, creating dense, oxygen-free water trapped below normal seawater in ocean valleys.
Read MoreThe existence of ancient vent microbes
Microbes deep below the seafloor survive on chemicals from seawater-rock reactions. Ancient mantle rocks reveal preserved traces of their life.
Read MoreIllustration explaining the life cycle of eels
Research led by WHOI scientists suggests that tiny eel larvae can actually swim and navigate, allowing them to contend with ocean currents and reach the coast.
Read MoreThe Indian Ocean Dipole
3D maps showing seasonal shifts in atmospheric and ocean conditions in the Indian Ocean that drive the monsoon system.
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