Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry
Looking to the Mighty Mississippi for climate solutions
Researchers measure alkalinity flowing into the Gulf of Mexico to assess a carbon dioxide removal strategy
Read MoreWhy Indigenous perspectives matter in the climate conversation
Wampanoag Tribal Member Leslie Jonas talks WHOI, Native rights, and a timely partnership
Read MoreThe teetering balance of coastal CO2
WHOI scientists Matt Long and Aleck Wang explain the incredibly important role of coastal seagrasses and rivers in the global carbon cycle
Read MoreWhat happens to natural gas in the ocean?
WHOI marine chemist Chris Reddy weighs in on a methane leak in the Baltic Sea
Read MoreSunlight and the fate of oil at sea
Danielle Haas Freeman draws on the language of chemistry to solve an oil spill puzzle
Read MoreAn aquatic outbreak
Stony coral tissue loss disease continues devastating Caribbean reefs. Here’s what we know about it so far
Read MoreCarbon sequestration sites may prevent earthquakes
New evidence suggests that CO2-rich springs may be buffering quakes along areas of the San Andreas Fault
Read MoreA toxic double whammy for sea anemones
Exposure to both oil and sunlight can be harmful to sea anemones
Read MoreClimate change could lead to a dramatic temperature-linked decrease in essential omega-3 fatty acids
The effects of global climate change already are resulting in the loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise, and longer and more intense heat waves, among other threats. Now, the first-ever survey of planktonic lipids in the global ocean predicts a temperature-linked decrease in the production of essential omega-3 fatty acids, an important subset of lipid molecules.
Read MoreWHOI joins world leaders at UN Ocean Conference: June 27 – July 1, Lisbon, Portugal
Thousands of participants from around the world will converge in Lisbon beginning June 27 as part of the 2022 United Nations Ocean Conference. Among them will be representatives from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the world’s largest independent organization dedicated exclusively to ocean research, engineering, and education.
Read More4 Potential Solutions for Corals in Crisis
Racing against the clock, WHOI researchers and colleagues are developing innovative solutions to rebuild reefs and improve coral resiliency–before it’s too late.
Read MoreOCIA: Accelerating the pace of ocean-climate research
The first five projects funded by the Ocean Climate Innovation Accelerator (OCIA) are set to advance research at the intersection of oceans and climate.
Read MoreA bed of roses in the ocean
Flower-shaped corals blossoming off the island of Tahiti offer hope for reefs
Read MoreWHOI scientist elected as Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist elected as Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology Colleen Hansel, associate scientist at WHOI, has been elected as a Fellow of the American Academy…
Read MoreWHOI scientists discuss the chemistry behind Sri Lanka’s flaming plastic spill
Eight months after the M/V X-Press Pearl disaster in Sri Lanka, WHOI investigators talk about their research on the unique chemistry of the spilled plastic nurdles
Read MoreDissolving oil in a sunlit sea
A team of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers discovered that nearly 10 percent of the oil floating on the Gulf after the Deepwater Horizon disaster was dissolved into seawater by sunlight – a process called “photo-dissolution”. The findings were published today in the paper “Sunlight-driven dissolution is a major fate of oil at sea” in Science Advances.
Read MoreThe ocean twilight zone’s role in climate change
A new report from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ) project team offers a detailed look at the climate-altering processes that take place within the zone, in particular those that are driven by animals that migrate between the twilight zone and the surface each night to feed. This phenomenon is likely the biggest migration on Earth—yet it remains incredibly vulnerable to human exploitation.
Read MoreWHOI’s Ken Buesseler named Geochemistry Fellow
Dr. Ken Buesseler has been selected as a Geochemistry Fellow by the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry.
Read MoreBen Van Mooy awarded by Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography
WHOI senior scientist and Dept. Chair honored for phosphorus and lipid cycling research
Read MoreCoral time machines
Sophie Hines discusses the paleo-research power of fossil corals
Read MoreStudy finds bio-based cellulose acetate plastic used in consumer goods disintegrates in ocean much faster than assumed
Woods Hole, MA — Cellulose diacetate (CDA), a bio-based plastic widely used in consumer goods, disintegrates, and degrades in the ocean far quicker than previously assumed, according to a new…
Read MoreAn ocean of opportunity
Ocean experts explore the potential risks and rewards of ocean-based solutions to climate change
Read MoreStudy outlines challenges to ongoing clean-up of burnt and unburnt nurdles along Sri Lanka’s coastline
When a fire broke out on the deck of the M/V XPress Pearl cargo ship on May 20, 2021, an estimated 70-75 billion pellets of preproduction plastic material, known as nurdles, spilled into the ocean and along the Sri Lankan coastline. That spill of about 1,500 tons of nurdles, many of which were burnt by the fire, has threatened marine life and poses a complex clean-up challenge. A new peer-reviewed study characterizes how the fire modified the physical and chemical properties of the nurdles and proposes that these properties affected their distribution along the coast.
Read MoreA coral reef kickstart
WHOI’s Reef Solutions Initiative takes a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate solutions for ailing coral reefs
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