Physical Oceanography
Modeling our climate future; WHOI to lead ocean current research
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) senior scientist of physical oceanography, Dr. Young-Oh Kwon, and WHOI adjunct scientist, Dr. Claude Frankignoul, have received a new research grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Modeling, Analysis, Predictions and Projections (MAPP) Program, funding their research project focusing on western boundary ocean currents and their correspondence with the atmosphere in relation to modern day climate.
Read MoreStudy Finds Growing Potential for Toxic Algal Blooms in the Alaskan Arctic
A warming Arctic presents potential new threats to humans and marine wildlife in the fast-changing region Changes in the northern Alaskan Arctic ocean environment have reached a point at…
Read MoreProject funded to digitize and mine weather data from whaling logbooks
An ongoing collaborative effort by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMassD), and Providence Public Library (PPL), has received a grant from FM Global. The project is investigating the role of historical weather data in current climate change research, and the increasingly urgent issues surrounding it.
Read MoreReview Evaluates the Evidence for an Intensifying Indian Ocean Water Cycle
Report Calls for Better Integration of Observations, Models, and Paleo Proxies The Indian Ocean has been warming much more than other ocean basins over the last 50-60 years. While temperature…
Read MoreA rare mission north
Serendipitous science mission aboard the Polar Star provides “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to collect critical ocean data below the ice
Read MoreMaine’s having a lobster boom. A bust may be coming.
The waters off Maine’s coast are warming, and no one knows what that’s going to mean for the state’s half-billion-dollar-a-year lobster industry—the largest single-species fishery in North America. Some fear that continued warming could cause the lobster population to collapse. To understand what’s happening to the ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine, says Glen Gawarkiewicz, an oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in Massachusetts, you have to look beyond it—see how it’s affected by the atmosphere, ocean currents, and rivers that flow into it.
Read MoreScience RoCS Initiative responds to need for increased ocean monitoring
Commercial ships are helping oceanographers deploy robotic Argo floats to keep an eye on hard-to-reach parts of the ocean
Read MoreThe ocean science-art connection
Some of the most complex insights in marine science are no match for the communicative power of art. Check out these five recent collaborations between ocean scientists and artists
Read MoreData with a side of sass
The name “data dollies” was a tongue-in-cheek way of calling attention to the essential yet unglamorous work these mostly young, college-educated women performed while not at sea.
Read MoreAmidst pandemic, researchers deploy new monitoring station in tropical Pacific
After two attempts in 2020 to replace a monitoring station of the coast of Chile, WHOI researchers and colleagues successfully deployed the moored system despite pandemic-related challenges. This extends a 20-year ongoing presence of a monitoring buoy in this otherwise data-sparse area of the Pacific.
Read MoreTracking change in the Arctic Ocean
Changes in the Arctic Ocean are becoming clearer, thanks to an ocean monitoring network maintained by WHOI researchers in the Beaufort Gyre since 2003.
Read MoreNew observation network will provide unprecedented, long-term view of life in the ocean twilight zone
A new observation network under development by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will offer round-the-clock data about the ocean twilight zone – a dimly lit region roughly 200–1000 meters (650–3200 feet) below the surface, containing the largest amount of fish biomass on Earth.
Read MoreUS DOE Gives $21 Million for Innovative Offshore Wind Technologies
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution of Massachusetts will collect offshore wind resource data off the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island and use it to improve atmosphere-ocean simulation tools and reduce uncertainty in offshore wind resource assessment and forecasting.
Read MoreBreaking the ice on melting and freezing
“Ice deforms as it melts,” said WHOI physical oceanographer Claudia Cenedese, who has worked with Hester on the project. “It makes these very weird shapes, especially on the bottom, like…
Read More‘High-octane’ hurricane fuel swirls in the Gulf of Mexico
Researchers deploy an arsenal of underwater floats to monitor the Loop Current—one of the Atlantic Ocean’s fastest and warmest currents—to collect critical data for hurricane forecasting.
Read MoreInvestigating the ocean’s influence on Australia’s drought
Researchers look to the Indian Ocean for clues on how Australia’s blazing wildfires and bone-dry conditions have reached such extremes.
Read MoreNew multi-institutional grant will support a fleet of robotic floats
The National Science Foundation approved a $53 million grant to build a global network of chemical and biological sensors that will monitor ocean health.
Read MoreTwo New Studies Substantially Advance Understanding of Currents that Help Regulate Climate
Two studies shed new light on a critical driver of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and potential impacts of rising temperatures
Read More5 Questions with Dr. Amala Mahadevan
WHOI physical oceanographer sheds light on the climate-critical link between ocean currents and plankton
Read MoreHeat waves on Cape Cod may be tied to slowing ocean current
WHOI researchers studied 25 years of data in search of cause behind rising ocean temperatures.
Read MoreWHOI-NOAA partnership tackles critical gap in climate knowledge
Remote technologies, machine learning will improve simulations of polar ice melt and implications for the global climate Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) were recently awarded a $500,000 grant…
Read MoreStudies investigate marine heatwaves, shifting ocean currents
North America experienced a series of dangerous heatwaves during the summer of 2020, breaking records from coast to coast. In the ocean, extreme warming conditions are also becoming more frequent and intense.
Read MoreNorth Atlantic Ocean yields clues for better weather predictions
Findings of a new study investigating the interactions between the North Atlantic Ocean and the atmosphere will lead to more attention to how the ocean can be an important source of predictability in weather and climate.
Read MoreCoalition, including UMass Dartmouth, backs expanded research of offshore wind
Seven Massachusetts research institutions late last month pressured Congressional leaders to pass legislation that would “update and expand” the federal government’s offshore wind energy program and related research opportunities.
Read More