Multimedia Items
PS: Earthquakes generate waves
Earthquakes, including the recent major quakes in Chile and Haiti, release energy that radiates two kinds of seismic waves: compression waves (P waves) and shear waves (S waves). P waves…
Read MoreOcean Encounters: Geology Rocks!
Join us as we talk with three people with very different jobs—all in geology—about how they got into the field and where their careers are taking them.
Read MoreSeafloor topography data & subterranean conceptual view at Kermadec Trench
Ocean trenches, such as the Kermadec (shown here) near New Zealand, exist where one of Earth’s tectonic plates is sinking and sliding beneath another. This process, referred to as plate…
Read MorePlates Separate
The Mid-Ocean Ridge and rift valleys, such as the one that runs through eastern Africa, occur along boundaries where plates are spreading apart. New oceanic crust is created as the…
Read MorePlates Slide
Plates grinding past each other in opposite directions create faults called transform faults. Powerful earthquakes often strike along these boundaries. The San Andreas Fault is a transform plate boundary that…
Read MoreLavas forming at volcanic arcs
A new study changes our understanding of how lavas are formed at volcanic arcs, and may have implications for the study of earthquakes and the risks posed by volcanic eruption.…
Read MoreTremors of the deep sea
We can all imagine the devastation hurricanes bring ashore. Well it turns out that hurricanes could be just as devastating to denizens of the deep ocean.
Read More2010 Haiti Earthquake
The Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti alleviated built-up stress along one segment (blue gridded area boxes) of the Enriquillo fault, which cuts across the island. But scientists calculated areas (red…
Read MoreStressed to a Fault
The island of Haiti is cut by the Enriquillo fault, the border between two of Earth’s tectonic plates—the Caribbean Plate, moving generally eastward, and the Gonave Microplate, moving westward. In…
Read MoreChile Waters
It takes a village of scientists, engineers, and ship’s crew to conduct a research expedition like this off the coast of Chile in February 2017. The expedition’s chief scientist, Jeff…
Read MoreMany Languages, One Ocean
Corals, coral health, and the threats facing reefs worldwide will be just a few of the items on the agenda at a new conference tomorrow at WHOI. “Oceanos: WHOI en Español…
Read MoreAfter Dark in the Park
A team of researchers worked well past sunset on the shore of Yellowstone Lake in 2016 to section and catalog a core they had taken from the lake bed earlier…
Read MoreMixing & Melting
A new study changes our understanding of how lavas are formed at volcanic arcs, and may have implications for the study of earthquakes and the risks posed by volcanic eruption.…
Read MoreWorking Under Pressure
WHOI senior engineering assistant Dan Kot refurbishes one of the glass pressure housings from an ocean-bottom seismograph (OBS). This type of seismograph is used to measure the movement of the…
Read MoreTragedy Then and Now
Namiwake Shrine in the city of Sendai stands in testament to the forces that have shaped the landscape, culture, and history of Japan. The shrine, whose name means “parted wave,”…
Read MoreDistant Rumblings
Recent seismic activity along the Cascadia Subduction Zone has renewed attention on the hazard it poses to residents from Vancouver to Portland. The Ocean Bottom Seismograph Instrument Pool which includes researchers from…
Read MoreCape-Able Partners
A new grant from The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation will help WHOI fund a three-year collaboration with Cape Abilities—a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding good jobs for disabled…
Read MoreFour Years On
In March 2011 one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded shook Japan, creating a tsunami that damaged the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant and resulted in the largest unintentional release…
Read MoreMaking Waves
WHOI geophysicist Jian Lin (right) with summer student Yen Joe Tan observe waves created during a tsunami experiment at Trunk River in Falmouth, Mass. Lin and colleagues have studied earthquakes…
Read MoreClose-up
In September 2013 WHOI marine chemist Ken Buesseler traveled with a group of Japanese colleagues to the northeastern coast of Japan within one kilometer (one-half mile) of the damaged nuclear…
Read MoreGolden Opportunity
Onlookers on shore and at sea enjoyed a clear view of the Golden Gate Bridge during a recent R/V Atlantis transit. WHOI ships often make port calls in major cities,…
Read MoreRing of Fire
The Pacific “Ring of Fire” produces some of the most destructive earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions on Earth, including the 2011 Japan mega-quake and tsunami. WHOI geophysicist Jian Lin (middle)…
Read MoreCore Knowledge
During a recent trip to Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, WHOI guest student Chris Maio assisted in the collection of sediment cores from the Beluga Slough salt marsh. The trip was funded…
Read MoreMaking Waves
WHOI geophysicist Jian Lin (right) with summer student Yen Joe Tan observe waves created during a tsunami experiment at Trunk River in Falmouth, Mass. Lin and colleagues have studied earthquakes…
Read More