Skip to content

Multimedia Items


Multibeam sonar image of Galápagos seamounts

Multibeam sonar aboard the research vessel Alucia provided 1-meter-per-pixel resolution of seafloor bathymetry (bottom), compared with 800-meter-per-pixel resolution of the same area provided by satellite altimetry data (top) The higher…

Read More

Rare look at animals in the ocean twilight zone

The ocean is so vast that it can be hard for scientists to find the species they want to study. That’s why two ocean robots are better than one for capturing these rarely-seen glimpses of twilight zone animals!

Read More

A Mountainous Task

A Mountainous Task

The Galápagos archipelago is made up of 13 major volcanic islands that occupy a submerged platform rising more than three kilometers (nearly two miles) above the seafloor. During an expedition…

Read More

Seafloor Up Close

Seafloor Up Close

Molly Anderson, a master’s student at Boise State University, takes a close look at the inside of a piece of basalt recently recovered from the seafloor by the human-occupied submersible Alvin.…

Read More

Sub Checks

Sub Checks

Alvin expedition leader Todd Litke (left) and pilot Danik Forsman prepare the human-occupied submersible to make its first dive of a recent expedition to explore the geology and geochemistry of…

Read More

Reading Rocks

Reading Rocks

A member of the science team on a recent expedition aboard the research vessel Atlantis carefully documented the freshly cut surface of a piece of seafloor basalt. The rock formed…

Read More

Canyon Explorers

Canyon Explorers

Yesterday, on the second anniversary of the founding of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument, WHOI deep-sea biologist Tim Shank, submersible pilot Buck Taylor, and photographer Luis Lamar (left…

Read More

All the Comforts of Home

All the Comforts of Home

Microbiologist Julie Huber participated on a research expedition on the exploration vessel Nautilus recently without leaving home. SUBSEA (Systematic Underwater Biogeochemical Science and Exploration Analog) is co-led by WHOI geochemist Chris German to…

Read More

Welcome, Alucia

Welcome, Alucia

The research vessel Alucia arrived in Woods Hole, Mass., for the first time on Saturday, August 25. The ship was re-fit in 2011 and, since that time, WHOI has played…

Read More

I See a Purple Sea Cucumber

I See a Purple Sea Cucumber

A purple elasipodida holothurian crawls on the seafloor more than 3,000 feet beneath the ocean surface at the base of a seamount off the Galápagos Islands. In August 2015, an…

Read More

Deep Garden

Deep Garden

The research vessel Atlantis and human-occupied submersible Alvin were in the far north in July 2002 on a cruise supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The mission was to visit six unexplored…

Read More

Uncovering Undersea Marvels

Uncovering Undersea Marvels

A green turtle makes its way through the diverse reef community on a seamount in the Galápagos archipelago. In 2015, an expedition led by WHOI geologist Adam Soule conducted acoustic…

Read More

Gobbling Deep-sea Robot

Gobbling Deep-sea Robot

Even while conducting research out in the Pacific Ocean, far from family and friends, it’s still Thanksgiving for U.S. scientists and crew members, and they always look for ways to…

Read More

Field of Stars

Field of Stars

Scientists exploring off the south coast of Fernandina Island in the Gálapagos archipelago recently saw and imaged this field of sea stars at about 280 meters (919 feet) deep. WHOI…

Read More

A Mountainous Task

A Mountainous Task

The Galápagos archipelago is made up of 13 major volcanic islands that occupy a submerged platform rising more than three kilometers (nearly two miles) above the seafloor. During an expedition…

Read More

Deep Partner

Deep Partner

The submersibles DeepRover2 (pictured) and Nadir survey a field of soft corals and sponges at about 80 meters depth off Santiago Island in the Galapagos Archipelago. During a three-week expedition…

Read More

Jaguar on the Seamount

Jaguar on the Seamount

On a recent trip Panama’s Coiba National Park led by WHOI biologist Jesús Pineda, AUV specialist Jeff Anderson and WHOI postdoctoral scholar Yogi Girdhar (left to right) deployed the SeaBED-class vehicle Jaguar…

Read More

Undersea Constellation

Undersea Constellation

In April, WHOI biologist Jesús Pineda worked aboard the research vessel Alucia, to study the ecology and oceanography of Hannibal Seamount, an undersea mountain rising from 1,377 to 130 feet…

Read More

Hannibal’s Secrets

Hannibal's Secrets

Researchers Jesús Pineda and Vicke Starczak had a front-row view in April 2015 as DSV Rover (pictured) and DSV Nadir descended from the research vessel Alucia to Hannibal Seamount in the Panamanian Pacific. At…

Read More

Journey to a Ph.D.

Journey to a Ph.D.

Eleanor Bors opted to skip her commencement exercises at Oberlin in 2009 to get an early start in WHOI’s annual Summer Student Fellowship program and join an expedition on the…

Read More

New Friends

New Friends

Alvin Pilot Bruce Strickrott, snapped this photo during Alvin’s 3,906th dive on July 18, 2003. The team had to do a little bit of maneuvering to catch this evasive red squid,…

Read More