Multimedia Items
Under Construction
The original research vessel Atlantis, seen here under construction in Copenhagen, was something of a novelty for its designers, naval architects Owen & Minot, who specialized in racing yachts, and…
Read MoreMotion Beneath the Ocean
Scientists aboard the R/V Atlantis recover an ocean-bottom seismograph (OBS) off the Galapagos Islands. Seismographs measure movement in the Earth’s crust, and scientists use data from these instruments to calculate the…
Read MoreExtra-firm Pillow
This cross-section of a pillow lava shows pockets of whitish carbonate trapped within, suggesting that seafloor sediments might have been folded into the lava as it erupted. The sample is…
Read MoreBack on Deck
Elizabeth Adams (center), a U.S. Coast Guard Marine Science Technician, assists WHOI engineer John Kemp (blue hard hat) and others in making a mooring recovery during an October 2011 Chukchi-Beaufort Sea cruise aboard…
Read MorePioneer Investigator of Deep-Sea Bacteria
Microbiologist Holger Jannasch (1927-1998), shown in his lab about 1966, is remembered for making seminal discoveries in microbial ecology and launching the new field of deep-sea microbiology. He began studying…
Read MoreChanging of the Guard
After retiring from service at WHOI, the research vessel Oceanus began a new chapter of ocean exploration in the Pacific this week, with work along coastal Oregon and Washington. The 177-foot…
Read MoreThe Wild White Yonder
It was about 25°C (-13°F) this week in Qaanaaq, Greenland (Latitude 77°N), when WHOI post-doc Peter Kimball tested a prototype unmanned aerial system (UAS) developed by him and WHOI colleagues…
Read MoreTour Tioga
On Thursday, March 29 from 9:00 to 4:00, scientists and community members are invited to the WHOI dock to tour the coastal oceanographic research vessel R/V Tioga. Over the past…
Read MoreGlobal River Sediments
WHOI researcher Valier Galy loads a sample into a gas chromatograph to identify and measure the abundance of lipids extracted from river and marine sediments collected from the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin.…
Read MoreRising and Converging
Spring means it’s suppertime in the Great South Channel, an undersea canyon between Nantucket Shoals and Georges Bank. During this time, a relatively fresh coastal current (right) flows south along…
Read MoreAtlantis II in Monaco
In 1963, WHOI’s research ship Atlantis II stopped over in Monaco on its way to the Suez Canal and a research cruise in the Indian Ocean. The second of three…
Read MoreDon’t Make Me Get Up
A lounging elephant seal casts a wary, but sleepy, eye on a group of researchers on Torgersen Island, Antarctica. The scientific team, which included WHOI scientist emeritus Peter Wiebe and…
Read MoreA Newfound Cog in the Ocean Conveyor
Grendel’s Lair
In the fall of 2011, the WHOI-operated research vessel Knorr sailed past the Faroe Islands east of Iceland, an ideal home for Beowolf’s nemesis. The team on board, led by…
Read MoreTitanic in a New Light
Water Day, Every Day
March 22 is World Water Day. In reality, it is hard to imagine a day on Earth without water. Water is the substance most associated with life on our planet.…
Read MoreSunrise, Sunset, or Noon?
“High” noon in the Arctic in winter looks a lot like sunset or sunrise. In November 2011, WHOI biologist Carin Ashjian led colleagues on the first-ever winter research cruise to…
Read MoreA Shard of Evidence
Karin Lemkau searches for oil—but not in the usual places. In 2007, a container ship, the M/V Cosco Busan, struck the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and spilled tens of thousands…
Read MoreFlounder, Drawn by a Giant
Henry Bryant Bigelow (1879-1967) helped establish the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and was WHOI’s first director, from 1930 to 1940. One of the giants of U.S. oceanography, Bigelow’s interests spanned…
Read MoreUp Close With Plankton
Why study lifeless krill, copepods, and other tiny Arctic organisms under a microscope when you can see them live and in action in their native environment? During an early winter…
Read MoreThe Telltale Clue
Soon after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, pieces of a mysterious white substance was found bobbing in the Gulf of Mexico. The material was hard, porous, and uniformly embedded…
Read MoreMarine Microbes vs. Cystic Fibrosis
Technician Kristen Rathjen displays flasks of microbial cultures that are part of a project in Tracy Mincer’s lab to generate potential treatments for cystic fibrosis (CF). As they grow, marine…
Read MoreStudent Driver
Chris Morgan, chief engineer on the research vessel Atlantis, manipulated the remotely operated vehicle Jason at the bottom of the western Caribbean Sea recently while being guided by members of the…
Read MoreAlvin Takes Flight
In February 1966, Alvin was loaded onto a transport plane at Otis Air Force Base in Falmouth, Mass., for a flight to Spain. On January 17 of that year, a…
Read More