Multimedia Items
Researching the Twilight Zone
Meet WHOI technician, Helena McMonagle, and learn how research is conducted in the twilight zone using MOCNESS. This was part of a mission in spring of 2019 where several members of the OTZ Project team conducted an expedition aboard OceanX’s research vessel, the M/V Alucia, out of the Bahamas. The main goal of the expedition was to examine how the OTZ project site off the coast of New England differs from this distant –yet connected– region of the twilight zone. The team worked closely with OceanX to share their journey through video diaries and photographs of the extraordinary creatures brought on board throughout the cruise. The Ocean Twilight Zone is supported by the Audacious Project, a collaborative endeavor, housed at TED, to surface and fund ideas with the potential to create change at thrilling scale.
Read MoreMesobot: Following life in the Twilight Zone
Mesobot is a brand new underwater vehicle designed to reveal what lives in the ocean’s twilight zone. Mesobot can follow animals as they move through the darkness and as they migrate from the depths to the surface and back. The twilight zone is vast and remote, but is threatened by unregulated fishing and climate change. We need Mesobot’s insights to understand and protect the twilight zone before humans change it forever.
Read MoreWHOI’s First Ocean Twilight Zone Expedition
The Ocean Twilight Zone abounds with life but has remained largely unexplored. A team of researchers led by WHOI acoustic oceanographer Andone Lavery recently returned from the first expedition to […]
Read MoreOcean Twilight Zone Engineer Kaitlyn Tradd
Mechanical Engineer Kaitlyn Tradd describes how a day in a WHOI exhibit center changed her life, as she prepares to explore the Ocean Twilight Zone in an unprecedented expedition aboard […]
Read MoreLife in the Twilight Zone
The ocean twilight zone—200 to 1,000 meters (660 to 3,300 feet) beneath the surface—teems with life. Spanning the entire world, its waters are vast, dimly lit, and under crushing […]
Read MoreCatching ‘snow’ in the ‘twilight zone’
Clindor Cacho of WHOI (middle), and Brad Issler (left) and Stephen Bell (right) from the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, recover a Neutrally Buoyant Sediment Trap (NBST) after a […]
Read MoreSun and snow in the “Twilight Zone”
Sunset on the RV Atlantic Explorer during a research cruise in September 2009 in the Sargasso Sea as part of the Twilight Zone Explorer research project led by Read More
Working in the Twilight Zone
Crossata alba jellyfish
Delicate jellyfish such as this Crossota alba thrive in the Ocean Twilight Zone, where no wind, waves, or turbulence can tear them apart. In spite of their fragility, these gelatinous animals are often successful predators
Read MoreIlluminating the Abyss
Join four leading ocean explorers and advocates for a live conversation about pushing boundaries and seeking solutions to the Earth’s most pressing problems—deep in the ocean’s twilight zone.
Read MoreUnderwater robot tracks ocean creatures
An innovative underwater robot known as Mesobot is providing researchers with deeper insight into the vast mid-ocean region known as the “twilight zone.” Capable of tracking and recording high-resolution images of slow-moving and fragile zooplankton, gelatinous animals, and particles, Mesobot greatly expands scientists’ ability to observe creatures in their mesopelagic habitat with minimal disturbance. This advance in engineering will enable a greater understanding of the role these creatures play in transporting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the deep sea, as well as how commercial exploitation of twilight zone fisheries might affect the marine ecosystem.
Read MoreKeep It Weird
Discover the weird and wonderful creatures of the Ocean Twilight Zone and how they keep our planet healthy. Take our quiz to find your weird at keepitweird.org!
Read MoreHyperiid amphipod: a shimmer in the net
This hyperiid amphipod is a member of the crustacean family that typically act as parasites to gelatinous neighbors, such as salps. This particular suborder lives exclusively in the marine environment. Paul Caiger, who snapped the picture, saw this particular shrimp-like species during an ocean twilight zone research cruise on R/V Neil Armstrong (2020).
Read More360˚ Video: Deploying Mesobot
You’re on deck as the stealthy underwater robot Mesobot makes another trip into the ocean twilight zone to test equipment that will help scientists track bits of “environmental DNA” floating in the water.
Read MoreOpen Ocean Diving Observations
Watch and learn how blue and black water diving is conducted in the open ocean and what these divers see during the day and during the twilight zone migration at night.
Read MoreWhat’s it like in a submersible?
It is hard to describe what it’s like to physically travel down to the twilight zone. Both Heidi Sosik, senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ) project lead and Joel Llopiz, Associate Scientist, and OTZ lead of the life histories and behavior theme went down in a submersible for the first time to experience the twilight zone. They were able to able to observe beautiful jellies and small fishes like bristlemouths, hatchetfish, and lanternfish, all in their natural habitat.
This was part of a mission in spring of 2019 where several members of the OTZ Project team conducted an expedition aboard OceanX’s research vessel, the M/V Alucia, out of the Bahamas. The main goal of the expedition was to examine how the OTZ project site off the coast of New England differs from this distant –yet connected– region of the twilight zone. The team worked closely with OceanX to share their journey through video diaries and photographs of the extraordinary creatures brought on board throughout the cruise. The Ocean Twilight Zone is supported the Audacious Project, a collaborative endeavor, housed at TED, to surface and fund ideas with the potential to create change at thrilling scale.
Read MoreWhat is the story behind Mesobot?
Mesobot is designed to let scientists observe the twilight zone by autonomously tracking individual animals for hours or even days without disturbing the environment or disrupting their behavior, making it possible to follow individual animals as they take part in the great migration from the twilight zone to the surface and back each day. Mesobot is also equipped with samplers that will allow it to capture traces of environmental DNA (eDNA) from seawater while on a dive. The engineering team held their first successful at-sea test in June of 2019.
Read MoreMia and Molly: Between Two Robots
You’ve seen the comedy talk show Between Two Ferns. Now check out BETWEEN TWO ROBOTS, where kids grill #WHOI scientists about the #OceanTwilightZone.
Read MoreMia and Kaitlyn: Between Two Robots
You’ve seen the comedy talk show Between Two Ferns. Now check out BETWEEN TWO ROBOTS, where kids grill #WHOI scientists about the #OceanTwilightZone.
Read More2021 Year in Review
Re-live the best of 2021 with this montage showcasing just some of WHOI’s ocean science, technology, and engineering highlights. WHOI researchers are active in upwards of 800 projects around the world at any time, providing critical information about some of the most urgent challenges facing humanity and the planet we call home. As part of the WHOI community, we thank you for your dedication to our ocean, our future, and our planet. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2022!
Read MoreExploring Deepwater Ecosystems with eDNA
Between September 23-27, 2019, a team of ocean scientists and engineers from WHOI and Lehigh University used NOAA research vessel Manta and the newly developed autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Mesobot to collect environmental DNA (eDNA) in order to explore the biodiversity of deepwater ecosystems near Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico.
Read MoreThe ghoulish grimace of the viperfish
Bred in darkness, raised to kill, this is the fearsome viperfish – Chauliodus sloani. (Photo by Paul Caiger, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
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