Multimedia Items

Through the narrow Strait of Gibraltor, water from the Atlantic Ocean enters the Mediterranean Sea. The Atlantic water is less salty and less dense than saltier Mediterranean water, so the…

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was founded on January 6, 1930, following the recommendations of a National Academy of Sciences Committee on Oceanography. The chair of the committee, Frank R.…

An amphipod known as a Phronima is often cited as the inspiration for the alien queen in the 1986 blockbuster movie “Aliens.” It inhabits the sac-like body of a barrel-shaped salp,…

Scientists deploy a RAFOS float during a research cruise in the Denmark Strait to track the sources of sinking waters of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation—a key component of the Great Ocean…

The first hearing tests on a wild population of healthy marine mammals revealed that beluga whales in Bristol Bay, AK, have sensitive hearing abilities and far less extensive hearing losses…

Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) typically use tethers for remote control, but as they explore deeper parts of the ocean, traditional tethers can weigh them down. The Nereid HT ROV, shown here…

In 1975, the newly constructed hull of research vessel Oceanus first entered the water at Peterson Builders shipyard in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. During its 36-year career, Oceanus crisscrossed the Atlantic helping…

Marvel Stalcup (with glasses) and Gus Day launch an early instrument to determine current speeds and directions from the research vessel Crawford circa 1965. Data were recorded on photographic film. Modern oceanographers use Acoustic…

These colorful straps and ropes—or lines, as they are known on a ship—were photographed hanging outside the rigging van of John Kemp aboard the research vessel Neil Armstrong. Kemp, who…

WHOI researcher Phil Alatalo (far right) explains the operations of a standard oceanographic tool—the Niskin bottle—to undergraduate students in the WHOI Summer Student Fellowship (SSF) program aboard the research vessel…

The dense fog that blanketed Woods Hole for two days in late June finally cleared to blue summer skies, allowing MIT-WHOI Joint Program students to embark—two days late—on the Jake…

The human-occupied submersible Alvin surfaces from a mission to the seafloor in a photo taken circa 1967—three years after the sub was first built. Two crewmen known as “swimmers” assist…

2018 Summer Student Fellows Maya Chung (Harvard University) and David Brinkley (Amherst College) marvel at a jar of plankton collected from Buzzards Bay in mid-July. The samples were collected during…

Every six months, the imposing, sensor-laden moorings that make up the Ocean Observatories Initiative Pioneer Array need to be “turned”—hauled out of the water and substituted with clean, repaired, and…

Jellyfish are known for their painful stings—but they can also serve as a source of artistic inspiration. Artist Christina Machinski painted this image of a clinging jellyfish, which in real…

Sea level in coastal areas can be affected by a number of factors: tides, winds, waves, and even barometric pressure. New research led by WHOI physical oceanographer Chris Piecuch suggests…

In 2013, a WHOI-led research team set sail for the Eastern Beaufort Sea. Their mission: to search for evidence of a huge, ancient, freshwater flood caused by the melting of…