Multimedia Items
Illustration depicting the chemical journey of leaf wax
By dating leaf waxes, scientists can examine links between climate changes and carbon storage on land. (This infographic was created by Eric S. Taylor at Woods Hole Oceanographic Graphic Services…
Read MoreIllustration depicting the Deep Ocean Boundary Current
Scientists Amy Bower of WHOI and Susan Lozier of Duke University have used RAFOS floats to investigate the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC), a deep current that hugs North America's…
Read MoreIllustration depicting the formation cycle of piteraq winds
1) The trigger for piteraqs seems to be low-pressure systems, or cyclones, that tend to form frequently to the east and southeast of Greenland. Cyclonic winds from the northwest push…
Read MoreIllustration depicting the formation of the Samoan Islands chain
Like Hawaii, the Samoan Islands form over a hotspot–a plume of hot, buoyant magma that rises from deep within Earth’s mantle and through its crust and erupts to form volcanic…
Read MoreIllustration depicting the North Icelandic Jet current
The newly confirmed North Icelandic Jet forms when the warm surface of the North Icelandic Irminger Current sheds eddies that cool and disperse within the Iceland Sea Gyre. Cold, dense…
Read MoreIllustration depicting the ocean’s Biological Carbon Pump
Illustration depicting the ocean’s Biological Carbon Pump (Illustration by Natalie Renier, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Read MoreIllustration depicting where microbial life is discovered in vents
Scientist found mummified microbial life in rocks from a seafloor hydrothermal system that was active more than 100 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous when the supercontinent Pangaea was…
Read MoreIllustration explaining different stages of photosynthesis
Illustration explaining different stages of photosynthesis. (Illustration by Amy Caracappa-Qubeck, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Read MoreIllustration explaining how a biofilm forms in the sea
Illustration explaining how a biofilm forms in the sea. (Illustration by Jack Cook, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Read MoreIllustration explaining how a Deep Hypersaline Anoxic Basin (DHAB) forms
DHABs form when salt from long-buried deposits reaches the seafloor and dissolves into the ocean. The resulting extra-salty, ultra-dense water does not mix with normal, less dense, oxygenated seawater above…
Read MoreIllustration explaining the existence of ancient vent microbes
Scientists have found evidence that microbes thrive deep below the seafloor. They are sustained by chemicals that are produced when seawater percolates down and reacts with rocks found in Earths…
Read MoreIllustration explaining the life cycle of eels
The life cycle of eels still holds many mysteries for scientists. Eels are believed to mate and lay their eggs in the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean but…
Read MoreIllustration linking the Indian Ocean and the monsoons
Surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean naturally oscillate, a phenomenon called the Indian Ocean Dipole. During its positive phase, warmer waters in the western Indian Ocean bring heavy rains to…
Read MoreFunction of oil spill dispersant
Function of oil spill dispersant. (Illustration by Jack Cook, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Read MoreGalápagos Islands unique ecosystem involving trade winds and EUC
As trade winds push surface waters westward, the underlying Equatorial Undercurrent flows eastward. When it hits the Galápagos Islands, deep nutrient-rich waters are forced upward. These waters sustain the islands…
Read MoreGlobal map showing the track where Lauren Kipp measured seawater chemistry
Aboard the icebreaker Healy, Lauren Kipp measured seawater chemistry across the Arctic Ocean and found that levels of radium-228 have almost doubled over the past decade in the middle of…
Read MoreHow a DMON buoy operates to detect and transmit right whale location info
DMON (Digital acoustic MONitoring) buoys detect whale calls and transmit information about them from the seafloor up the cable to the buoy, which relays the information to a satellite and…
Read MoreHow a hydrothermal vent system works
From Oceanus magazine, Vol. 53, No. 2, pg. 56. (Illustration by Eric S. Taylor, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Read MoreHow a Thermal Glider operates autonomously in the ocean
How a Thermal Glider operates autonomously in the ocean. (Illustration by E. Paul Oberlander, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Read MoreHow antibacterial resistant bacteria spreads resistance
From Oceanus magazine, Vol. 53, No. 2, pg. 26. (Illustration by Natalie Renier, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Read MoreHow biological compounds from phytoplankton blooms enter the atmosphere
From here to there— This diagram illustrates how biological compounds from phytoplankton blooms enter the atmosphere and ultimately end up trapped in centuries-old ice cores that scientists can use to…
Read MoreHow blue holes are formed
How blue holes are formed. (Illustration by Eric S. Taylor, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Read MoreHow Cyanobacteria Crocosphaera watsonii recycles iron
Got iron? It’s an essential nutrient for living things, but it’s scarce in the ocean. Scientists have found that a key marine bacterium may have evolved a remarkable biochemical way…
Read MoreHow the Fraser River picks up chemical signatures along its journey
The Fraser River in western Canada picks up chemical signatures from the environment through which it flows. Scientists can analyze samples from the river to track a geochemical journey that…
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