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Paul Caiger hunts for things that glow in the Ocean Twilight Zone

Paul Caiger is a fish biologist, marine photographer and postdoctoral investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). From the ghoulish grimace of the viperfish, to the bejeweled beauty of the strawberry squid, Caiger’s marine portraits have helped shine a light in this dark but critical ocean zone.

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The Ocean Twilight Zone’s crucial carbon pump

Ken Buesseler

When CO₂ enters the ocean, where does this heat-trapping gas go? WHOI geochemist investigates how much carbon from the surface ocean is dispatched to the ocean twilight zone–the midlayer of the ocean–and on to the deep ocean.

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Opening our eyes to the deep: Molly Curran

Molly Curran is a mechanical engineer in WHOI’s Deep Submergence Laboratory. She works on the design and operation of deep-sea robotic systems, including remotely operated vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and deep-sea samplers. She was the institution’s first pilot for Mesobot, WHOI’s latest autonomous robot designed to study the midwater realm known as the ocean twilight zone.

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Fish with Flashlights

Down in the dark and shadowy ocean twilight zone, countless species—bristlemouths, lanternfishes, jellies, and others—rely on bioluminescence for a variety of important functions, including finding their next meal, outsmarting predators, and looking for mates.

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Specialized camera system gives unprecedented view of ocean life

Sosik with sled

With still so much to learn about the planktonic creatures that support the marine food web, scientists with the Northeast U.S. Shelf Long-Term Ecological Research (NES-LTER) project have developed the In-situ Ichthyoplankton Imaging System (ISIIS) to take better images of these microscopic organisms in their natural environment

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Sea Ahead

the sea ahead

Once upon a time, ocean scientists hung up cans on up a tree on Bikini Atoll to measure wave height in the Marshall Islands during nuclear weapons testing. Today, ocean technologies and data harvesting are heading somewhere big, from swarming bots, to more autonomous submersibles, and the miniaturization of ocean sensors

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