Oceanus Online Archive
Creating synergy through art and science
A collaboration between the Art League of Rhode Island and WHOI scientists transforms abstract concepts into engaging perspectives on our ocean world.
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A Rainfall Forecast Worth its Salt
WHOI scientist Ray Schmitt and sons take top prize in rainfall forecasting competition.
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Can We Improve Monsoon Forecasts?
Scientists are exploring the ocean to gain new insights into forecasting the still-unpredictable monsoon rains that billions of people depend on to irrigate their crops
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Extreme Climate
Extreme climatic events such as unusually severe storms and droughts can have profound consequences for life both on land and in the ocean. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution climate scientist Caroline Ummenhofer studies the ocean’s role in the global water cycle and its effects on extreme weather and climate.
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To Forecast Rain, Look to the Ocean
Ever since humans have existed on Earth, they have looked to the heavens to forecast rain. But more reliable clues may lie in the ocean.
New research by scientists at Woods […]
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Warming Ocean Drove Catastrophic Australian Floods
New research by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution physical oceanographer Caroline Ummenhofer and Australian scientists suggests that long-term warming of the Indian and Pacific Oceans is increasing the risk of heavy rains in the region.
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Sea Science in the Space Age
South Asian monsoons bring huge amounts of fresh water into the Bay of Bengal. Summer Student Fellow Mara Freilich used huge data sets from satellites to how and where the salinity of the Bay changes as a result.
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The Retreat of the Gualas Glacier
Like many mountain glaciers, the Gualas Glacier in the Patagonian region of Chile has retreated fast during the past century in the face of climate change. But not only for […]
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River Quest
Max Holmes and Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink spend a lot of time upriver—one day bundled in a parka on the icy banks of the Fraser River in Canada, another day paddling in […]
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Storms, Floods, and Droughts
The source of the rain that filled your town reservoir, or flooded your nearby river, or never arrived to water your crops, is most likely the ocean.
The ocean contains 96 […]
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Calculating Evaporation from the Ocean
Illustration by Amy Caracappa-Qubeck, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Imagine you turn on the tap in the morning and water pummels out and spills over your sink. Later you go out to […]
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The Hunt for 18° Water
In 1959, oceanographer Valentine Worthington gave a name and an identity to a long-observed but poorly understood phenomenon of the North Atlantic. Valentine described how the interior of the Sargasso Sea contained distinct parcels of water with remarkably constant salinity, density, and temperature?roughly 18? Celsius. Decades later, his successors from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and eight other institutions have launched a far-reaching program to examine the formation and evolution of Worthington?s famous water and how it might influence North Atlantic climate.
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‘Seasonal Pump’ Moves Water Between Ocean and Aquifers
Hydrologists Ann Mulligan of WHOI and Holly Michael and Charles Harvey of MIT have cleared up a mystery of why so much salty water emerges from aquifers into the coastal ocean. The researchers discovered a counterintuitive seasonal pumping system at work.
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Water Flowing Underground
Groundwater discharge appears to be an important factor for determining the chemistry of the coastal ocean. As fresh groundwater flows toward the sea, it rises up over denser, salty water. The fresh and salty water mix along the interface, and the resulting fluid discharges at the shoreline. This interface between underground water masses has recently been described as a “subterranean estuary,” a mixing zone between fresh and salty water analogous to the region where a river meets the ocean.
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If Rain Falls on the OceanDoes It Make a Sound?
As with similar questions about a tree in the forest or a grain of sand on the beach, it may be hard to imagine that a few inches of rain matters to the deep ocean.
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