Oceanus Magazine - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

New Techniques Open Window into Anatomy of Mollusks

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists are using advanced medical imaging techniques and diagnostic tools to reveal the internal structures of a wide range of marine animals. Most recently they…

How the Ocean Works

Round Up the Unusual Suspects

A variety of genetic techniques are advancing ocean scientists’ ability to identify which organisms live where in the vast ocean twilight zone and to find previously unknown species.

How the Ocean Works

A ‘Ticking Time Bomb’ in the Arctic

Scientists discover that the amount of heat in a major Arctic Ocean circulation system has doubled over the past 30 years. If the temperatures continue to spike, it could eventually spell trouble for the ice above.

Ocean Tech

The Deep-See Peers into the Depths

Decades of research from many WHOI scientists and engineers have culminated in a multifaceted vehicle to explore deep-sea marine life.

Ocean Tech

Harnessing the Power

Can wind developers and ocean scientists work together to get US offshore wind cranking?

Ocean Life

A DISCO in the Ocean

To investigate coral bleaching, WHOI scientists figure out a novel way to take direct measurements in the ocean of superoxide, a key molecule that vanishes almost as soon as it is made.

Ocean & Human Lives

Do Microplastics in the Ocean Affect Scallops?

WHOI scientist Scott Gallager is making field observations and conducting lab experiments to explore the possible effects of microplastics in the ocean on marine organisms.

How the Ocean Works

Daily migration

Many twilight zone organisms participate in the largest migration on the planet. It happens around the globe, every day, sweeping across the world’s oceans in a massive, living wave. Every…

Ocean Tech

Coding Curiosity

The ocean is an extreme environment that is hard for humans to explore. One solution is building deep-sea robots that can autonomously make decisions on what to look for and where.

Climate & Weather

Gliders Reveal Tango Between Hurricanes and the Gulf Stream

Spray gliders cruising the east coast are collecting ocean measurement data that hurricane forecast modelers can use to improve storm intensity forecasts.

How the Ocean Works

To Tag a Squid

How do you design a tag that can attach to a soft-bodied swimming animal and track its movements? Very thoughtfully.

Ocean & Human Lives

The Sun’s Overlooked Impact on Oil Spills

New findings by WHOI scientists could significantly change the way responders clean up oil spills in the ocean.

Ocean Life

Junk Food

An estimated eight million tons of plastics enter our oceans each year, yet only one percent can be seen floating at the surface. This is the third in a three-part…

Ocean & Human Lives

Tracking a Snow Globe of Microplastics

Millions of tons of plastics end up in the global ocean each year, but where does all that material go once it gets there?

Ocean & Human Lives

Investigating Oil from the USS Arizona

Ocean & Human Lives

Sweat the Small Stuff

microplastics

Ocean & Human Lives

From Macroplastic to Microplastic

An estimated eight million tons of plastics enter our oceans each year, yet only one percent can be seen floating at the surface. Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are…

Ocean Tech

Warping Sound in the Ocean

WHOI scientists warp sound–the primary means of transmitting information in the ocean–to “see” what’s happening below the surface.

Ocean Life

The Secret Tuna Nursery

WHOI biologists and physical oceanographers combine expertise to reveal a place in the ocean where some tuna are born.

Ocean Life

How Do Corals Build Their Skeletons?

WHOI scientists discovered precisely how ocean acidification affects coral skeletons’ a factor that will help scientists predict how corals throughout the world will fare as the oceans become more acidic.

How the Ocean Works

On (and Below) the Waterfront

The expansion of the New York metropolitan area’s harbor over the decades has led to big but hidden changes in tidal flows that have environmental impacts.

How the Ocean Works

The Living Breathing Ocean

Rainforests have been dubbed the Earth’s lung, but like us, our planet has two lungs. The second one is the ocean.

Ocean Tech

Mysteries of the Red Sea

The Red Sea also has several characteristics not seen in other oceans: extremely warm temperatures, high evaporation rates, odd circulation patterns, and a rare current that sometimes disappears in winter.

Ocean Life