Oceanus Magazine - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Setting a Watchman for Harmful Algal Blooms

As harmful algal blooms are becoming more frequent and severe worldwide, researchers in the lab of WHOI biologist Don Anderson are testing an array of new instruments that can be…

Ocean Tech

The Man Who Opened Our Ears to the Ocean

Over his long career at WHOI, Bill Watkins pioneered new instruments to collect sounds of whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals. That treasure trove will now be archive in the…

How the Ocean Works

An Appetite Stimulant for Bacteria in the Ocean

PUAs kick bacteria’s metabolism and CO2 respiration rates into hyperdrive—ike skinny weightlifters after a steroid shot.

How the Ocean Works

Short-circuiting the Biological Pump

The ocean has been sucking up the heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) building up in our atmosphere—with a little help from tiny plankton. Like plants on land, these plankton convert CO2…

Climate & Weather

Coral Crusader

Graduate student Hannah Barkley is on a mission to investigate how warming ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, and other impacts of climate change are affecting corals in an effort to find ways to preserve these vital ocean resources.

How the Ocean Works

Scientists Find Trigger That Cracks Lakes

Graduate student Laura Stevens became a focal point of a research team that cracked a big mystery atop the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Ocean Life

A Green Thumb for Ocean Microbes

Anyone who has tried to grow orchids or keep a bonsai tree alive will tell you that cultivating plants is not always simple. My thesis research absolutely depended on cultivating…

Ocean & Human Lives

Hidden Currents in the Gulf of Mexico

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill five years ago gave new impetus to investigating unknown subsurface currents deep within the Gulf of Mexico.

Ocean Life

Sand, Seals, and Solitude

In high school, students interested in art or science often diverge into separate fields. For several years now, an art teacher and scientist in Falmouth, Mass., have seeded a modest…

Ocean Life

A Telescope to Peer into the Vast Ocean

There are more single-celled plankton in the ocean than stars in the universe. A new instrument is about to depart on a mission across the vast Pacific to capture images of what is out there.

Ocean Life

New Use for Well-known Algae

A curious chemical compound in certain marine algae has been a godsend for oceanographers, helping them reconstruct past ocean conditions. Now the same compounds also may be useful in a completely different way: to produce jet fuel.

Ocean Life

One Algae, Two Fuels

New research shows a way to tap overlooked fats in marine algae to produce compounds used in jet fuel.

Sustainable Ocean

Jet Fuel from Algae?

New research shows a way to tap overlooked fats in marine algae to produce compounds used in jet fuel.

Ocean Tech

A Smarter Undersea Robot

Some say it is lethal to cats. WHOI scientists say it would be a boon for autonomous undersea robots.

Ocean Life

Hidden Battles on the Reefs

A new study led by WHOI scientists shows how changing ocean conditions can combine to intensify erosion of coral reefs.

Ocean Tech

Bringing a Lab to the Seafloor

Scientists can’t really know if new oceanographic instruments will really work until they try them in actual conditions in the real ocean. In this case, the rubber hit the road at the bottom of the sea.

How the Ocean Works

The Waves Within the Waves

If the 30-foot wave we were looking for had tumbled across the ocean’s surface that July day, it might have been mistaken for a monstrous rogue wave. But that’s not…

How the Ocean Works

The Jetyak

Oceanographers are always looking for cost-effective vehicles to help them explore risky regions. Scientists at WHOI have developed one: a robotic platform called the Jetyak.

Ocean & Human Lives

Farewell to the Knorr

Over its 44-year career, the retiring research vessel Knorr was on the scene for many of the most significant discoveries in the ocean.

Ocean Life

Trouble in the Tropics

An MIT-WHOI graduate student is on the trail of marine toxins that accumulate in fish and are eaten by people.

How the Ocean Works

From Lab to Sea

Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution share their field-tested experience, training graduate students on methods and instruments to collect data in the coastal ocean.

How the Ocean Works

Big Questions About Tiny Bacteria

It’s 3 a.m., and Jesse McNichol is struggling to stay awake. Since midafternoon, he’s been in his lab, tending to a jumble of glassware, plastic tubing, and metal cylinders filled…

Ocean & Human Lives

Where Did Deepwater Horizon Oil Go?

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was unprecedented, and five years later, scientists are piecing together new insights into how the oil moved and behaved in the deep ocean.

Ocean Life