Oceanus Magazine - Page 3 of 8 - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Aqua Incognita

There is a jar of money in the conference room of the Mooring Operations & Engineering (MOE) team at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. It is a United Nations kaleidoscope of…

Ocean Tech

Pinocchio’s Nose

It took only a month for the new Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) to reveal insights about shifting ocean circulation patterns that could have major impacts on marine life and fisheries…

Ocean Tech

In 2005, scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution devised a revolutionary plan: They would deploy about 150 scientific instruments in coastal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard to try to understand…

Ocean Tech

Pop Goes the Seafloor Rock

WHOI scientists used the human-occupied submersible Alvin and the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry to explore a surprising discovery: gas-filled volcanic rocks on the seafloor that “pop” when brought up to the surface.

Ocean Tech

Girls Just Wanna Be Engineers

“Very few women go into engineering,” said Anna Michel, “because girls just don’t get the message that they could be engineers.” Michel, a scientist in the Applied Physics and Ocean…

How the Ocean Works

The Hot Spot Below Yellowstone Park

WHOI scientist Rob Sohn brought an arsenal of deep-sea technology normally used to explore the seafloor to the bottom of Yellowstone Lake, where a team of researchers investigated the subsurface geothermal activity hidden from view in the national park.

Ocean Life

PlankZooka & SUPR-REMUS

Much of marine life begins as microscopic larvae—so tiny, delicate, and scattered in hard-to-reach parts of ocean that scientists have had a tough time illuminating this fundamental stage of life…

Ocean Life

When the Hunter Became the Hunted

In waters off Mexico’s Guadalupe Island, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) engineers deployed the REMUS SharkCam, a torpedo-shaped robotic vehicle with a special system to track and film great white…

Ocean & Human Lives

Why Did the El Faro Sink?

WHOI deep-sea vehicles and scientists played critical roles in searching the seafloor and locating the voyage data recorder of El Faro, the ship that sank in 2015 during Hurricane Joaquin, killing all 33 crew members.

Ocean Tech

After Overhaul, Jason Is Stronger Than Ever

Jason, the workhorse remotely operated deep-sea vehicle, underwent a top-to-bottom overhaul that dramatically increased its capabilities.

Ocean Tech

To Track a Sea Turtle

A WHOI engineer and biologist devise an autonomous system to track and film sea turtles beneath the surface, revealing a turtle’s eye view of the world.

How the Ocean Works

Beneath the Sea, the Galápagos Reveal More Marvels

The Galápagos Islands have offered biologists a natural laboratory ever since Charles Darwin’s day, but they’re also a frontier for geologists and volcanologists to test theories. The thirteen major volcanic…

Ocean Tech

A New Eye on Deep-Sea Fisheries

Imagine that officials charged with setting deer-hunting limits had to assess the herd’s abundance by flying over forests at night. That’s a little like what the National Marine Fisheries Services…

How the Ocean Works

Through the Looking-Glass of the Sea Surface

Scientists are using new technology to make previously impossible measurements at the turbulent ocean surface—a crucial junction for energy exchange between the air above and the sea below.

Ocean Tech

TurtleCam

WHOI scientists create a robotic bloodhound to track and watch sea turtles in their inaccessible realm.

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 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.

Ocean Tech

‘Covering’ Alvin‘s History

The Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History in Weston, Mass., is having an exhibit of postal covers and artifacts related to the submersible Alvin’s 50th anniversary Oct. 3 to Nov. 2.

Ocean & Human Lives

High-tech Dives on an Ancient Wreck

When sponge divers first chanced upon the shipwreck off the Greek isle of Antikythera in 1900, they couldn’t have known that it would become the richest ancient shipwreck ever discovered.…

Ocean Tech

Alvin‘s Fun Facts

Here are answers to some of the questions people have asked about the deep-sea research submersible in its first half-century.

Ocean Tech

Alvin‘s Animals

From orange octopi and furry yeti crabs to the largest known anemone, pilots and scientists diving in the Alvin submersible continue to find amazing marine creatures.

Ocean Tech

Rebuilding Alvin: Chris German

From the beginning of 2011 to May 2013, Alvin, the U.S. science community’s only human-occupied submersible dedicated to deep-sea research, underwent a major overhaul and upgrade to greatly enhance its capabilities.…

Ocean Tech

At 50, Alvin Gets an Extreme Makeover

The deep-sea research submersible Alvin returned to service in March 2014 after undergoing an historic overhaul that significantly enhanced its capabilities.

Ocean Tech