Oceanus Online Archive
Float 312, Where Are You?
The ocean is so enormous, even a fleet of 2,338 ocean-monitoring instruments can sail into it and go largely unnoticed. That’s what floats 312 and 393 were doing until something…
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Under-ice Floats Offer a ‘Breakthrough’
The Arctic Ocean, home to fierce winds, punishing temperatures, and thick sea ice, is no place for wimpy people?or machines. So when WHOI physical oceanographers Peter Winsor and Breck Owens set out to explore the largely unknown currents beneath the polar sea ice, they had to design an instrument with true grit. (Fifth in a five-part series.)
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A Sentry at the Atlantic Gateway
Here’s an easy recipe to change Earth’s climate: Just add more fresh water to the North Atlantic Ocean. In this oceanic part of the world lies a critical—and sensitive—component of…
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The Flywheel of the Arctic Climate Engine
A key component of the Arctic climate clockworks is the Beaufort Gyre?a bowl of cold, icy, relatively fresh waters north of Alaska that is swept by prevailing winds into a circular swirl larger than the Gulf of Mexico.
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Flying Blind in the Ice Factory
Al Plueddemann wants to push the envelope and fly a robotic vehicle into the wild blue under the polar ice cap. North of Alaska lies a key region for understanding…
Read MoreIs Global Warming Changing the Arctic?
In the Arctic, the air, sea ice, and underlying ocean all interact in a delicately balanced system. Four ambitious Arctic projects are pulling back the icy veil that shrouds our understanding of the Arctic Ocean?s role in our climate system. (First of a five-part series.)
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To Find Whales, Follow Their Food
The average adult right whale consumes about a ton of food a day, eating billions of tiny crustaceans called copepods that are packed with protein and calorie-rich oils. “To whales,…
Read MoreDiving into the Right Whale Gene Pool
Like forensic detectives, a multi-institutional team of scientists has followed a thread of DNA from the highly endangered right whale population across the oceans and back through generations.
Read MoreDoing the Right Thing for the Right Whale
The situation is urgent: Seventy years after whaling was banned, the North Atlantic right whale population has not recovered. Only 300 to 350 remain, and the species is headed toward…
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Going Wireless in the Deep Blue
How do you get long-term ocean measurements from any spot on the globe, with day by day feedback and low costs? If you are Dan Frye of the WHOI Advanced Engineering Laboratory, you take an old oceanographic concept?the moored buoy?and bring it into the 21st century with wireless technology.
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Institution Receives Surprise Bequest
The latest news from around the Institution includes: the second-largest donation in WHOI history; training and awards for mid-career journalists; a new fund for graduate student training in seagoing skills; and a successful program for undergraduates.
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WHOI Opens New Research Facilities
For the first time in 15 years, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has added significant office and laboratory space to its Quissett Campus. This fall, scientists, technical staff, and students started moving into more than 67,000 square feet of new space, a 25 percent increase in the Institution?s scientific facilities.
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A Touchstone for Marine Chemists and Students Retires
John Farrington touched the lives of hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students. He helped scores of young scientists launch their careers with postdoctoral scholarships. He won the admiration of colleagues for his leadership in the study of organic geochemistry in the ocean. In November, the chemical oceanographer and longtime dean and vice president for Academic Programs at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution stepped aside from his post.
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Tracking an Ocean of Ice Atop Greenland
Sarah Das calls herself a “frozen oceanographer.” Most people look at Greenland and see a vast ice sheet covering Earth’s largest island. But Das sees a huge reservoir of water—temporarily…
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10,000 Earth & Ocean Scientists. Five days.
Over the next week, I will be posting daily reports about what’s happening at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting. This is the premier meeting in the field of Earth sciences, and it has…
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Action, Camera … Lights
Exploring the sunless seafloor can be like using a flashlight to find something in a dark basement. Now Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists and engineers have built a portable light system to illuminate the depths, essentially transforming areas of the deep sea into a photography studio.
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Scientists Find a New Twist in How Squids Swim
Erik Anderson was vexed by some scientific papers he read during his first year of graduate studies. Engineers had asserted that squids likely propelled themselves through water by creating vortex rings. Anderson begged to differ. Together with Mark Grosenbaugh, he set up a series of experiments to check the theories against some observational evidence.
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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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Should Eastern Oysters Be Put on the Endangered List?
Eastern oysters in Chesapeake Bay were not as happy as clams, and neither was Wolf-Dieter Busch. The environmental consultant from Maryland knew that overharvesting, habitat loss, poor water quality, and…
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Scientific (and Surfing) Safari
Eric Montie has a great tan, photos of huge waves taped above his computer, and a penchant for grabbing his short board and racing to the beach at a moment’s notice.…
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A Mysterious Disease Is Infecting Northeast Clam Beds
Scientists follow clues to the mysterious disease that is killing off clams on Cape Cod and along the Eastern Seaboard.
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Finding Nemo…and Other Endangered Fish
A novel method to track fish larvae?using tetracycline to tag otoliths, or ear bones?sheds lights on which marine areas to protect
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Cold Comfort for Barnacles
A WHOI research team reports that barnacle larvae can remain frozen up to seven weeks and still revive, settle, and grow to reproduce. The discovery offers a new understanding of barnacle larvae, which are abundant sources of food for larger animals in the coastal ocean. It also provides possible clues to how other intertidal marine invertebrates may settle and survive harsh winters.
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