Oceanus Online Archive
Red TideGone for Now, But Back Next Year?
The historic bloom of toxic algae that blanketed New England’s waters and halted shellfishing from Maine to Martha’s Vineyard in the spring of 2005 is over. But scientists are now wondering if there will be an encore.
Before departing, the algae likely left behind a colonizing population that may promote blooms in southern New England for at least the next few years.
The Once and Future Danube River Delta
?The Danube River Delta is like the Everglades,? said Liviu Giosan, who grew up near the Romanian wetlands. The triangle-shaped, sediment-rich region at the mouth of the Danube River is also rich with human history. A traditional maritime culture persists on the delta, and the United Nations has declared the region a World Heritage site. The Danube Delta is also a great place for a geologist to study how the coast stretches, contracts, and undulates with time?and human interference.
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Settling on the Seafloor
People may search for a long time, but they know it when they see it—the right job in the right town, or the right house in the right neighborhood. Then…
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A Tropical Research Paradise
WHOI Trustees Frank and Lisina Hoch have issued a one-to-one $1.125 million challenge to seize new opportunities and expand the Institution’s research in tropical regions.
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Institution Celebrates 75th Birthday in 2005
WHOI celebrates 75 years of ocean research, education, and exploration this year with several events planned for August and September.
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Seafloor Reconnaissance Reveals Hidden Dangers Off Antarctica
For five frigid weeks in April and May 2005, a team of scientists and engineers sat in inflatable boats off the coast of the western Antarctic Peninsula, steering clear of…
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Guy Nichols: Transforming Institutions
Guy Nichols never shied away from tough jobs. And he never lost sight of the fact that an organization needs all its people, not just those at the top.
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Remembering a Scientist/Student/Artist
Celeste Fowler joined the MIT/WHOI Joint Program (JP) in June 2003 and quickly made her presence felt.
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WHOI Associates Have a New President
In May 2005, Carl Peterson was named president of the WHOI Associates, whose membership supports research at WHOI.
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Newest Alvin Pilot Comes Aboard
Gavin Eppard became WHOI?s newest Alvin pilot on March 21, 2005.
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Pittenger Fellowship Awarded to Naval Graduate Student
WHOI presented its first Rear Admiral Richard F. Pittenger Fellowship in March to Ensign Allison Berg, a master’s degree candidate in the MIT/WHOI Joint Program.
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Hart Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Senior Scientist Stanley Hart of the WHOI Geology and Geophysics Department has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest learned societies in the nation.
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On the Seafloor, a Parade of Roses
Third generation of scientists finds third generation of hydrothermal vent sites.
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From Ancient Roman Omens, New Data on Solar Activity
Because aurorae, comets, and meteors were omens, the Romans and other ancient peoples observed the sky fastidiously, recording heavenly observations alongside detailed accounts of earthly events and military triumphs. Twenty centuries later, those historical records have become scientific data for researchers such as WHOI Senior Scientist Andy Solow.
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Oceanographic Telecommuting
‘Virtual’ chief scientist directs a research cruise without leaving land.
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Checking the Forecast for ‘Marine Snow’
The “rain” of tiny particles from sunlit surface waters to the deep ocean could play a key role in understanding global warming.
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Transparent Salps May Play Conspicuous Ecological Role
WHOI biologist Larry Madin led an expedition to waters off Antartica to learn about little-known gelatinous animals.
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The Great Flood of New York
An ice dam forming a large Ice Age lake collapsed 13,350 years ago, sending a flood down the Hudson River Valley and causing dramatic climate changes.
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Fathoming the Ocean Without Ever Going to Sea
“The general circulation of the ocean is a massive and majestic phenomenon,” says WHOI physical oceanographer Joe Pedlosky. In 2005, Pedlosky was awarded the prestigious Sverdrup Gold Medal of the American Meteorological Society for his theories explaining the inner workings of the ocean and the atmosphere. Not bad for an oceanographer who has never gone on a research cruise.
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Seeing Red in New England Waters
Coastal resource managers shut down shellfish beds in three New England states in mid-May—including rare closures of Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay—because of an intense bloom of the toxic algae Alexandrium fundyense. Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution saw the ‘red tide’ coming before its toxic effects reached the shore.
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Sensors to Make Sense of the Sea
It is difficult and expensive to go to sea, hard to reach remote oceans and depths, and impossible to stay long. Like scientists in other fields, oceanographers use sensors to project their senses into remote or harsh environments for extended time periods. But the oceans present some unique obstacles: Instruments are limited by available power, beaten by waves, corroded by salt water, and fouled by prolific marine organisms that accumulate rapidly on their surfaces.
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Risks and Remedies from the Sea
Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have embarked on a novel collaboration to investigate harmful algal blooms, ocean-borne pathogens, and potential pharmaceuticals from marine sources.
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Ocean Life Institute
The oceans cover 70 percent of the planet?s surface and constitute 99 percent of its living space, and every drop of ocean water holds living things. Without its oceans, Earth would be a rock in space, and life may never have appeared on our planet.
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