Oceanus Online Archive
Investigating the ocean’s influence on Australia’s drought
Researchers look to the Indian Ocean for clues on how Australia’s blazing wildfires and bone-dry conditions have reached such extremes.
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Finding answers in the ocean
The test being used to diagnose the novel coronavirus—and other pandemics like AIDS and SARS—was developed with the help of an enzyme isolated from a microbe found in marine hydrothermal vents as well as freshwater hot springs.
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Gift enables new investments in ocean technologies
A grant from the Coleman and Susan Burke Foundation has allowed WHOI to make crucial investments in remote technology that enhance research innovation at sea. New video monitors aboard the R/V Neil Armstrong will allow scientists and crew to video conference throughout the ship or with colleagues on shore. The Burke Foundation also funded three projects making use of novel data streams from the Ocean Observatories Initiative and field test a wave-powered platform that enables remote communications with autonomous underwater vehicles.
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Who is Peter de Menocal? A Conversation with WHOI’s new President & Director
On October 1st, Dr. Peter de Menocal assumed the role of President & Director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the 11th person to hold that title since the Institution was founded in 1930. In a wide-ranging conversation, we meet the man and the scientist—and get a glimpse of what WHOI’s future may hold under his leadership.
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WHOI establishes new fund to accelerate microplastics innovation
With the backing of a handful of family foundations, WHOI is launching a Marine Microplastics Innovation Accelerator to help answer some of the most pressing—and foundational—questions about marine microplastics and their impacts
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A Sea of Hazards
How ocean scientists are working to safeguard us from the perils of a changing ocean
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Putting the ‘nuclear coffin’ in perspective
WHOI chemist and marine radioactivity expert shares his thoughts about radioactivity waste leaking from Runit Dome—a bomb crater filled with radioactive soil in the Marshall Islands that is now being penetrated by rising sea levels
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Experts Explore the Ocean-Human Health Link
Eleonora Van Sitteren Guest Student, Lindell Lab I work with the Lindell Lab group at WHOI on a selective breeding program with sugar kelps. These can be used as a…
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Can seismic data mules protect us from the next big one?
Researchers look to new seafloor earthquake detection systems for better detection and warning of seismic risk
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Why we explore deep-water canyons off our coast
WHOI biologist Tim Shank joins NOAA Fisheries, the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, the National Ocean Service, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) to study the ecological diversity and economic value laden in the 90 underwater canyons along the northeast U.S. continental shelf
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To sail, not to drift
Navigating a changing ecosystem, funding marine science, and finding hope—WHOI Deputy Director Rick Murray charts the course toward our ocean’s future.
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Sea Ahead
Once upon a time, ocean scientists hung up cans on up a tree on Bikini Atoll to measure wave height in the Marshall Islands during nuclear weapons testing. Today, ocean technologies and data harvesting are heading somewhere big, from swarming bots, to more autonomous submersibles, and the miniaturization of ocean sensors
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Looking into the Future
WHOI researchers discuss various ways that ocean science and technology are enabling a deeper understanding of our blue planet
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Uncharted Waters
Our global ocean will change dramatically over the next few decades. What might it look like, and how will humans adapt?
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Are We Alone?
To discover life in space, we look to our ocean extremes to understand what it’s capable of withstanding. The Exploring Ocean Worlds Program brings WHOI’s marine expertise into the far reaches of our solar system.
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Celebrating an oceanographic life
WHOI looks back at the legacy of co-founder of MIT-WHOI Joint Program, former Director of Research and Provost at WHOI, Art Maxwell
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Oceans of Change
“THE SEA NEVER CHANGES, AND ITS WORKS, FOR ALL THE TALK OF MEN, ARE WRAPPED IN MYSTERY.” So observed the narrator of “Typhoon,” Joseph Conrad’s 1902 novella. But today, we…
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The Ocean’s Moveable Feast
Over the past few decades, Carin Ashjian, a biologist at Woods hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has explored the marine food web and how it has responded to changing ocean conditions.…
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Bioacoustic alarms are sounding on Cape Cod
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and its Marine Mammal Rescue Team in Yarmouth, Mass. have responded to a record high of more than 464 marine mammals stranded on Cape Cod since January this year. Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) believe patterns from animal sound data may be the key to curbing these numbers.
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The Rise of Orpheus
WHOI’s new deep-sea autonomous underwater vehicle moves one step closer to exploring the hadal zone—the deepest region of the ocean—to search for new clues about the limits of life on Earth, and possibly beyond.
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Rapid Response at Sea
As sea ice continues to melt in the Arctic and oil exploration expands in the region, the possibility of an oil spill occurring under ice is higher than ever. To help first responders cope with oil trapped under ice, ocean engineers are developing undersea vehicles that can map oil spills to improve situational awareness and decision making during an emergency.
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Where the Rivers Meet the Sea
Estuaries are the borderlands between salt and freshwater environments, and they are incredibly diverse both biologically and physically. The diversity and the high energy of the ecosystem make estuaries remarkably resilient.
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A tunnel to the Twilight Zone
Scientists track hungry blue sharks as they ride swirling currents down to the ocean twilight zone—a layer of the ocean containing the largest fish biomass on Earth
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Mining climate clues from our whaling past
Climate scientists work with historians to tap weather records from old New England whaling logbooks. They hope to leverage the historical data to gain new insights into modern-day climate conditions.
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