Michael Carlowicz
‘Green’ Energy Powers Undersea Glider
Researchers have successfully flown the first thermal glider through the ocean—a robotic vehicle that can propel itself for several months…
Read MoreThe Spiral Secret to Mammal Hearing
Deeply Submerged Volcanoes Blow Their Tops
A research team led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has uncovered evidence of explosive volcanic eruptions on the Arctic…
Read MoreResearchers Successfully Forecast 2008 Red Tide
A research team led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) successfully predicted the widespread harmful algal bloom that…
Read MoreCytobot Gives Early Red Tide Warning
An automated underwater microscope developed by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) detected an unexpected bloom of toxic algae…
Read MoreCrack! A Lake Atop Greenland Disappears
In late July 2006, a 2.2-square-mile lake atop the Greenland Ice Sheet sprung a leak. Like a draining bathtub, the…
Read MoreThe Oceans Feel Impacts from Acid Rain
The release of sulfur and nitrogen into the atmosphere by power plants and agricultural activities is making seawater more acidic,…
Read MoreWill the Ocean Circulation Be Unbroken?
If the world’s climate is going to change, we will see signs in the ocean. The atmosphere and oceans are…
Read MoreMorss Colloquia Focus on Science and Society
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution launched a new program, hosting three “Morss Colloquia” since October 2006. Enabled by a generous grant…
Read MoreWHOI Scientists Testify to Congress
Marine geochemist Scott Doney and marine policy specialist Porter Hoagland traveled to the nation’s capital this spring to inform Congress…
Read MorePhone Call Links Inner and Outer Space
Tim Shank and Sunita Williams placed one of the most unusual long-distance phone calls of all time on Jan. 26,…
Read MoreScientists Unearth Long Record of Past Hurricanes
Reaching down into the muck below a lagoon off Puerto Rico, two geologists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution reached back…
Read MoreNew Regulations Proposed for Offshore Fish Farms
Newly proposed legislation to regulate large-scale fish farming in the oceans around the United States incorporates major recommendations from a…
Read MoreWHOI Scientists Provide Congressional Testimony
Susan Humphris, chair of the Geology and Geophysics Department, testified May 4, 2006, before the House Committee on Resources, one…
Read MoreOn the Trail of Microbes that Cause Seafood Poisoning…
Scientists Gear Up to Launch Ocean Observing Networks
Oceanography is on the verge of a revolution. Scientists and engineers have been dreaming up networks of permanent observing outposts that could probe from the sea surface to the seafloor from many different locations in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans. And that dream may take a big step toward reality if Congress agrees to the National Science Foundation’s six-year Ocean Observatories Initiative.
Read MoreA Laser Light in the Ocean Depths
Graduate student Anna Michel is adapting laser technology to the murky fluid environment and crushing pressures at depths of 11,000 feet. The goal is to develop an instrument that can directly measure the many elements spewing from hydrothermal vents just as they emerge from Earth?s crust.
Read MoreBuilding a Computer Model to Forecast Red Tides
The algae Alexandrium fundyense are notorious for producing a toxin that accumulates in shellfish such as clams, mussels, and oysters,…
Read MoreDo Fishing Regulations Lead to More Accidents?
Fishermen have argued that regulations about when and where they can catch fish have caused more sinkings and fatal accidents at sea. But a new statistical analysis by Woods Hole researchers has found no hard evidence to support that argument.
Read MoreThe Oceans Have Their Own Weather Systems
From June to September 2005, oceanographer Dennis McGillicuddy and a team of more than 20 scientists from WHOI and five other marine science labs tracked an eddy named A4. It was the oceanic equivalent of a hurricane?a huge mass of water, spinning like a whirlpool, moving through the ocean for months, stretching across tens to hundreds of kilometers, stirring up a vortex of water and material from the depths to the surface. But unlike destructive hurricanes, eddies are productive.
Read MoreThe Hunt for 18° Water
In 1959, oceanographer Valentine Worthington gave a name and an identity to a long-observed but poorly understood phenomenon of the North Atlantic. Valentine described how the interior of the Sargasso Sea contained distinct parcels of water with remarkably constant salinity, density, and temperature?roughly 18? Celsius. Decades later, his successors from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and eight other institutions have launched a far-reaching program to examine the formation and evolution of Worthington?s famous water and how it might influence North Atlantic climate.
Read MoreCaught in the Middle of the Marine Mammal Protection Act
In the past few years, several research projects have been halted because of conflicting interpretations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Energy, shipping, and naval interests claim the MMPA hampers their ability to work in the sea. Environmentalists and animal rights want the act strictly enforced. In between are scientists.
Read MoreAnalyzing Ancient Sediments at Warp Speed
Like a toy out of a science fiction story, the X-ray fluorescence core scanner reveals intimate details of the composition of ancient mud and sediment–which can contain a variety of clues about past climate and environmental conditions on Earth–without breaking the surface. In a matter of hours, the XRF simultaneously captures digital photographs and X-ray images of every millimeter of a core sample, while detecting the presence of any of 80 chemical elements.
Read MoreGoing 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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