Featured Researcher: Ken Buesseler
Chasing Ocean ‘Snowflakes’
Scientists envision putting a flotilla of devices in the ocean to act as “eyes” that can track the “marine snow” that drifts down into the ocean.
Read MoreMission to the Ocean Twilight Zone
The twilight zone is a part of the ocean 660 to 3,300 feet below the surface, where little sunlight can reach. It is deep and dark and cold, and the pressures there are enormous. Despite these challenging conditions, the twilight zone teems with life that helps support the ocean’s food web and is intertwined with Earth’s climate. Some countries are gearing up to exploit twilight zone fisheries, with unknown impacts for marine ecosystems and global climate. Scientists and engineers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are poised to explore and investigate this hidden frontier.
Read MoreBack to Bikini
WHOI scientists returned to the Pacific islands of Bikini and Enewetak in 2015 to study radioactive contamination nearly 70 years after the U.S. used the islands for nuclear weapons testing. What they learned could also be applied to a more recent nuclear disaster: the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi reactor meltdown in Japan.
Read MoreRadioactivity Under the Beach?
Scientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated—in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away.
Read MoreWHOI Scientists Garner Awards in 2013
As the year 2013 ends, we profile scientists who recently received awards and recognition for their work.
Read MoreRadiation Health Risks
The ability to gauge radiation at vanishingly low concentrations gives scientists a powerful tool for understanding ocean processes. “We can…
Read MoreSeafood Safety and Policy
In Japan, a nation that eats prodigious amounts of seafood, one question sits high on the list of public concerns: Is…
Read MoreHow Is Fukushima’s Fallout Affecting Marine Life?
» 日本語版 The Fukushima nuclear disaster delivered an unprecedented amount of radioactivity into the sea over a relatively brief time.…
Read MoreRadioisotopes in the Ocean
» 日本語版 The release of radioisotopes from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in March 2011 amounts to the largest-ever…
Read MoreABCs of Radioactivity
» 日本語版 To the average layperson, “radioactivity” is a harsh and scary word. But the fact is that radioisotopes, both…
Read MoreJapan’s Triple Disaster
» 日本語版 The chain of calamity now known as Japan’s Triple Disaster began with a massive rupture in the ocean…
Read MoreLessons from the 2011 Japan Quake
When the ground in Japan started shaking on March 11, 2011, the Japanese, who are well accustomed to earthquakes, knew…
Read MoreNew Head of WHOI Fleet Comes Aboard
Sometimes, a career change has the feel of deferred destiny. “I was in the Caribbean,” said Rob Munier, “at Grand…
Read MoreWHOI Scientists Bring Expertise to Capitol Hill
Several WHOI scientists have traveled to the nation’s capital, supplying Congress with scientific information and advice on problems ranging from…
Read MoreTo Fertilize, or Not to Fertilize
Global warming is “unequivocal,” the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported in November 2007. Human actions—particularly the burning of…
Read MoreProposals Emerge to Transfer Excess Carbon into the Ocean
It’s sort of the planetary equivalent of moving clutter accumulating in the attic to other storage space in the basement:…
Read MoreWill Ocean Iron Fertilization Work?
In this age of satellites, it’s fairly easy to answer the basic question of whether adding iron to the ocean…
Read MoreFertilizing the Ocean with Iron
“Give me half a tanker of iron, and I’ll give you an ice age” may rank as the catchiest line…
Read MoreSwimming in the Rain
Twilight zones, witch hunts, and crossbows usually don’t find their way into tales about new oceanographic instruments. This story isn’t…
Read MoreA Journey to the Ocean’s Twilight Zone
You are about to enter another dimension. You’re moving into a place of both shadow and substance, of things and…
Read MoreChecking 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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