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How shipwrecks helped a cold-water anemone move south

Researchers find fluffy anemones spreading south via shipwrecks, revealing how artificial reefs and ocean currents connect marine habitats

Aerial of campus Sustainable ocean

WHOI joins Manresa Wilds Project to help restore part of Connecticut’s coastline

Development of a new coastal green space and public park opens up access to ocean science in Long Island Sound

mackerel recipe

Recipe: Roasted peppers with smoked mackerel, mace, and mint

This seafood recipe by chef and author Barton Seaver is a great introduction to sustainable seafood

Emily Peacock Ocean life

Sampling Gulf Stream plankton, one teaspoon at a time

Three questions with marine research technician Emily Peacock

petrels Ocean life

These seabirds fly toward cyclones, not away from them

New GPS tracking on petrels reveals a surprising survival strategy hidden in the eye of the storm

water going down the drain Ocean & human lives

Are big spills the main source of ocean oil?

Evidence shows that smaller leaks on land contribute far more oil to our oceans

Sustainable ocean

Reclaiming knowledge from the sea

Jordan Kennedy combines Indigenous knowledge, engineering, and observation to rethink how coastal landscapes are studied and restored. Her work on clam gardens and autonomous mapping systems explores how revitalizing these ancient systems can also reclaim knowledge and relationships between people, place, and practice.

Sunita Williams

3 questions with a former NASA astronaut

WHOI Corporation Member Sunita Williams discusses space exploration, ocean science, and environmental stewardship

Answers from the Abyss
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Our Ocean. Our Planet. Our Future.

Cargo ships and tankers sitting at anchor outside a busy commercial port
Ocean life

Ships in the Strait of Hormuz are becoming invasive species breeding grounds

Beneath the waterline of every ship stalled in the Persian Gulf, a thriving underwater city takes shape—barnacles, algae, mussels, sea squirts. Some of those hitchhikers could reach coastlines they’d never find on their own.

Hercules

Is the ocean carbon sink at risk of faltering?

WHOI scientists explain how the ocean mitigates climate change—and could be compromised by it

whale shark and diver Ocean life

3 questions with Cam Braun

Marine biologist Camrin Braun explains why the world’s largest fish visit waters off Cape Cod—and what their epic migrations reveal about a changing ocean

Lori Hepner Ocean tech

Lux in abyssum

Artist Lori Hepner transforms seafloor data into ethereal light paintings

lobster trap Ocean life

Is underwater noise from construction affecting the American Lobster?

WHOI’s Sensory Ecology Lab investigates whether an industrialized soundscape impacts the health of a New England icon

Bosun Oscar Sisson (left) and WHOI engineers Sean Kelley, Mike Skowronski, and Isaac Vandor deploy the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry  Ocean tech

Exploring Atlantic seeps

AUV Sentry leads the way in mapping and monitoring methane bubbling from the seafloor

Quest was purchased by Shackleton Ocean tech

A once-in-a-generation dive into polar history

40 years after helping reveal the Titanic, Alvin returns to the North Atlantic to document two other legendary shipwrecks

Eyes on the deep submarine background Ocean tech

Eyes on the deep

How ocean imaging is accelerating the pace of deep-sea discovery

campaign launch event

Campaign for Our Ocean Planet

WHOI launches an audacious fundraising effort for ocean science

Plastic waste entangled beneath the Mediterranean's surface, highlighting marine pollution.

Deep-sea dustbins

The marine debris concentrating in the Northwest Atlantic’s underwater canyons

Hadal Snailfish Ocean life

Squishy survivor

How the snailfish survives the ocean’s most extreme pressures

Mar de Plata canyon Ocean tech

Answers from the abyss

How new discoveries in the deep could change life at the surface

Bathyopsurus-isopod2 Ocean life

A hadal zone mystery solved

An upside-down swimming isopod shows how tightly we are connected to the deep ocean

Oceanus-Covers

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illustration of weddell seal mother in the water
Ocean life

A mother seal dives

Follow a Weddell seal as her body adapts to foraging in deep, frigid waters

Titanic sinking with mummy's tomb
Ocean & human lives

A mummy, a myth, and the Titanic

A 1986 handwritten letter to Bob Ballard revisits one of the Titanic disaster’s strangest myths

wave in the ocean Ocean tech

Turning motion into power: Wave energy converters for sustainable ocean monitoring

In the rapidly evolving world of ocean technology, wave energy is emerging as a promising…

Ocean life

The world’s most abundant fish once thrived in an extreme climate

Fossilized teeth show bristlemouth fish evolved during one of the ocean’s hottest periods

Oleander through two rocks Ocean life

How a cargo ship is tracking hidden ocean life in the Atlantic

With funding support from CMA CGM, ocean observations aboard Bermuda Container Line’s M/V Oleander now include a window into microscopic life

Alvin and the swordfish Ocean tech

Alvin vs. the swordfish

During a 1967 dive off Florida, a startled swordfish rammed the famed submersible Alvin—lodging its sword in the hull and forcing the crew to abort the mission

The entrance to Room 71. (Photo by Daniel Hentz, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Ocean tech

Inside Room 71: WHOI history in seven artifacts

Some of the technology, art, and gifts that tell the story of the institution’s early days

Allan Hills, Antarctica How the ocean works

A scientist’s quest to find Earth’s oldest ice

After recovering ice that dates back 6 million years, Sarah Shackleton hopes to dig deeper into Earth’s history from a remote Antarctic moraine

spilhause projection
How the ocean works

It’s the most ocean-friendly map ever created. Why haven’t more people seen it?

Discover the Spilhaus Projection, a radical world map that reveals Earth as one connected ocean—and reshapes how we see the planet.

Climate & weather

Luxury cruises with a side of climate science

A new partnership gives scientists rare access to remote Antarctic glaciers—and a new way to engage the public

A Pioneering Vision Ocean tech

A Pioneering Vision

In 2005, scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution devised a revolutionary plan: They would deploy…

Did Dispersants Help During Deepwater Horizon? How the ocean works

Did Dispersants Help During Deepwater Horizon?

In the heat of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, U.S. government and industry responders had…

The Marine Reserve Goldilocks Problem Sustainable ocean

The Marine Reserve Goldilocks Problem

To protect coral reefs, governments and conservationists are looking to establish networks of marine reserves,…

Scientists Reveal Secrets of Whales Ocean life

Scientists Reveal Secrets of Whales

Researchers have known for decades that whales create elaborate songs. But a new study has…

In the Gardens of the Queen Ocean life

In the Gardens of the Queen

An unprecedented research cruise investigated one of the most beautiful and unexplored coral reefs in the Caribbean and fostered collaboration between U.S. and Cuban scientists.

New Air-Launched Devices Help Study Hurricanes Ocean & human lives

New Air-Launched Devices Help Study Hurricanes

A new breed of autonomous profiling “ALAMO” floats is giving scientists and forecasters a look at the way hurricanes grow or fade as they mix the ocean in their path.

How Do Fish Find Their Way? Ocean tech

How Do Fish Find Their Way?

An MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student is exploring how tiny larvae hatched in the open ocean find their way to coral reefs where they settle down and live.

Did Dispersants Help Responders Breathe Easier? Ocean & human lives

Did Dispersants Help Responders Breathe Easier?

Seven years after the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the decision to inject chemical dispersants into the deep ocean has remained contentious. New evidence reveals an unexpected benefit.

Pop Goes the Seafloor Rock Ocean tech

Pop Goes the Seafloor Rock

WHOI scientists used the human-occupied submersible Alvin and the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry to explore a surprising discovery: gas-filled volcanic rocks on the seafloor that “pop” when brought up to the surface.

Girls Just Wanna Be Engineers Ocean tech

Girls Just Wanna Be Engineers

“Very few women go into engineering,” said Anna Michel, “because girls just don’t get the…

The Hot Spot Below Yellowstone Park How the ocean works

The Hot Spot Below Yellowstone Park

WHOI scientist Rob Sohn brought an arsenal of deep-sea technology normally used to explore the seafloor to the bottom of Yellowstone Lake, where a team of researchers investigated the subsurface geothermal activity hidden from view in the national park.

Back to Bikini How the ocean works

Back 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.

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