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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

Sustainable ocean

Reclaiming knowledge from the sea

WHOI’s Jordan Kennedy draws on Indigenous knowledge, engineering, and observation to rethink how we study and restore coastal landscapes

Sunita Williams

3 questions with a former NASA astronaut

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

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

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

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

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

Oceanus-Covers

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We can help you with that. Check out our extensive conglomeration of ocean information.

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

Larry Madin and Kelly Sutherland Ocean life

Tiny drifters, massive impact

How salps shuttle carbon to the deep

Ocean & human lives

The unseen toll of war on science

As the changing climate accelerates the spread of toxic algal blooms in the Arctic, the Russia–Ukraine war is cutting off critical international collaboration needed to understand and protect vulnerable ecosystems and communities.

Climate & weather

The human cost of Brazil’s floods

New research maps social vulnerability after the 2024 deluge

medicine bottles
Ocean & human lives

Healing on the High Seas

A look back at shipboard medicine on R/V Atlantis

Sunset over Cape Cod Bay (photo by Kara Dodge, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Tracking the hidden currents of Cape Cod Bay

Scientists are using drifters and ocean models to better understand how water, nutrients, and pollutants move through the bay

Pilot Whales the 'Cheetahs of the Deep Sea' Ocean life

Pilot Whales the ‘Cheetahs of the Deep Sea’

Scientists tag whales and find they sprint-dive to forage, hunting like undersea cheetahs.

Can't Bring Deep-sea Samples Up? Send a Lab Down. Ocean tech

Can’t Bring Deep-sea Samples Up? Send a Lab Down.

Much of what is surprising about the deep ocean results from the extraordinary conditions found…

The Oceans Feel Impacts from Acid Rain How the ocean works

The Oceans Feel Impacts from Acid Rain

The release of sulfur and nitrogen into the atmosphere by power plants and agricultural activities…

WHOI Scientists Earn Laurels How the ocean works

WHOI Scientists Earn Laurels

WHOI geochemist Stanley Hart is the 13th recipient of the Arthur L. Day Prize and…

Capital Campaign Heads into Homestretch

Capital Campaign Heads into Homestretch

With $180 million already committed, the WHOI $200 million Depth of Leadership campaign has reached…

Susan Avery Takes the Helm at WHOI

Susan Avery Takes the Helm at WHOI

With the first hints of autumn reaching Woods Hole last October, change of a different…

Arctic Voyage Tests New Robots for Ice-covered Oceans How the ocean works

Arctic Voyage Tests New Robots for Ice-covered Oceans

In the summer of 2007, an international team led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic…

DNA in Shipwrecked Jars Reveals Clues to Ancient World Ocean & human lives

DNA in Shipwrecked Jars Reveals Clues to Ancient World

Scraping inside clay jars recovered from a 2,400-year-old shipwreck, two researchers found DNA fragments that…

Ocean Observatories Initiative Poised to Launch Ocean tech

Ocean Observatories Initiative Poised to Launch

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) was awarded a $97.7 million grant to help build a…

Happy as a (Newly Discovered) Clam Ocean tech

Happy as a (Newly Discovered) Clam

Aboard a research ship in 1997, Janet Voight was amazed when she examined a small…

Protecting Public Health by Preventing Pollution How the ocean works

Protecting Public Health by Preventing Pollution

Growing up in Maine, Desirée Plata watched her grandmother suffer from illnesses that she suspected…

Making Nanotubes Without Harming the Environment Ocean & human lives

Making Nanotubes Without Harming the Environment

They are 10,000 times thinner than a strand of human hair, yet stronger than steel,…

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