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Mary Sears and the race to solve the ocean in World War II

How her expertise on tides, currents, and swells saved American lives overseas

gwyneth packard

Deep-sea musings

Roboticist Gwyneth Packard on the need for ocean exploration today

Ostrander

Fires, floods, and forgotten places

Finding home with author Madeline Ostrander

ship Ocean Tech

Following the Polar Code


Crew of R/V Neil Armstrong renew their commitment to Arctic science with advanced polar training


truck Sustainable Ocean

Harnessing the ocean to power transportation

WHOI scientists are part of a team working to turn seaweed into biofuel

morning catch Sustainable Ocean

Casting a wider net

The future of a time-honored fishing tradition in Vietnam, through the eyes of award-winning photographer Thien Nguyen Noc

gold mines

Gold mining’s toxic legacy

Mercury pollution in Colombia’s Amazon threatens the Indigenous way of life

WHOI senior scientist Dennis McGillicuddy holds a jarred Sargassum sample

How do you solve a problem like Sargassum?

An important yet prolific seaweed with massive blooms worries scientists

Oceanus magazine Vol. 60, No. 1
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and get Oceanus delivered to your door twice a year as well as supporting WHOI's mission to further ocean science.

Our Ocean. Our Planet. Our Future.

shells

Ancient seas, future insights

WHOI scientists study the paleo record to understand how the ocean will look in a warmer climate

the landfall
Climate & Weather

Rising tides, resilient spirits

As surrounding seas surge, a coastal village prepares for what lies ahead

WHOI biologist Laela Sayigh attaches a suction-cup hydrophone to a dolphin in Sarasota Bay

Whistle! Chirp! Squeak! What does it mean?

Avatar Alliance Foundation donation helps WHOI researcher decode dolphin communication

We can’t do this alone

For marine chemist Adam Subhas, ocean-climate solutions don’t happen without community

Dickie Edwards in Jaws Ocean Life

Behind the blast

The marine superintendent who blew up Jaws

ID card Ocean Tech

How WHOI helped win World War II

Key innovations that cemented ocean science’s role in national defense

Ghana Ocean & Human Lives

Life at the margins

Scientists investigate the connections between Ghana’s land, air, sea and blue economy through the Ocean Margins Initiative

Elizabeth Spiers How the Ocean Works

Grits, storms, and cosmic patience

As storms stall liftoff, Europa Clipper Mission Team member Elizabeth Spiers patiently awaits the biggest mission of her life

kelp farming Ocean Tech

Seeding the future

New WHOI tech lends a hand to kelp farmers

mROV concept rendering Ocean Tech

New underwater vehicles in development at WHOI

New vehicles will be modeled after WHOI’s iconic remotely operated vehicle, Jason

Ocean Tech

Learning to see through cloudy waters

How MIT-WHOI student Amy Phung is helping robots accomplish dangerous tasks in murky waters

angler fish Ocean Life

A rare black seadevil anglerfish sees the light

A viral video shows a denizen of the ocean’s twilight zone making an unusual trip to the surface

Sabrina Imbler Ocean & Human Lives

From surface to self

A writer’s journey through science and story

Oceanus-Covers

Looking for something specific?
We can help you with that. Check out our extensive conglomeration of ocean information.

Janine Wong current art
How the Ocean Works

Unseen Ocean

Artist Janine Wong and scientist Jing He capture the art of currents in “Submesoscale Soup”

Ocean Life

Five marine animals that call shipwrecks home

One man’s sunken ship is another fish’s home? Learn about five species that have evolved to thrive on sunken vessels

zoo Ocean Life

Deep-sea amphipod name inspired by literary masterpiece

Name pays tribute to Cervantes’ Don Quixote and reinforces themes of sweetness and beauty

COP 29 Climate & Weather

5 Takeaways for the Ocean from the COP29 Climate Conference

Explore the key outcomes from this year’s UN Climate Conference

Mike Singleton Ocean Tech

Go with the flow

Mike Singleton, relief captain, R/V Neil Armstrong describes the intricate dance of navigating ocean currents during scientific expeditions

The Grossmans

A gift for ocean research

Boater and oceanography enthusiast Steven Grossman supports innovative WHOI projects with $10 million donation

chaulk board How the Ocean Works

Nature’s Language

Using applied math (and chalk) to understand the dynamic ocean

buoy Ocean Tech

Navigating new waters

The engineering team at the Ocean Observatories Initiative overcomes the hurdles of deploying the coastal pioneer array at a new site

Gulf Stream ocean currents
How the Ocean Works

Ocean in Motion

How the ocean’s complex and chaotic physics defines life on our planet

COP
Ocean Life

The case for preserving deep-sea biodiversity

WHOI biologist Annette Govindarajan offers her takeaways from the COP16 UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Colombia

Ocean Life

Diving into the Right Whale Gene Pool

Like forensic detectives, a multi-institutional team of scientists has followed a thread of DNA from the highly endangered right whale population across the oceans and back through generations.

Ocean Life

Doing the Right Thing for the Right Whale

The situation is urgent: Seventy years after whaling was banned, the North Atlantic right whale…

Going Wireless in the Deep Blue Ocean Tech

Going 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.

Institution Receives Surprise Bequest

Institution Receives Surprise Bequest

The latest news from around the Institution includes: the second-largest donation in WHOI history; training and awards for mid-career journalists; a new fund for graduate student training in seagoing skills; and a successful program for undergraduates.

WHOI Opens New Research Facilities

WHOI Opens New Research Facilities

For the first time in 15 years, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has added significant office and laboratory space to its Quissett Campus. This fall, scientists, technical staff, and students started moving into more than 67,000 square feet of new space, a 25 percent increase in the Institution?s scientific facilities.

A Touchstone for Marine Chemists and Students Retires

A Touchstone for Marine Chemists and Students Retires

John Farrington touched the lives of hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students. He helped scores of young scientists launch their careers with postdoctoral scholarships. He won the admiration of colleagues for his leadership in the study of organic geochemistry in the ocean. In November, the chemical oceanographer and longtime dean and vice president for Academic Programs at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution stepped aside from his post.

Tracking an Ocean of Ice Atop Greenland How the Ocean Works

Tracking an Ocean of Ice Atop Greenland

Sarah Das calls herself a “frozen oceanographer.” Most people look at Greenland and see a…

10,000 Earth & Ocean Scientists. Five days. Ocean & Human Lives

10,000 Earth & Ocean Scientists. Five days.

Over the next week, I will be posting daily reports about what’s happening at the American Geophysical Union fall…

Three Ships and a Sub Ocean Tech

Three Ships and a Sub

short stories of ships and vehicles for fall 2005

Action, Camera ... Lights Ocean Tech

Action, Camera … Lights

Exploring the sunless seafloor can be like using a flashlight to find something in a dark basement. Now Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists and engineers have built a portable light system to illuminate the depths, essentially transforming areas of the deep sea into a photography studio.

Scientists Find a New Twist in How Squids Swim Ocean Life

Scientists Find a New Twist in How Squids Swim

Erik Anderson was vexed by some scientific papers he read during his first year of graduate studies. Engineers had asserted that squids likely propelled themselves through water by creating vortex rings. Anderson begged to differ. Together with Mark Grosenbaugh, he set up a series of experiments to check the theories against some observational evidence.

'Seasonal Pump' Moves Water Between Ocean and Aquifers How the Ocean Works

‘Seasonal Pump’ Moves Water Between Ocean and Aquifers

Hydrologists Ann Mulligan of WHOI and Holly Michael and Charles Harvey of MIT have cleared up a mystery of why so much salty water emerges from aquifers into the coastal ocean. The researchers discovered a counterintuitive seasonal pumping system at work.

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