How the Ocean Works
The Engine that Drives Earth
Poets and philosophers have celebrated the timelessness of the land around us for eons, but the solid Earth is actually a very dynamic body. Great tectonic plates are in constant motion at Earth’s surface.
If Rocks Could Talk…
Every rock on Earth contains a clock, a thermometer, and a barometer.
Voyage to Vailulu’u
It was like a pirate’s treasure map. A dotted line clearly showed the trail, but…
Launching the Argo Armada
The Argo program proposes to disperse 3,000 floats, like the one below, throughout the oceans…
Where the Surf Meets the Turf
The gentle lapping of waves on the beach is a metaphor for enduring tranquility. However,…
ALISS in Wonderland
In 1985, Cindy Van Dover, then a graduate student in biology in the MIT/WHOI Joint…
How to Build a Black Smoker Chimney
Diving along the mid-ocean ridge at 21°N on the East Pacific Rise, scientists within the…
Hitting the Hotspots
The great volcanic mid-ocean ridge system stretches continuously around the globe for 60,000 kilometers, nearly…
Life on the Seafloor and Elsewhere in the Solar System
The RIDGE program (Ridge Inter-Disciplinary Globe Experiments) was sharply focused on the global spreading center…
The Cauldron Beneath the Seafloor
Just over 20 years ago, scientists exploring the mid-ocean ridge system first made the spectacular…
The Big MELT
More than 95 percent of the earth's volcanic magma is generated beneath the seafloor at…
Mid-Atlantic Ridge Volcanic Processes
Long before the plate-tectonic revolution began in the 1960s, scientists envisioned drilling into the ocean…
Indian Ocean’s Atlantis Bank Yields Deep-Earth Insight
I never imagined I would spend six weeks of my life “wandering around” the seafloor…
Melt Extraction from the Mantle Beneath Mid-Ocean Ridges
As the oceanic plates move apart at mid-ocean ridges, rocks from Earth's mantle, far below,…
Exploring The Global Mid-Ocean Ridge
There is a natural tendency in scientific investigations for increased specialization. Most important advances are…
A Current Affair
oal of probing the earth's inaccessible deep interior. But the technique remains something of a…
The Oceanic Flux Program
The predawn hours at sea have a unique feel—an eerie stillness, regardless of weather. This…
Extreme Trapping
One of oceanography’s major challenges is collection of data from extraordinarily difficult environments. For those…
The Rain of Ocean Particles and Earth’s Carbon Cycle
WHOI Phytoplankton photosynthesis has provided Earth's inhabitants with oxygen since early life began. Without this…
Deploying the Rain Catchers
Deployment of a deep-ocean sediment trap mooring begins with the ship heading slowly into the…
Monsoon Winds and Carbon Cycles in the Arabian Sea
The monsoon, a giant sea breeze between the Asian massif and the Indian Ocean, is…
Continental Margin Particle Flux
The boundaries between the oceans and the continents are dynamic regions for the production, recycling,…
Catching the Rain: Sediment Trap Technology
WHOI Senior Engineer Ken Doherty developed the first sediment trap in the late 1970s for…