Ocean & human lives
Why Did the El Faro Sink?
WHOI deep-sea vehicles and scientists played critical roles in searching the seafloor and locating the voyage data recorder of El Faro, the ship that sank in 2015 during Hurricane Joaquin, killing all 33 crew members.
More Floods & Higher Sea Levels
A research team predicts potentially big changes within the next century that would have significant…
Radioactivity Under the Beach?
Scientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear…
Scientists and Navy Join Forces
When U.S. Navy were preparing a major NATO military exercise, they solicited help from WHOI…
A New Tsunami-Warning System
After successfully testing a long-range underwater communications system that worked under Arctic Ocean ice, an…
What Happened to Deepwater Horizon Oil?
Officials pumped a huge amount of chemicals into the deep ocean during the 2010 Deepwater…
As Bay Warms, Harmful Algae Bloom
Warming coastal waters off southern Massachusetts are worsening the effects of pollution from septic systems,…
A Luxury-Laden Shipwreck from 65 B.C.
Scientists returned in 2015 and 2016 to the wreck of a 180-foot ship that sank…
Not Just Another Lovely Summer Day on the Water
It looks like nice summer day on the water, but Alexis Fischer (right) and Alice…
Ice, Wind & Fury
Greenlanders are well away of piteraqs, the hazardous torrents of cold air that sweep down…
The Riddle of Rip Currents
Rip currents claim more than 100 lives in the United States each year and are…
Setting a Watchman for Harmful Algal Blooms
As harmful algal blooms are becoming more frequent and severe worldwide, researchers in the lab…
Hidden Currents in the Gulf of Mexico
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill five years ago gave new impetus to investigating unknown subsurface…
Farewell to the Knorr
Over its 44-year career, the retiring research vessel Knorr was on the scene for many…
Where Did Deepwater Horizon Oil Go?
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was unprecedented, and five years later, scientists are piecing together…
Recovering After a Hurricane
Summer Student Fellow Maya Becker studied how vulnerable four coastal communities were to major hurricanes—and…
The Exosuit Comes Aboard
One of the ocean’s least studied places is actually the realm between 200 and 500…
High-tech Dives on an Ancient Wreck
When sponge divers first chanced upon the shipwreck off the Greek isle of Antikythera in…
Happy 50th Birthday, Alvin
Five years before we landed a man on the moon, a stubby submersible was built…
Trailblazer in the Ocean
On June 5, 1964, a stubby submersible with a not-so-bold name was commissioned on the…
Message Bottled in an Email
Amid the dunes of a tiny island in the North Atlantic, a scientist found a…
Behold the ‘Plastisphere’
Plastic debris provides living space for a variety of marine microbes.
Dropping a Laboratory into the Sea
Scientists at WHOI deploy moored robotic laboratories in the Gulf of Maine for long-term monitoring…
The Return of the Seals
WHOI biologist Rebecca Gast examines whether the recovered and thriving population of gray seals in…