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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Honored by Associated Industries of Massachusetts

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Honored by  Associated Industries of Massachusetts

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has ‘œtransformed Massachusetts’ by carving out a preeminent place in the field of ocean sciences, according to the Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM). A global leader in ocean science and a key driver of the economy on Cape Cod, WHOI will be presented with the Vision Award, AIM’™s highest honor, at a ceremony in Boston on May 5.

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Tracing the Puzzling Origins of Clinging Jellyfish

Tracing the Puzzling Origins of Clinging Jellyfish

For such small and delicate creatures, they can pack mighty painful stings. Known as clinging jellyfish because they attach themselves to seagrasses and seaweeds, Gonionemus is found along coastlines in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and in particular in waters near Vladivostok, Russia. Exactly how these jellyfish, long assumed to be native to the North Pacific, became so widely distributed throughout the world has perplexed researchers for decades

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Don Anderson Selected for Prestigious Ketchum Award for Coastal Research

Don Anderson

Senior Scientist Don Anderson will receive WHOI’s prestigious 2017 Bostwick H. Ketchum Award, which honors an internationally recognized scientist who demonstrates an innovative approach to coastal research, leadership in the scientific community, and who forges a link between coastal research and societal issues.

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Taking Earth’s Inner Temperature

Taking Earth’s Inner Temperature

A new WHOI study led by WHOI suggests the mantle—the mostly solid, rocky part of Earth’s interior that lies between its super-heated core and its outer crustal layer—may be hotter than previously believed. The surprising finding could change how scientists think about many issues in Earth science including how ocean basins form.

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Panel to Discuss Deep-Sea Mining at AAAS Meeting

Panel to Discuss Deep-Sea Mining at AAAS Meeting

Home to an immense diversity of marine life, the deep ocean also contains valuable minerals with metals such as nickel, copper, cobalt, manganese, zinc, and gold, and rare-earth elements used in electronic technology like smart phones and medical imaging machines. As demand for these resources increases and supplies on land decrease, commercial mining operators are looking to the deep ocean as the next frontier for mining.

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Town of Falmouth and WHOI Win Seaport Economic Council Grant

Town of Falmouth and WHOI Win Seaport Economic Council Grant

At a meeting Thursday in Fall River, members of the Massachusetts Seaport Economic Council (SEC) green-lighted a $500,000 grant request from the Town of Falmouth and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The award will go toward a feasibility study for the replacement of the WHOI dock on Water Street in Woods Hole.

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Antarctic Bottom Waters Freshening at Unexpected Rate

Antarctic Bottom Waters Freshening at Unexpected Rate

In the cold depths along the sea floor, Antarctic Bottom Waters are part of a critical part of the global circulatory system. Over the last decade, scientists have been monitoring changes in these waters, but a new WHOI study suggests these changes are themselves shifting in unexpected ways, with potentially significant consequences for the ocean and climate.

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Salty Oceans Can Forecast Rain on Land

Salty Oceans Can Forecast Rain on Land

At this week’s American Geophysical Union meeting, a team of researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) presented their latest research findings on the long-range predictions of rainfall on land. Their method is based on ocean salinity rather than sea surface temperatures, which has been the standard for decades.

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Stan Hart Receives AGU’s Highest Honor

Stan Hart

Stan Hart, WHOI scientist emeritus, has been awarded the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) highest honor, the William Bowie Medal. The Honors Tribute was held on Wednesday, 14 December 2016, at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

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Some Fish Quickly Adapt to Lethal Levels of Pollution

Some Fish Quickly Adapt to Lethal Levels of Pollution

Killifish living in four polluted East Coast estuaries have adapted to survive levels of toxic industrial pollutants that would normally kill them, tolerating concentrations up to 8,000 times higher than sensitive fish. A new study reveals the complex genetic basis for the Atlantic killifish’s remarkable resilience.

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WHOI Geologist Henry Dick Named AAAS 2016 Fellow

Henry Dick

Henry Dick of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon association members by their peers.

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New 13-year Study Tracks Impact of Changing Climate on a Key Marine Food Source

New 13-year Study Tracks Impact of Changing Climate on a Key Marine Food Source

A new multiyear study from scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has shown for the first time how changes in ocean temperature affect a key species of phytoplankton. The study, published in the October 21 issue of the journal Science, tracked levels of Synechococcus – ”a tiny bacterium common in marine ecosystems – ”near the coast of Massachusetts over a 13-year period. As ocean temperatures increased during that time, annual blooms of Synechococcus occurred up to four weeks earlier than usual because cells divided faster in warmer conditions, the study found.

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Study Reveals Corals’ Influence on Reef Microbes

Study Reveals Corals' Influence on Reef Microbes

As they grow, corals are bathed in a sea of marine microbes, such as bacteria, algae, and viruses. While these extremely abundant and tiny microorganisms influence coral communities in a variety of ways, a new study by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) and University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) reveals that corals also have an impact on the microbes in waters surrounding them

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