News Releases
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Names New CFO
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has appointed Jeffrey Fernandez to the position of Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance. Fernandez assumes his post July 23.
Read MoreWHOI Announces 2012 Ocean Science Journalism Fellows
Ten writers and multimedia science journalists from the U.S., Canada, and Poland have been selected to participate in the competitive Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Ocean Science Journalism Fellowship program. The program takes place September 9-14, 2012, in Woods Hole, Mass., on Cape Cod.
Read MoreWHOI Scientists and Engineers Partner with World-Renowned Companies to Market Revolutionary New Instruments
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers have partnered with two companies to build and market undersea technology developed at WHOI: the Imaging FlowCytobot, an automated underwater microscope, and BlueComm, an underwater communications system that uses light to provide wireless transmission of data, including video imagery, in real or near-real time.
Read MoreScientists Discover New Trigger for Immense North Atlantic Ocean Spring Plankton Bloom
On this July 4th week, U.S. beachgoers are thronging their way to seaside resorts and parks to celebrate with holiday fireworks. But across the horizon and miles out to sea…
Read MorePressure Testing of New Alvin Personnel Sphere Successful
The human-occupied submersible Alvin reached a major milestone in its upgrade project on June 22 when its new titanium personnel sphere was successfully pressure tested, reports the Woods Hole Oceanographic…
Read MoreMelting Sea Ice Threatens Emperor Penguins, Study Finds
At nearly four feet tall, the Emperor penguin is Antarctica’s largest sea bird—and thanks to films like “March of the Penguins” and “Happy Feet,” it’s also one of the continent’s…
Read MoreScientists Discover Huge Phytoplankton Bloom in Ice Covered Waters
A team of researchers, including scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), discovered a massive bloom of phytoplankton beneath ice-covered Arctic waters. Until now, sea ice was thought to block…
Read MoreA ‘B-12 Shot’ for Marine Algae?
Studying algal cultures and seawater samples from the Southern Ocean off Antarctica, a team of researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the J. Craig Venter Institute have revealed a key cog in the biochemical machinery that allows marine algae at the base of the oceanic food chain to thrive. They have discovered a previously unknown protein in algae that grabs an essential but scarce nutrient out of seawater, vitamin B12.
Read MoreClimate Change Led to Collapse of Ancient Indus Civilization, Study Finds
A new study combining the latest archaeological evidence with state-of-the-art geoscience technologies provides evidence that climate change was a key ingredient in the collapse of the great Indus or Harappan Civilization almost 4000 years ago. The study also resolves a long-standing debate over the source and fate of the Sarasvati, the sacred river of Hindu mythology.
Read MoreDr. Karen Lloyd Receives WHOI’s Holger W. Jannasch Visiting Scholar Award
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has chosen Karen Lloyd, an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, as the recipient of the…
Read MoreNew Study by WHOI Scientists Provides Baseline Measurements of Carbon in Arctic Ocean
Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have conducted a new study to measure levels of carbon at various depths in the Arctic Ocean. The study, recently published in…
Read MoreWHOI to Host Public Forum on Climate Change and Global Water Supplies
Severe droughts, floods, and storms are now a routine part of our nation’s weather forecast. Remarkably hot and dry weather in 2011 caused droughts in Texas, the Plains states and…
Read MorePacific Islands May Become Refuge for Corals in a Warming Climate, Study Finds
Scientists have predicted that ocean temperatures will rise in the equatorial Pacific by the end of the century, wreaking havoc on coral reef ecosystems. But a new study shows that climate change could cause ocean currents to operate in a surprising way and mitigate the warming near a handful of islands right on the equator. As a result these Pacific islands may become isolated refuges for corals and fish.
Read MoreStudy Amplifies Understanding of Hearing in Baleen Whales
For decades, scientists have known that dolphins and other toothed whales have specialized fats associated with their jaws, which efficiently convey sound waves from the ocean to their ears. But until now, the hearing systems of their toothless grazing cousins, baleen whales, remained a mystery, largely because specimens to study are hard to get. Now, a new study by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has shown that some baleen whales also have fats leading to their ears.
Read MoreResearchers Report Potential for a “Moderate” New England “Red Tide” in 2012
New England is expected to experience a “moderate” regional “red tide” this spring and summer, report NOAA-funded scientists working in the Gulf of Maine to study the toxic algae that causes the bloom. The algae in the water pose no direct threat to human beings, however the toxins they produce can accumulate in filter-feeding organisms such as mussels and clams— which can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) in humans who consume them.
Read MoreSampling the Pacific for Signs of Fukushima
An international research team is reporting the results of a research cruise they organized to study the amount, spread, and impacts of radiation released into the ocean from the tsunami-crippled…
Read MoreWHOI Team Uses Advanced Imaging Data to Bring a New View of Titanic to the World
Newly released images of the Titanic wreck site provide the first unrestricted view of the world’s most notable maritime heritage site. These new images add to the already unprecedented collection…
Read MoreWHOI Researchers, Collaborators Receive $1.4 Million to Study Life in Ocean’s Greatest Depths
Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), University of Hawaii, Whitman College and international colleagues will conduct the first systematic study of life in the deepest marine habitat on…
Read MoreWHOI Scientists Contribute to Study on Impact to Coral Communities from Deepwater Horizon Spill
Six scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have contributed to a new report finding “compelling evidence” that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has impacted deep-sea coral communities in the…
Read MoreStudy of Patagonian Glacier’s Rise and Fall Adds to Understanding of Global Climate Change
Increased global temperatures are frequently viewed as the cause of glacial melt, but a new study of Patagonia’s Gualas Glacier highlights the role of precipitation in the glacier’s fluctuation. The study, conducted by Sbastien Bertrand of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and his colleagues, compares past temperature and rainfall data with sediment records of glacier fluctuations and the historical observations of early Spanish explorers.
Read MoreStudy Links Major Shifts in Indian Civilizations to Past Changes in Monsoon
A fundamental shift in the Indian monsoon has occurred over the last few millennia, from a steady humid monsoon that favored lush vegetation to extended periods of drought, reports a new study led by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The study has implications for our understanding of the monsoon’s response to climate change.
Read MoreSpecial Fukushima Session at 2012 Ocean Sciences Meeting
The March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent radioactivity releases from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants resulted in the largest accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history.…
Read MoreWHOI Scientists Awarded Distinctions from The Oceanography Society and American Geophysical Union
Jim Yoder Named 2012 fellow of The Oceanography Society Jim Yoder, Vice President for Academic Programs and Dean at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has been named a 2012…
Read MoreWHOI Receives $1Million from Keck Foundation for First Real-Time Seafloor Earthquake Observatory at Cascadia Fault
One of the most dangerous faults in North America is the Pacific Northwest’s Cascadia fault – an offshore, subduction zone fault capable of producing a magnitude 9 earthquake that would damage Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, and Victoria, British Columbia, and generate a large tsunami. Yet there are currently no instruments installed offshore, directly above the fault, for measuring the strain that is currently building up along the fault.
But a recent $1 million grant from The W. M. Keck Foundation to scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will change that. An interdisciplinary project led by WHOI geologist Jeff McGuire, an expert in global earthquake seismology and geodesy, and John Collins, director of WHOI’s Ocean Bottom Seismometer Lab, will build and install the first seafloor geodesy observatory above the expected rupture zone of the next great Cascadia earthquake.