News Releases
Expedition to Mid-Cayman Rise Identifies Unusual Variety of Deep Sea Vents
deep-sea hydrothermal vents Mid-Cayman Rise Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences NASA-funded search extreme environments origins and evolution life
Read MoreWHOI Science Mission to Study Deepwater Horizon Spill Using Mass Spectrometry and AUV Sentry
A multidisciplinary team of investigators from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution embarked June 17 on a twelve-day research effort in the Gulf of Mexico aboard the R/V Endeavor, conducting three simultaneous…
Read MoreRevolutionary Communications System Promises New Generation of Untethered, Undersea Vehicles
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) engineers and scientists are employing a combination of new undersea technologies to re-define how we think of tethered, remotely operated vehicles. Using the 11,000 meter-rated Nereus hybrid remotely operated vehicle (HROV) as a test platform, engineers at WHOI recently demonstrated a new system that integrates acoustics with optics. This achievement, they say, opens the way to new opportunities in communications between untethered remotely operated vehicles (UTROVs) and their human operators?literally ?cutting the cord? for undersea exploration.
Read MorePioneering Deep-Sea Robot Lost at Sea
A pioneering deep-sea exploration robot—one of the first successful submersible vehicles that was both unmanned and untethered to surface ships—was lost at sea Friday, March 5, on a research expedition…
Read MoreWHOI-Operated ROV Jason Images the Discovery of the Deepest Explosive Eruption on the Sea Floor
Oceanographers using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason discovered and recorded the first video and still images of a deep-sea volcano actively erupting molten lava on the seafloor. Jason, designed…
Read MoreHybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle Nereus Reaches Deepest Part of the Ocean
A new type of deep-sea robotic vehicle called Nereus has successfully reached the deepest part of the world’s ocean, reports a team of U.S. engineers and scientists aboard the research…
Read MorePartnership Provides Autonomous Vehicles to Enable New Era of Deep Sea Research
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has partnered with the Waitt Institute for Discovery to make deep-sea exploration technology and a world-class operations group broadly available for the oceanographic community.…
Read MoreNew Robot Sub Surveys the Deep off the Pacific Northwest
Scientists and engineers from WHOI and the University of Washington have successfully completed the first scientific mission with Sentry, a newly developed robot capable of diving as deep as 5,000 meters into the ocean. The vehicle surveyed and helped pinpoint several proposed deep-water sites for seafloor instruments that will be deployed in the Ocean Observatories Initiative.
Read MoreScientists Prepare for a Risky Mission Under the Arctic Ice
Bone-chilling temperatures, biting winds, and rapidly changing sea ice conditions make the Chukchi Sea off Point Barrow, Alaska, a particularly challenging place to work. And then there are the curious…
Read MoreResearchers Give New Hybrid Vehicle Its First Test-Drive in the Ocean
Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Webb Research Corporation (Falmouth, Mass.) have successfully flown the first environmentally powered robotic vehicle through the ocean. The new robotic ?glider? harvests heat energy from the ocean to propel itself across thousands of kilometers of water.
Read MoreLockheed Martin Successfully Completes Preliminary Design Review for New Scientific Research Mini-Sub
Lockheed Martin recently completed a Preliminary Design Review for the Replacement Human Occupied Vehicle (RHOV), a next generation three-person Deep Submergence Vehicle that will be used by the U.S. scientific community.
Read MoreRobotic Tag-Team is Headed for the Seafloor
In the summer of 2007, engineers from WHOI’s Deep Submergence Laboratory proved they could operate an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) beneath Arctic ice. Six months later, the team will now…
Read MoreWHOI Awards Lockheed Martin $2.8 Million Contract to Design Submersible Replacement Human Occupied Vehicle
WHOI has awarded Lockheed Martin a $2.8 million contract for the initial design of the Replacement Human Occupied Vehicle (RHOV), a next generation three-person Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) that will be used by the U.S. scientific community. The contract has an option for subsequent construction of the RHOV once the initial design is completed and the project is approved to move forward.
Read MoreExplorers to Use New Robotic Vehicles to Hunt for Life and Hydrothermal Vents on Arctic Seafloor
Researchers will probe the Gakkel Ridge during expedition that begins on July 1.
Read MoreRobotic Vehicle Recovers Instruments and Data Locked in a Lava Flow
A lot of ocean science equipment goes into the water and never comes back. Some of it was intended to stay; other times, the sea claims it by force. Recently…
Read MoreFirst-Ever Call from Alvin Submersible to International Space Station
Listen to the first call between ocean explorers and astronauts.
Read MoreABE Joins Alvin and Jason at Sea
The Autonomous Benthic Explorer, ABE, one of the first autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to routinely work in the deep ocean, has joined the U.S. National Deep Submergence Facility, providing ocean…
Read MoreUndersea Vehicles to Study Formation of Gold and Other Precious Metals On the Pacific Ocean Floor
An international team of scientists will explore the seafloor near Papua New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean later this month with remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles, investigating active…
Read MoreSmoke and Sulfur: Undersea Vehicle Captures Footage of Volcanic Eruption
Dramatic new video of a long-term volcanic eruption in the western Pacific first discovered in 2004 has been captured during a recent cruise by the remotely operated vehicle JASON, developed…
Read MoreOcean Technology Meets Business Needs
Marine scientists and engineers will brief investors, business development executives, commercialization partners and economic development leaders May 24 at a conference at WHOI aimed at showcasing marine technologies and concepts…
Read MoreREMUS and the Coral Reefs
WHOI biologists and physical oceanographers joined forces in May to study the effect of ocean currents on fish larvae spawned on coral reefs in Belize. Collaboration for the pilot project…
Read MoreThe Last Voyage?
The Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) Alvin finished a five-month overhaul in Woods Hole in early April and returned to sea April 19 aboard support vessel Atlantis for what may be…
Read MoreMonitoring Baleen Whales with Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
Like robots of the deep, autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, are growing in number and use in the oceans to perform scientific missions ranging from monitoring climate change to mapping…
Read MoreDeep Submergence Vehicle Alvin Overhaul in Action
Watch the latest progress on the overhaul of the three-person submersible Alvin at http://alvincam.whoi.edu/view/view.shtml. The sub has been ashore in Woods Hole, Massachusetts undergoing overhaul since November and will be…
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