News Releases
Students, Museum Visitors, and Web Surfers Can Join First Search for Life on the Arctic Ocean Floor
A multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers is conducting the first search for life and hot springs on the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean. Through the use of the World…
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 MoreNewt Merrill is Elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Newton P.S. Merrill, senior executive vice president (retired) of The Bank of New York, has been elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).…
Read MoreWHOI Geologists Compile Longest Ever Record of Atlantic Hurricane Strikes
The frequency of intense hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean appears to be closely connected to long-term trends in the El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation and the African monsoon, according to new research from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Geologists Jeff Donnelly and Jonathan Woodruff made that discovery while assembling the longest-ever record of hurricane strikes in the Atlantic basin.
Read MoreB12 Is Also an Essential Vitamin for Marine Life
B12an essential vitamin for land-dwelling animals, including humansalso turns out to be an essential ingredient for growing marine plants that are critical to the ocean food web and Earth’s climate,…
Read MoreOceanic Storms Create Oases in the Watery Desert
A research team led by Dennis McGillicuddy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has shown that episodic, swirling current systems known as eddies act to pump nutrients up from the deep ocean to fuel such blooms.
Read MoreWHOI Geologists Recognized for Achievements
1930 Society Associates who give $1,000 or more annually are welcomed into the 1930 Society, which honors the year Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was established. BECOME A 1930 SOCIETY MEMBER…
Read MoreReal-Time Seismic Monitoring Station Installed Atop Active Underwater Volcano
This week, researchers will begin direct monitoring of the rumblings of a submarine volcano in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. On May 6, a team of scientists led by the Woods…
Read MoreCoral Reef Fish Make Their Way Home
Coral reef fish hatchlings dispersed by ocean currents are able to make their way back to their home reefs again to spawn, says a groundbreaking study published today in the…
Read MoreBeach Sand Formations Tell Tales of Past Storms
Geologists have recently devised a new method for reconstructing the history of severe storms along the coast: examine the steep slopes and cliffs left behind when severe wind and water…
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 MoreHurricane Katrina’s Flood Legacy Does Not Include Disease
When the levees broke in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, officials feared that Lake Pontchartrain might be infiltrated with disease-causing microbes from a “toxic gumbo” of water, polluted sediments, and…
Read MoreIce-Covered Arctic Lakes May Harbor Signs of Climate Change
Arctic coastal environments are some of the most vulnerable to climate change. A team of WHOI researchers visited Canada’s Mackenzie River Delta in April 2007 to find out just how…
Read MoreOcean’s “Twilight Zone” Plays Important Role in Climate Change
A major study has shed new light on the dim layer of the ocean called the “twilight zone”where mysterious processes affect the ocean’s ability to absorb and store carbon dioxide…
Read MoreBuried, Residual Oil is Still Affecting Wildlife Decades After a Spill
Nearly four decades after a fuel oil spill polluted the beaches of Cape Cod, researchers have found the first compelling evidence for lingering, chronic biological effects on a marsh that…
Read MoreResearchers Setting Up Observatories to Examine Arctic Changes from Under the Ice
Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are venturing this month to the North Pole to deploy instruments that will make year-round observations of the water beneath the Arctic…
Read MoreArctic Websites to Take Students, Museum Visitors, and Web Surfers to the Ends of the Earth
Beginning April 18, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), in partnership with eight museums across the United States, will bring the excitement of polar research and discovery to students, teachers,…
Read MoreScientists Discover First Seafloor Vents on Ultraslow-Spreading Ridge
Scientists have found one of the largest fields of seafloor vents gushing super-hot, mineral-rich fluids on a mid-ocean ridge that, until now, remained elusive to the ten-year hunt to find them.
Read MoreResearch Project hopes to answer Global Climate Questions
CONTACTS: Karinna Sjo-Gaber Joint Oceanographic Institutions 202-232-3900 Joanne Tromp WHOI Media Relations 508-289-3340 The impacts of natural climate variability and the threat of anthropogenic climate change are issues that are…
Read MoreShould We Pump Iron to Slow Climate Change?
One of the solutions offered for the global greenhouse gas problem is the fertilization of the ocean; that is, spreading iron into the open ocean to promote the growth of…
Read MoreSeafloor bacteria are multi-tasking with the carbon cycle
Scientists have long known that microorganisms can use one of two different methods to convert carbon dioxide into a form that living things can use for energy. What they didn’t…
Read MoreClimate Change in the Bottom of a Lake
Climate is often discussed in global terms, but it is the regional and local effects that will matter most to everyday people. WHOI geologist Jeff Donnelly and colleagues are looking…
Read MoreResearchers Find Substantial Amount of Mercury Entering the Ocean through Groundwater
Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have found a new and substantial pathway for mercury pollution flowing into coastal waters. Marine chemists have detected much more dissolved mercury entering the ocean through groundwater than from atmospheric and river sources.
Read MoreIs U.S. Marine Aquaculture Economically Sustainable?
With growing global populations and ever-increasing demands for seafood, fish farms are expected to expand significantly over the next few decades. But is aquaculture economically sustainable? Do the benefits outweigh…
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