News Releases
New Hydrothermal Vent Sites Found, Original Vent May Have been Covered by Volcanic Eruption
The “Rose Garden” – one of the most well-visited and lush communities of seafloor vent life – may have been paved over by a recent volcanic eruption. But scientists on a just-completed expedition near the Galapagos Islands have discovered a thriving new community of very young tubeworms, clams, and mussels, which they have called “Rosebud.”
Read MoreWHOI Elects Trustees/Corporation Members
Fourteen new Trustees and Corporation Members were elected at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s recent spring meetings in Woods Hole. Officers of the Corporation and one Honorary Member were also elected, and 17 Trustees and Members were re-elected.
Read MoreWHOI Director, Scientist Elected Fellows of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Director and President Robert Gagosian and Senior Scientist John Whitehead of the Physical Oceanography Department were recently elected Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest learned societies in the nation. Drs. Gagosian and Whitehead are among the 177 Fellows and 30 Foreign Honorary Members…
Read MoreMajor Cruise to Galapagos Rift Marks 25th Anniversary of Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vent Discovery
In 1977, scientists made a stunning discovery on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean that forever changed our understanding of our planet and life on it. They discovered the first deep-sea hydrothermal vents, andA?to their complete surpriseA?a lush community of exotic life thriving around them.
Read MoreWHOI Scientist Receives Honored by Russian Academy of Natural Sciences
A local scientist has been honored by the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences with its highest honors. Scientist Emeritus John Hunt of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was awarded the Gold Medal of Honor of Albert Einstein by the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, United States section, for “outstanding contributions in the field of geology.”…
Read MoreNew Vice President and CFO Appointed at WHOI
After a long and extensive search process, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has appointed Carolyn A. Bunker of Falmouth Vice President for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer. The appointment, announced today by WHOI Director and President Robert Gagosian, is effective immediately.
Read MoreWHOI and Massachusetts Firm Sign Contract to Build New Coastal Vessel
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation of Somerset, MA, signed a contract today to build a 60-foot vessel to replace the Institution’s aging 46-foot coastal vessel Asterias. Construction of the new vessel is estimated at a cost of $1.6 million, with delivery expected in March 2004.
Read MoreWHOI To Present Mary Sears Woman Pioneer in Oceanography Award to California Scientist March 28
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will present one of its highest honors, the Mary Sears Woman Pioneer in Oceanography Award, to California Biologist Mary Wilcox Silver. A Professor of Ocean Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Dr. Silver is being honored for providing “significant scientific leadership in understanding our marine environment” and…
Read MoreStephen Stimson Associates Recieves Award for WHOI Campus Landscape Plan
The Falmouth-based landscape architectural firm Stephen Stimson Associates Landscape Architects is receiving a prestigious award for work on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s new Quissett Campus master plan.
Read MoreLouisiana Biologist to Receive WHOI’s Ketchum Award January 16
Farming practices in the Mississippi River drainage area are affecting coastal ocean waters off Louisiana and the coastal water quality in the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Nancy Rabalais of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, a leading researcher in this field, will share some of her findings when she receives the 12th Bostwick H. Ketchum Award…
Read MoreWHOI Scientist to be Honored January 16 by the American Meteorological Society
Nelson Hogg, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), will receive the 2002 Stommel Award from the American Meteorological Society (AMS) January 16 during the society’s 82nd annual meeting in Orlando, FL. AMS is the nation’s leading professional society for scientists in the atmospheric and related sciences.
Read MoreEndangered North Atlantic Right Whale Study Shows Sharp Decline in Mothers
Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) report in today’s issue of the journal Nature that the population growth rate of North Atlantic Right whales has declined below replacement level because of increased mortality rates of mothers. The population numbers only about 300 and is predicted to become extinct within 200 years if the…
Read MoreTwo WHOI Scientists Recognized with Endowed Positions
Two scientists have been recognized by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) for their contributions to ocean sciences research. Drs. Daniel J. Fornari of the Geology and Geophysics Department and Rui Xin Huang of the Physical Oceanography Department have been named recipients of a W. Van Alan Clark Chair for Excellence in Oceanography at the…
Read MoreCoastal Environmental Research Camp Attracts Seven International Students to WHOI
Students from Canada, Slovakia, South Africa, and Trinidad and Tobago are spending two weeks at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) participating in a research camp focused on coastal environmental research. The students won an international competition to participate in the camp, the first held in the United States.
Read MoreInternational Expedition to the Top of the World May Hold Clues To Formation of Earth’s Crust
When the new U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker HEALY departs Tromso, Norway, July 31 for a two-month cruise across the Arctic Ocean, scientists won’t be studying the ice cap but the seafloor far below. Their focus will be the Gakkel Ridge, three miles beneath the ocean surface, the slowest spreading ridge on earth. It is a…
Read MoreStudy to Assess Risk Factors of Vessel Collisions with Endangered Northern Right Whales
Scientists and engineers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and their colleagues will use a new digital recording tag to study and assess the risk factors of vessel collisions with the endangered Northern right whale. Less than 300 of the whales remain.
Read MoreContaminated Sediments Topic of Congressional Hearing
Associate Director for Education, Dean of Graduate Studies and Senior Scientist John Farrington of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has been invited to testify July 19 before a Congressional committee on strategies to address sediments contaminated with PCBs and other toxic chemicals. The hearing, before the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment of the U.S.…
Read MoreWHOI Scientist to Testify July 12 on the Development and Implementation of Ocean Observing Systems
Senior Scientist Robert Weller will testify July 12 before a joint Congressional hearing on ocean exploration and the development and implementation of coastal and ocean observing systems. The hearing will start at 1 p.m. in Room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC.
Read MoreWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution Receives U.S. Coast Guard Public Service Commendation
Citing assistance with a number of highly visible projects and a productive long-term relationship, RADM George Naccara of the U.S. Coast Guard presented the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) with its Public Service Commendation April 24, 2001, during dockside ceremonies at the Group Woods Hole facility. WHOI Director Robert Gagosian and Associate Director For Marine…
Read MoreColonizing The Deep Sea: WHOI Scientist Helps Find Answers to Hydrothermal Vent Puzzle
For nearly 25 years, scientists have wondered how giant red-tipped tubeworms and other exotic marine life found at hydrothermal vents on the deep sea floor get from place to place and how long their larva survive in a cold, eternally dark place. Now Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Biologist Lauren Mullineaux and colleagues have helped answer…
Read MoreWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution Web Sites Nominated For “The Oscars of the Internet”
Two web sites developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are among the 135 sites nominated in more than two dozen categories for the 5th Annual Webby Awards, called by some A?the Oscars of the Internet.A? The 2001 awards will be presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences July 18 at…
Read MoreWinter in Antarctica Waters: Biology in the Southern Ocean Focus of New International Research Program and Partnerships
As weather warms in New England and we dream of summer days, a team of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists has headed south to the frigid waters around Antarctica for the first of a series of international cruises to study the distribution and behavior of krill – the major food source for most animals…
Read MoreScientists Release First Images of Hydrothermal Vents Found in the Indian Ocean
Scientists exploring a remote area of the central Indian Ocean seafloor two and one-half miles deep have found animals that look like fuzzy snowballs and chimney-like structures two stories tall spewing super-heated water full of toxic metals. The findings, released on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Dive and Discover Web site (http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/) were made at…
Read MoreDive and Discover Web Site Puts Classrooms on the Frontier of Ocean Exploration
(Woods Hole, MA–3/26/01)A?The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) announces the launch on March 27 of an Internet expedition in the central Indian Ocean called Dive and Discover (www.divediscover.whoi.edu). By following the daily activities and progress of the scientific mission, students and teachers in 22 states and Guam will be among the first to know of…
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