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Formation of Lava Bubbles Offers New Insight into Seafloor Formation

Scientists studying the formation of the sea floor thousands of feet below the surface have a new theory for why there are so many holes and collapsed pits on the ocean bottom. In a recent article in the journal Nature, the researchers say the holes and pits of various sizes are probably formed by lava erupting onto the seafloor so quickly it traps water beneath it, forming bubbles of steam that eventually collapse as the water cools. The hardened crust then breaks, forming pock marks and glassy black plates of ocean crust with stalactites on their underside.

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New Science Channel Program Features WHOI Underwater Vehicles

A number of remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles developed and operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to explore the world’s oceans are featured in the new television program “Robots of the Deep,” scheduled for national premier on the Science Channel Friday, November 7, at 9 p.m. EST.

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Two Journalists Honored with New WHOI Ocean Science Journalism Award

Two veteran journalists today received the first Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Ocean Science Journalism Award for their contributions to the public understanding of oceanography. The award, which comes with a $5,000 cash prize and memento, was presented in two categories, print and broadcast journalism, at ceremonies at the Asia Society and Museum in New York City.

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Geological Tool Helps Scientists Map the Interior of the Ocean

A new application of a decades-old technique to study Earth’s interior is allowing scientists “see” the layers in the ocean, providing new insight on the structure of ocean currents, eddies and mixing processes. The findings, reported in this week’s Science by a team from the University of Wyoming and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), could be a major step forward in the ability to remotely survey the interior of the ocean.

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New Location of Deep Convection May Exist in North Atlantic

Deep convection, or mixing, of ocean waters in the North Atlantic, widely thought to occur in only the Labrador Sea and the Mediterranean, may occur in a third location first proposed nearly 100 years ago by the explorer and oceanographer Fridtjof Nansen. The findings, reported this week in the journal Nature, may alter thinking about the ocean’s overturning circulation that affects earth’s climate.

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WHOI Chemist and Dean to Receive 2003 Ketchum Award

Dr. John Farrington, a chemical oceanographer who conducted pioneering research on petroleum in the marine environment and the mobility of contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in seafloor sediments, will receive the 2003 Bostwick H. Ketchum Award from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

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WHOI Scientists Respond to Buzzards Bay Oil Spill

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists from diverse disciplines have responded to the April 27 spill of nearly 15,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil into Buzzards Bay, drawing on decades of experience studying the effects of oil spills on the marine and coastal environment.

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WHOI Scientist Honored by Japanese Government

Sus Honjo

One of Japan’s highest honors, the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun, will be bestowed on Dr. Susumu Honjo of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) for his research on the transfer of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the ocean’s interior and for his efforts to strengthen Japan’s role in the international ocean science research community. Honjo, the first oceanographer to be presented with this honor, will accept the award May 12 from Emperor Akihito in ceremonies at the Imperial Palace in Japan.

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Construction Begins on WHOI’s New Coastal Vessel

With the press of a computer button and the plasma cutting of a sheet of aluminum, construction began earlier this month on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s (WHOI) new 60-foot coastal vessel at Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation in Somerset, MA. The $1.6 million vessel is scheduled for delivery in March 2004.

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WHOI Scientist To Receive Nansen Medal from European Geophysical Society

Kurt Polzin

Kurt Polzin, an associate scientist in the Department of Physical Oceanography at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will receive the European Geophysical Society’s Fridtjof Nansen Medal in recognition of his pioneering contributions to the measurement of mixing in the deep ocean. The award will be presented at the group’s annual meeting in Nice, France, in early April.

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Century-Long Drought Linked to Collapse of Mayan Civilization

New analysis of sediment samples from the southern Caribbean indicate that severe droughts occurred at the same time as the known collapse of the Mayan civilization. In a study in the March 14 issue of the journal Science, lead author Gerald Haug of Geoforschungszentrum (GFZ) in Potsdam, Germany, together with Konrad Hughen of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and colleagues report that sediments from the Cariaco Basin in northern Venezuela clearly show a dry spell that the Caribbean region starting in the seventh century and lasting for more than 200 years.

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Fossil Records Show Methane in Seafloor Sediments Released During Periods of Rapid Climate Warming

Scientists have found new evidence indicating that during periods of rapid climate warming methane gas has been released periodically from the seafloor in intense eruptions. In a study published in the current issue of the journal Science, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs and colleagues Laura Hmelo and Sean Sylva of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) provide a direct link between methane reservoirs in coastal marine sediments and the global carbon cycle, an indicator of global warming and cooling.

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WHOI Elects Trustees at Fall Meeting of the Corporation

Three new Trustees were elected at the recent Joint Meeting of the Board of Trustees and Corporation at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Peter Aron of New York, Joseph McNay of Chestnut Hill, MA, and Joseph Patton of Boston, currently serving as Members of the Institution’s Corporation, were elected Trustees during the fall meetings in October in Woods Hole.

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Oil Found in Marsh Sediments 30 Years After Spill

Thirty years after approximately 175,000 gallons of No. 2 fuel oil spilled from the barge FLORIDA in Buzzards Bay near West Falmouth, MA, residues of the oil can still be found in salt marsh sediments, according to a report to be released November 15 by scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and colleagues at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Their findings, to appear in the journal Environmental Science and Technology published by the American Chemical Society, provide further evidence that oil persists in the marine environment for a long period of time even though the surface sediments recover quickly and appear visually healthy.

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European Seal Plague May Threaten Population Survival

Scientists from G??teborg University in Sweden and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) report in an upcoming issue of the journal Ecology Letters that the 2002 outbreak of phocine distemper virus, or PDV, in European harbor seals may reduce the population by more than half and that future outbreaks with similar characteristics would significantly increase the risk of population declines. Their findings are the first epidemiological data reported on the 2002 outbreak, which is still underway, and may help predict the recurrence of the outbreaks and the impact on the long-term growth and survival of the European harbor seal population.

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New Generation Deep Ocean Vehicle Begins Science Operations for U.S. Researchers

A new generation of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) capable of routine operation to depths of 6,500 meters (21,320 feet) and communicating its data back to shore via the Internet has been developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The vehicle, JASON II, recently completed its first science cruise off the coast of Washington and Oregon and is currently at sea in the Pacific working off the coast of Hawaii.

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