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News Releases


“Digital Reefs” awarded $5 million

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) $5 million to participate in NSF’s ground breaking Convergence Accelerator Program. The project, led by WHOI scientist Anne Cohen, builds the world’s first Coral Reef Digital Twin, a 4-dimensional virtual replica of a living coral reef powered by state-of-the art data and models.

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How marine predators find food hot spots in open ocean “deserts”

A new study led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory (UW APL) finds that marine predators, such as tunas, billfishes and sharks, aggregate in anticyclonic, clockwise-rotating ocean eddies (mobile, coherent bodies of water). As these anticyclonic eddies move throughout the open ocean, the study suggests that the predators are also moving with them, foraging on the high deep-ocean biomass contained within.

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Marine Protected Areas in Antarctica should include young emperor penguins, scientists say

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and European research institutions are calling for better protections for juvenile emperor penguins, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers listing the species under the Endangered Species Act and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) considers expanding the network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean.

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As oceans warm, snapping shrimp sound a warning

Research published by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists today in Frontiers in Marine Science confirmed their previous observations that rising temperatures increase the sound of snapping shrimp, a tiny crustacean found in temperate and tropical coastal marine environments around the world.

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WHOI names Paul Salem as new Board of Trustees Chair

Paul Salem, a leader in private equity and non-profit board service, has been named Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s new Chair of the Board of Trustees. Salem will transition into the role officially on January 1, 2023, taking over for David Scully, who has served as the Board Chair for the past seven years.

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Hydrothermal field discovered at the East Pacific Rise 9°54’N

A new high-temperature, off-axis hydrothermal vent field on Pacific seafloor at 2550 meters depth was discovered in 2021 by a team that included researchers from Lehigh University; Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO); the University of Bergen Norway; and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

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Innovative, new “road map” for kelp crop improvement

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Connecticut, and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences have executed a license agreement for a kelp germplasm, or collection of microscopic cells called gametophytes, containing more than 1,200 samples all developed and isolated by WHOI and UConn-led teams. Bigelow Laboratory’s National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota plans to maintain, market, and distribute the germplasm collection for broad use.

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