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Innovation Takes Off at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the world’s largest independent institution specifically focused on ocean science, engineering, and education, today announced the establishment of the George and Wendy David Center for Ocean Innovation, the latest in a series of new initiatives aimed at cementing WHOI’s position as a national leader in ocean innovation and laying the foundation for a future of scientific discoveries, breakthrough technologies, and unparalleled advances on land and at sea.

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Smaller female North Atlantic right whales, fewer calves

The declining body size of North Atlantic right whales may have critical consequences for the future of the species. New research, co-authored by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s senior scientist Michael Moore, shows that smaller females produce fewer calves.

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Deepest sediment core collected in the Atlantic Ocean

A team of scientists, engineers, and ship’s crew on the research vessel Neil Armstrong operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) recently collected a 38-foot-long cylindrical sediment sample from the deepest part of the Puerto Rico Trench, nearly 5 miles below the surface.

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WHOI & Pangaea Logistics Solutions to advance ocean science data acquisition through Science RoCS program

WHOI and Pangaea Logistics Solutions (Pangaea), a U.S. based, international maritime and logistics transportation company, today announced the launch of a new science program aboard Pangaea’s fleet of ships. Science RoCS (Science Research on Commercial Ships) is an innovative program pairing scientists with commercial vessels to regularly monitor the vast and open ocean, particularly along repeat routes in hard-to-reach areas where critical gaps in monitoring exist.

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WHOI collaborates with CMA CGM to increase protections for marine mammals

A collaboration between Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics, aims to increase whale detection efforts along the U.S East Coast, particularly for North Atlantic right whales, and reduce the potential for ship strikes along critical shipping routes.

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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution-led study explores effects of noise on marine life

New research shows turtles can experience temporary hearing loss from an excess of underwater noise. This high volume of sound, referred to as underwater noise pollution, can be caused by passing ships and offshore construction. These preliminary findings were part of a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution-led study that is being presented at the 2022 Ocean Sciences Meeting..

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Dissolving oil in a sunlit sea

A team of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers discovered that nearly 10 percent of the oil floating on the Gulf after the Deepwater Horizon disaster was dissolved into seawater by sunlight – a process called “photo-dissolution”. The findings were published today in the paper “Sunlight-driven dissolution is a major fate of oil at sea” in Science Advances.

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The ocean twilight zone’s role in climate change

OTZ's role in climate change

A new report from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ) project team offers a detailed look at the climate-altering processes that take place within the zone, in particular those that are driven by animals that migrate between the twilight zone and the surface each night to feed. This phenomenon is likely the biggest migration on Earth—yet it remains incredibly vulnerable to human exploitation.

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