Media Tip Sheet – May 2024

MAY 2024 MEDIA TIP SHEET

Welcome to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s media tip sheet. Our goal is to provide an advanced or detailed look at stories we believe are impactful or trending and offer WHOI experts if you’re interested in a deeper dive.

VISUAL of the Month: WHOI scientists create an innovative way to track marine animals.

WHOI scientists are now able to study marine animals in a new way. A newly developed Bioadhesive Interface for Marine Sensors (BIMS) are effective and less invasive than traditional tagging. Scientists can attach them with a thin layer of dried-hydrogel.in less than 20 seconds. That’s significantly less time than traditional tagging, which can take up to eight minutes, and runs the risk of stressing an animal. BIMS work well on soft and fragile species - like squid and jellyfish - that have been historically difficult to access, as they don’t rely on physical anchors or rigid glues. BIMS will help researchers collect information about marine animals' energy use, habitat changes, and migration patterns, giving scientists a more complete picture of what’s happening below the surface.

Read more in the WHOI Pressroom. 

Images and video are available for use. Interviews are also available.

WHOI researchers keep an eye on ocean temperatures ahead of hurricane season

The National Hurricane Center says they’re gearing up for what could be a potentially record-breaking season. With warming ocean temperatures, the frequency and intensities of these storms are both likely to increase. #WHOI helps monitor ocean conditions, such as temperature and salinity, through a series of ocean robots. This critical data is transmitted to agencies, weather forecasters, and modelers, who then use this data to inform the public.

A mainstay in studying the ocean is the Argo global program of about 3,900 floating robots that measure temperature and salinity of the upper 2000m of the ocean, with data relayed to shore via satellite and made publicly available, including real time data to aid in hurricane predictions. Typically, Argo floats take an ocean profile every 10 days as the floats drift with the ocean currents and go up and down the water column.

The Air-Launched Autonomous Micro Observer (ALAMO) is a smaller Argo-style profiling float that can be deployed through the chute installed in the back of a plane and communicate by satellite frequency. Their size allows them to be more easily deployed out of aircraft, making ALAMO floats ideal for the rapid-response deployments necessary for studying shorter-term phenomena like hurricanes and other storms. Rather than mustering a slow moving ship, air-deployable floats can utilize Hurricane Hunter type aircrafts to seed large numbers of instruments in and around developing hurricanes.

Together, these provided an inside look at oceanographic conditions in places no ship would dare venture; playing a significant role in determining how a storm like Lee will develop and grow as it approaches land. Better predictions of storm intensity at landfall can mean life or death for those in its path.

Learn more about ALAMO floats and how they’re helping improve hurricane forecasts.

WHOI set to welcome students from Perkins School for the Blind’s Outreach Program

On Saturday, May 11, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will welcome students from Perkins School for the Blind’s Outreach Program. Now in its eighth year, this annual event connects students with STEAM learning through sound and touch, with WHOI oceanographers and researchers. Dr. Amy Bower, a senior scientist in physical oceanography at WHOI, who is also blind, has led this program since its inception in 2014.

“What’s unique is that we design hands-on learning activities for these students so they can really feel included. Most have had no exposure to oceanography.” Bower said. “These activities bring home for them what we do and why it’s important. We want to empower these students to be curious and start wading into STEAM.”

Email rachel.mann@whoi.edu for coverage details.

Happy Mother’s Day! Get a look at one of this season’s North Atlantic right whale moms.

WHOI researchers recently captured drone video of a critically-endangered North Atlantic right whale and her calf. Wolf (catalog #1703) a 37-year-old female, along with her fourth known calf were seen in Cape Cod Bay on April 8th, 2024. This pair is one of five mom and calf duos spotted in New England waters this spring.

Every North Atlantic right whale is vital to the species’ recovery. The species is dying faster than they can reproduce, largely due to human causes including entanglements in gear and collisions with boats and ships. There are approximately 360 North Atlantic right whales left on the planet, and fewer than 70 reproductively active females.

Learn more about the sighting and critically-endangered North Atlantic right whales here.

The video of Wolf and her new calf that is available for use can be found here.

On the May Calendar:

May 7: WHOI Event: A Window into the Twilight Zone

May 12:  Mother’s Day

May 17: Endangered Species Day

May 22:  WHOI’s virtual series Ocean Encounters “Our Living Ocean” 

May 23: World Turtle Day

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