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research vessel neil armstrong

WHOI’s economic impacts are far-reaching

December 18, 2019

The economic value of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) extends far beyond the footprint of its two campuses in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, according to a new study by the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute.

squid

Underwater pile driving noise causes alarm responses in squid

December 16, 2019

Exposure to underwater pile driving noise, which can be associated with the construction of docks, piers, and offshore wind farms, causes squid to exhibit strong alarm behaviors.

WHOI-engineered DISCO allows scientists to measure highly reactive superoxide on coral reefs

December 12, 2019

WHOI researchers successfully conceived and tested a portable device, DISCO, that performed the first in situ measurements of a highly reactive type of oxygen, known as superoxide, which may play an integral role in the health of coral reefs.

WHOI Board Launches Presidential Search

December 9, 2019

The Board of Trustees at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) announced the formation of the Presidential Search Committee (PSC), whose members are tasked with recommending the Institution’s next president and director. Dr. Mark Abbott, current WHOI president and director, announced plans to step down at the end of 2020 at a town hall meeting on November 22, 2019.

Whales may owe their efficient digestion to millions of tiny microbes

December 4, 2019

A study by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) shows that the microbial communities inside whales may play an important role in the digestion of one of the ocean’s most abundant carbon-rich lipids, known as a wax ester.

WHOI president to step down next year

December 3, 2019

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) President and Director Mark Abbott plans to step down at the end of 2020.

Clownfish can’t adapt to rapid environmental changes

November 26, 2019

The beloved anemone fish popularized by the movies “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory” don’t have the genetic capacity to adapt to rapid changes in their environment, according to a new study in the journal Ecology Letters.

SeaWorld & Busch Gardens conservation fund commits $900,000 to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales

November 14, 2019

The funding provided by the SeaWorld Conservation Fund will be primarily used to test alternative non-lethal fishing gear.  Whales and sea turtles commonly entangle in ropes that connect crab or lobster traps on the sea floor to buoys on the sea surface.

penguins

Unless warming is slowed, emperor penguins will be marching towards extinction

November 7, 2019

Emperor penguins are some of the most striking and charismatic animals on Earth, but a new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has found that a warming climate may render them extinct by the end of this century. The study, which was part of an international collaboration between scientists, published Nov. 7, 2019, in the journal Global Change Biology.

Admiral John Richardson

Admiral John Richardson joins WHOI Board of Trustees

October 30, 2019

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is pleased to announce that Admiral John Richardson has joined the WHOI Board of Trustees.

Sunlight degrades polystyrene faster than expected

October 10, 2019

The general consensus of governmental agencies is that it takes polystyrene thousands of years to fully break down. But a new study shows that it may instead degrade in decades or centuries when exposed to sunlight.

NOAA awards WHOI $2.9 million for harmful algal bloom research

October 3, 2019

NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science recently announced funding for 12 new research projects to better understand and predict harmful algal blooms (HABs) and improve our collective response to them.

Researchers use drones to weigh whales

October 2, 2019

Researchers devised a way to accurately estimate the weight of free-living whales using only aerial images taken by drones.

Corals

New study measures how much of corals’ nutrition comes from hunting

September 17, 2019

A new study reveals that more of corals’ nutrients come from hunting than previously expected, information that may help predict the fate of coral reefs as global ocean temperatures rise.

New report takes in-depth look at factors contributing to sea level rise

September 12, 2019

Sea levels in many areas across the global ocean are rising. Since the turn of the 20th century, the seas have risen between six and eight inches globally.

Origin of Massive Methane Reservoir Identified

August 20, 2019

New research provides evidence of the formation and abundance of abiotic methane—methane formed by chemical reactions that don’t involve organic matter—on Earth and shows how the gases could have a similar origin on other planets and moons, even those no longer home to liquid water.

Blue shark

Blue sharks use eddies for fast track to food

August 7, 2019

Blue sharks use large, swirling ocean currents, known as eddies, to fast-track their way down to feed in the ocean twilight zone—a layer of the ocean between 200 and 1000 meters deep containing the largest fish biomass on Earth, according to new research by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Applied Physics Lab at the University of Washington (UW).

Basking shark

SharkCam reveals secret lives of basking sharks in UK

August 6, 2019

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) known as the REMUS SharkCam has been used in the UK for the first time to observe the behaviour of basking sharks in the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland.

NASA Makes Dual Investment in Ocean Worlds Research at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

June 21, 2019

Agency funds five-year effort to understand the potential for life in outer solar system and establishes a new Network for Ocean Worlds The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will invest in a major new research program headquartered at the…

Study Finds No Direct Link Between North Atlantic Ocean Currents, Sea Level Along New England Coast

June 14, 2019

A new study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) clarifies what influence major currents in the North Atlantic have on sea level along the northeastern United States. The study, published June 13 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, examined both the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)—a conveyor belt of currents that move warmer waters north and cooler waters south in the Atlantic—and historical records of sea level in coastal New England.