WHOI in the News
What We Know About Oceans and Climate Change
On Cape Cod, the latest barrage of wind and waves, exacerbated by climate change, turns concern to desperation
Arctic researchers want to state their case before international climate change policy makers
With the Arctic region warming at three times the global rate, profound and rapid change is evident everywhere from the Greenland ice sheet to the ocean ecosystem and the permafrost underlying much of the landmass.
Symposium To Give Residents An Inside Look At Impacts Of Climate Change In Woods Hole
The upcoming symposium is the second in a multi-phased series and will build upon previous assessments of potential impacts of sea-level rise and coastal storms that were introduced during the September 2020 event “Rising Tides: Phase I.”
Can we harness the natural power of the ocean to fight climate change?
A top priority for science is to advance our understanding and monitoring of the oceans so that we can measure impacts and viability of these potential solutions. Specifically, this means developing more complete understanding of how the ocean works at this scale, how it cycles carbon from the surface to deep waters, and how the oceans are changing. With this new capability, we can test the effectiveness and impacts of these ocean CDR approaches.
A Recent Reversal Discovered in the Response of Greenland’s Ice Caps to Climate Change
New collaborative research from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and five partner institutions (University of Arizona, University of Washington, Pennsylvania State University, Desert Research Institute and University of Bergen), published on September 9, 2021, in Nature Geoscience, reveals that during past periods glaciers and ice caps in coastal west Greenland experienced climate conditions much different than the interior of Greenland.
Hurricane Bob struck 30 years ago. Scientists unsure how climate change will alter Atlantic hurricanes?
When our time comes, will the Cape and Islands be looking at something a lot bigger and stronger than Bob, or Carol, or the Hurricane of ’38 or even the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635?
Climate change accelerates emperor penguin extinction risk
Extreme events observed through recent satellite records amplified the projected declines from previous studies, researchers said.
Consortium For Combatting Global Climate Change
Designed to act as an engine for continuous innovation and powered by some of the world’s leading minds and businesses, the OCIA consortium is open to participation by a wide range of leading organisations across business, academia and non-profits that recognise the inextricable links between ocean and climate and wish to have a positive impact on the global climate crisis.
WHOI partnership means $3 million to investigate how climate change affects oceans
Funded by a $3 million multiyear grant from Analog Devices Inc. of Wilmington, the program will support research investigating climate change impacts on the ocean.
How to Talk to Kids About Climate Change
Luckily, there are a lot of experts who are parents themselves who can help. Here are some of their tips.
Climate change can destabilize the global soil carbon reservoir, new study finds
“The study results indicate that at the large ecosystem scale of river basins, soil carbon is sensitive to climate variability.”
Antarctic ice loss expected to affect future climate change
In a new climate modeling study that looked at the impacts of accelerated ice melt from the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) on future climate, a team of climate scientists reports that future ice-sheet melt is expected to have significant effects on global climate.
Coral develops ‘osteoporosis’ because of acidic oceans caused by climate change, study reveals
Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) found significant reduction in the density of coral skeleton along much of the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef system, and also on two reefs in the South China Sea, which they attribute largely to the increasing acidity of the waters surrounding these reefs since 1950.
North Atlantic right whales ‘could be extinct within 20 years’ as krill they eat migrate away due to climate change and commercial fishing impacts their habitat
A comprehensive new study of North Atlantic right whales has found the species is significantly smaller and less healthy than southern right whales and could be wiped out in the next 20 years without intervention.
Habitat loss, climate change make for an uncertain cricket harvest in Uganda
“This year was a very strong dipole year,” says Caroline Ummenhofer, who studies the Indian Ocean Dipole at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the U.S. “We’ve seen really extreme conditions all around the region in East Africa.”
Marine Labs on the Water’s Edge Are Threatened by Climate Change
At the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, Robert S.C. Munier, the vice president for marine facilities and operations, said that the facility was feeling the effects of climate change already in a battering of the existing dock.
The Complicated Role of Iron in Ocean Health and Climate Change
And while Martin’s hypothesis inspired 13 large iron fertilization experiments that boosted algae growth, only two demonstrated removal of carbon to the deep sea; the others were ambiguous or failed to show an impact, says Ken Buesseler, a marine radiochemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
Reporting on climate change from Cape Cod, where sea levels could put everything at risk
You’ll wind your way past our local U.S. Geological Survey center, within the Quissett campus of the famed Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Climate change threatens everyone’s favorite little fish
The well-being of the colorful clownfish of “Finding Nemo” fame is closely tied to its habitat among the sea anemone, according to a 10-year study by an international team of scientists. The little fish does not appear to have the ability to adapt to the rapid environmental effects of climate change.
These corals could survive climate change — and help save the world’s reefs
Ocean warming threatens to wipe out corals, but scientists are trying to protect naturally resilient reefs and are nursing some others back to health.
Toxic Algal Blooms Are Worsening with Climate Change
“Cyanobacteria grow quite well—better than almost everything else in those freshwater systems—the hotter it gets,” said Don Anderson, a senior scientist at WHOI.
Impacts of climate change on the ocean
Rick Murray of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution sees the impacts of climate change on the ocean and the ability of ocean-based activities to mitigate climate change as two sides of the same coin, and says both are critical to responding to climate change. (segment begins at 27:10)
Is it too late to do anything about climate change?
