WHOI in the News
‘Rolls-Royce’ of shark cameras can extend to turtles, whales, seals and squid for ocean’s big picture
A high-tech SharkCam invented by a Cape Cod researcher offers an unprecedented window into the lives of the ocean’s toothy predators, and can also extend to seals, whales, turtles and squid for a big-picture view of precious ecosystems and how to protect them. “These vehicles, these underwater robots that look like highly complex systems are just an extension of yourself to be able go where people can’t go, and there’s no limitation to what they can do,” said Amy Kukulya, research engineer and principal investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Melting ice imperils 98% of Emperor penguin colonies by 2100
WASHINGTON (AP) — With climate change threatening the sea ice habitat of Emperor penguins, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday announced a proposal to list the species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. “The lifecycle of Emperor penguins is tied to having stable sea ice, which they need to breed, to feed and to molt,” said Stephanie Jenouvrier, a penguin ecologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
What Happens to Marine Life When There Isn’t Enough Oxygen?
In September of 2017, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution postdoctoral scholar Maggie Johnson was conducting an experiment with a colleague in Bocas del Toro off the Caribbean coast of Panama. After sitting on a quiet, warm open ocean, they snorkeled down to find a peculiar layer of murky, foul-smelling water about 10 feet below the surface, with brittle stars and sea urchins, which are usually in hiding, perching on the tops of coral. This unique observation prompted a collaborative study explained in a new paper published on July 26, 2021, in Nature Communications analyzing what this foggy water layer is caused by, and the impact it has on life at the bottom of the seafloor.
Study examines role of deep-sea microbial predators at hydrothermal vents
There in the dark ocean, a unique food web thrives not on photosynthesis but on chemical energy from the venting fluids.
Loss of Oxygen in Oceans Detrimental to Marine Life; Scientists Show How Deoxygenation Rapidly Affects Reef Ecosystem
According to Phys.org, Johnson and her team snorkeled down the water, and there they found the peculiar layer of water that has brittle stars and sea urchins, which are uncharacteristically perching on the top of coral reefs as they are usually hiding.
Impact of Hypoxic Ocean Waters on Marine Life
Investigators suggest that loss of oxygen in the global ocean is accelerating due to climate change and excess nutrients, but how sudden deoxygenation events affect tropical marine ecosystems is poorly understood.
Baker Administration Pushes Legislature For Climate Resiliency Funds
Murray said buoys, research ships and other coastal monitoring systems would be critical to predicting weather patterns and preparing for impacts on food supplies and local economies built around fishing.
Large vessels failing to obey speed limits to protect endangered whales, report finds
Review evaluates the evidence for an intensifying Indian Ocean water cycle
The paper brings together various scientific expertise, tools, and data sources to address key questions regarding climate change in the Indian Ocean, says Ummenhofer, associate scientist in the Physical Oceanography Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
Breakthrough discovery: Mote researchers may have found method to kill red tide with clay
Outside Mote Marine Laboratory, Dr. Lewis deployed a technique called clay flocculation. It’s a project led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Dr. Don Anderson.
Review evaluates the evidence for an intensifying Indian Ocean water cycle
The paper brings together various scientific expertise, tools, and data sources to address key questions regarding climate change in the Indian Ocean, says Ummenhofer, associate scientist in the Physical Oceanography Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
What science is missing
Some institutions are putting resources behind hiring experts to evaluate their hiring initiatives.
Rare, ghostly glass octopus photographed on recent Pacific Ocean expedition
“Expeditions like these teach us why we need to increase our efforts to restore and better understand marine ecosystems everywhere — because the great chain of life that begins in the ocean is critical for human health and well being,” Schmidt said.
Mashpee teacher, WHOI scientist part of symposium promoting more women in science, STEM
The symposium is also expected to provide what organizers describe as “hands-on, intimate spaces for attendees to come together to create real-world solutions that can be taken back to their place of work or education.”
Sharks and the ocean’s twilight zone: Some female great white sharks can deep dive for hours
Much of the shark focus around the Cape is on great whites roaming close to the shoreline as they prowl for seals, but researchers are finding out that several sharks are actually diving deep into the twilight zone out in the middle of the ocean. Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod are researching the sharks’ deep diving behavior and how sharks’ bodies have evolved to handle these deeper conditions. They’re learning that deep diving is far more frequent and extensive across species than previously thought, said Simon Thorrold, a senior scientist in the biology department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
‘The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52’ Review: An Enthusiastic, Anticlimactic Personal Quest to Find a One-of-a-Kind Whale Yields Mixed Results
Study shows that lobsters can detect sound, and raises concern about impact of anthropogenic noise
This is the first study demonstrating sound detection in the American lobster using what’s known as auditory evoked potential (AEP) methods, which use electrodes placed near the brain of the animal to detect neuron responses to sounds.
New Ocean Buoy Monitors Whales Off MD.’s Atlantic Coast
The buoy is equipped with a hydrophone to record marine mammal calls, and thanks to an algorithm, researchers will be able to determine whether they belong to a humpback, fin, sei, or a critically-endangered North Atlantic Right whale.
Decoding Marine Oil Spills Requires Slick Detective Work
It turns out the business of solving who may have dumped something bad into the ocean in two recent local incidents is much like solving any big crime – it takes good detective work.
The science behind extinguishing the Gulf of Mexico’s ‘ocean fire’
When firefighting boats circled the so-called “eye of fire,” spraying a steady stream of water on the outskirts of the flames, some Twitter users viewed the development with bemusement: were these boats fighting a fire, burning on the ocean, with… seawater?
‘What we know now is how much we don’t know’: Enter the strange world of the ocean twilight zone
A difficult area to study and often overlooked by science, new technology is aiding its exploration, forcing researchers to re-evaluate just how much life is down there. Researchers now believe there is 10 times, maybe 100 times the biomass previously thought, says Heidi Sosik, senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
Robot Dives 3,000 Feet to Film Creatures in Mid-Ocean ‘Twilight Zone’
Bioluminescent creatures and others inhabiting the dark depths 3,000 feet below the surface in the mid-ocean “twilight zone” — beyond the reach of sunlight — are now being documented by a research robot called Mesobot. The underwater robot was created in a joint effort by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Stanford University.
Alvin: Pioneer of the Deep
The deep-sea submersible Alvin has brought explorers to extraordinary places for more than 50 years. Now, as Alvin is poised to continue its revolutionary scientific work, a new set of upgrades will take it deeper than ever before. A coproduction with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Roaming the Depths: The Role of Autonomous Assets in the EXPORTS Campaign
The difficulty of science at sea has been one driving factor in the development of autonomous platforms for use in scientific research.