WHOI in the News
WHOI Researcher Makes Case For More Ocean Observation
An official from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution stressed the importance of supporting ocean science and expanding observational capability last week to a House of Representatives committee.
Scientists Say Land and Ocean Are Key to Tackling Climate Crisis
“The ocean is central to Earth’s climate and weather systems as well as our economic growth and national security and must be included in any discussion regarding legislation and policy addressing the environmental changes we see today,” said Richard Murray, deputy director and vice president for research at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass.
WHOI Underwater Robot Takes First Known Automated Sample from Ocean
A hybrid remotely operated vehicle developed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) took the first known automated sample performed by a robotic arm in the ocean.
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.
Technofixing the climate: who’s in charge?
Ken Buesseler, senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, who was researching OIF at the time, recalls: “Governments stopped funding the research—everything came to a halt.”
Mining the sea floor for precious metals needed for electric car batteries could lead to ‘irreversible damage’ to marine eco-systems, scientists warn
These microbes have incredible potential to inspire new solutions to all sorts of medical and technical challenges we face today,’ said Julie Huber, a scientist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and co-author of the new study.
Artificial Intelligence Could Help Scientists Predict Where And When Toxic Algae Will Bloom
Don Anderson is a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who is working to expand the scope of data-gathering efforts in the Gulf.
‘Magic soil’: a green solution to red tide
About 30 scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution of the United States and other institutes concluded: “Results to date are generally consistent with published studies from China (reviewed by Yu et al, 2017) which support the view that clay dispersal can be effective without significant adverse environmental impacts.”
WHOI study looks at impact of construction noise on squid
Using recordings taken during the Block Island wind turbine installation, Ph.D. candidate Ian Jones and his colleagues at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution exposed longfin squid kept in tanks in the bioacoustics lab to pile-driving noise broadcast through underwater speakers.
New postmark will celebrate WHOI’s 90th anniversary
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is kicking off its yearlong celebration commemorating 90 years of research and exploration with the release of a limited-edition pictorial postmark.
Lethal algae blooms – an ecosystem out of balance
“There’s no question that the HAB problem is a major global issue, and it is growing,” said Donald Anderson, director of the US National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms and a lab director at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
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.
Underwater pile driving noise causes alarm responses in squid
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, according to a study by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin.
My team uses crossbows and drones to collect bacteria from whales — and the results are teaching us how to keep whales healthy
With the help of skilled drone pilots from NOAA, SR3 or Sealife Response, Rehabilitation, and Research, and our own Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution the team worked together to position the drone over the blowhole of the whale and catch the spray.
Facing new threats, lobstermen take hard line against right whale protections
At a recent conference on right whales in Portland, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution presented a study suggesting that lobstermen can actually increase their profits by reducing their buoy lines.
NORTHERN EXPOSURE: New England, Mid-Atlantic see biggest impact of warming ocean
“Nobody had ever seen that before,” said Gawarkiewicz, an oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, near Boston.
The Northeast warms ahead of rest of USA: ‘Our winters now are not like our winters before’
“Nobody had ever seen that before,” said Glen Gawarkiewicz, an oceanographer from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
New astronauts graduate | One of these 13 may walk on moon, Mars
Prior to joining NASA, O’Hara was a research engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
Japan Wants to Dump Nuclear Plant’s Tainted Water. Fishermen Fear the Worst.
“I want to see the numbers after they’ve removed these additional radionuclides,” said Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist in marine chemistry and geochemistry at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. “Then, and only then, can I make a judgment on the quality of the rationale for releasing it or the consequences of releasing it.”
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.
Ocean Microbes: Novel Study Underscores Microbial Individuality
“Genetic information can teach us a lot about ecology, and these may be photosynthetic organisms that were unnoticed before,” said Maria Pachiadaki, a former Bigelow Laboratory postdoctoral researcher who is now an assistant scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the lead author on the paper. “If experiments confirm what the genes suggest, this is an important microbial group to consider in ocean carbon studies.”
Portable device allows to measure highly reactive superoxide on coral reefs
Researchers at WHOI 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.
March of the penguins
If current warming trends continue, emperor penguins will be marching toward an 86 per cent population decline by the end of the century, at which point, “it is very unlikely for them to bounce back,” says study author Stephanie Jenouvrier, a seabird ecologist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Whales may owe their efficient digestion to millions of tiny microbes
A study by NSF-funded researchers at 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: wax esters.