WHOI in the News
Whale populations in New York Harbor are booming—here’s why
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the New York Aquarium teamed up to deploy a high-tech acoustic buoy named Melville, 22 miles south of Fire Island. Whales communicate mostly via sound, and each species has distinct calls (and even dialects).
Making the planetary personal: the roots of climate science
In the 1950s, a timber cabin on the grounds of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts, became a hub for annual meetings where Simpson, meteorologist Jule Charney and other innovators teased out geophysical fluid dynamics. As Dry shows, imagination has been as important as mathematical skill in advancing planetary knowledge.
Researchers are exploring the SS Portland shipwreck. Here’s how to watch
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is working with NOAA’s Office of Marine Sanctuaries and Marine Imaging Technologies to explore the wreck of the SS Portland as part of a three-year project that will also include explorations of other nearby shipwrecks.
Exploring the wreck of the steamship Portland, ‘the Titanic of New England’
By visiting the final resting place of the Portland, researchers will document changes that have occurred at the site of the wreck and gain more insight into the fate of the doomed steamer.The expedition is being led by NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Marine Imaging Technologies.
Waters off the coast of Maine vulnerable to changing climate
“As the Arctic’s atmosphere is heating up it is reducing the gradient, and that slows down the jet stream,” says Glen Gawarkiewicz, an oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who helped track the phenomenon. “It’s been having these big meanders and sometimes just gets stuck in one position for weeks at a time.”
New report takes in-depth look at three factors contributing to sea level rise along the U.S. East Coast
A new report from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) discusses some of the science of sea level rise and highlights three key processes that contribute to the phenomenon. Produced in conjunction with climate science expert Dr. Christopher Piecuch, the report also describes some of the research being conducted to better understand how and why sea levels are rising, so that we can more confidently predict future changes.
Up All Night- Atlantic hurricanes
BBC radio host Rhod Sharp and Jeff Donnelly of WHOI’s Coastal Research Lab trace the history of hurricanes in the Atlantic and discuss the frequency of intense storms. New sediment records indicate that historically unprecedented levels of intense hurricane activity impacted the eastern seaboard of the United States and northeastern Gulf Coast in the last two millennia.
(segment begins at 02:05:00)
Oceanographer wins big money in rainfall forecasting contest
Rainfall forecasting is big money! For over 40 years, Ray Schmitt has been a physical oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
A shipwreck worth billions off the coast of Cartagena
On 27 November 2015, the San José was “officially” discovered by a robotic submarine called the REMUS 6000, which is operated by the US-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Climate change doesn’t only mean rising oceans — your health is at risk, too
According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution website, diarrhetic shellfish poisoning produces gastrointestinal symptoms, usually beginning within 30 minutes to a few hours after consumption of toxic shellfish. Although not fatal, the illness is characterized by incapacitating diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
The Ocean’s Eerie Twilight Zone is in Murky Legal Water
“The most striking thing is just how far down it is and how the light dissolves away,” says Joel Llopiz, a biologist with Woods Hole Oceanographic.
How a Volcanic Eruption Set Off a Phytoplankton Bloom
Lava-driven nutrient fountains “could be a pretty important driver of phytoplankton ecology in the broader ocean,” said Harriet Alexander, a biological oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who was not involved in the latest study.
Scientists tag deep-sea shark hundreds of feet underwater—a first
When asked what remains mysterious about them, Simon Thorrold, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution laughs, explaining: “It will be way quicker to go over what we do know. And that is almost nothing.”
Microplastics Found In The Ocean And In Human Poop
Where are the sources of these microplastics? Well, as a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution video explains, some of the microplastics may be coming from larger plastic objects such as bottles and other households goods being ground up by the elements.
Why we must protect the ocean’s ‘twilight zone’
The twilight zone can be found 200 to 1,000 meters (about 650 to 3,300 feet) below the ocean surface, at the point where the sun’s rays can no longer reach, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) in Massachusetts. Because it’s so deep and there’s no sunlight, it’s cold and dark.
Dense Antarctic water returning to the Atlantic
“This region, the Scotia Sea, is unique in that it hosts several different physical mechanisms which launder dense water to make it lighter within a relatively small basin (the Southern Scotia Sea),” says co-author Dr. Kurt Polzin of WHOI. “This small basin relative to a relatively large volume transport enables researchers to assess changes in water mass production ultimately coming from the Antarctic Shelves on a biennial basis, compared to decadal time scales from other sections.”
Opening their eyes to science: EarthWatch program gives girls a chance to delve into scientific world
This year, the fourth for the program, EarthWatch kept the program local, teaming up with Sea Grant at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to provide girls in Massachusetts with experiences in all types of sciences, Woodroof said. Only girls from Massachusetts were selected, which included a couple from the Cape and a couple with seasonal ties to the Island.
Local fishermen assist leatherback research
After several years, Kara Dodge began to do other work with turtles, in particular a “TurtleCam” project with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution engineer Amy Kukulya. The project involved tagging and tailing turtles with autonomous underwater vehicles to study diving behavior, eating habits, and assess ways to reduce entanglements.
New Technology Will Listen For Underwater Whale Traffic In An Effort To Reduce Ship Strikes
Scientists from the Benioff Ocean Initiative and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have deployed a a hydrophone, or underwater microphone, to listen for whale traffic in the Santa Barbara Channel. They hope to use the microphone to help prevent collisions between whales and boats – which are often deadly to whales.
Exploring Antarctica as Citizen Scientist with Polar Latitudes
As part of a partnership with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, guests aboard The Whale Science Voyage, one of their annual itineraries (February 27- March 11, 2020), can participate in a major research study being conducted by a team of scientists on climate change and its impact on the humpback whale population, an animal that is protected under the Endangered Species Act.
NASA eyes the ocean: How the deep sea could unlock outer space
“When hydrothermal vents were discovered in 1977, it very much flipped biology on its end,” says Julie Huber, an oceanographer who studies life in and below the seafloor at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) on Cape Cod. “People knew that organisms could live off of chemical energy, but they didn’t imagine they could support animal ecosystems.”
Geology creates chemical energy: Origin of a massive methane reservoir discovered
Scientists know methane is released from deep-sea vents, but its source has long been a mystery. A team from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution may have the answer. Analysis of 160 rock samples from across the world’s oceans provides evidence, they say, of the formation and abundance of abiotic methane – methane formed by chemical reactions that don’t involve organic matter.
A Huge, Mysterious Reservoir of Methane Has Been Identified Deep Under The Ocean
“Identifying an abiotic source of deep-sea methane has been a problem that we’ve been wrestling with for many years,” says marine geochemist Jeffrey Seewald from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).”Here’s a source of chemical energy that’s being created by geology.”
WHOI plans $27M building for Quissett campus
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has begun the permit process for a $27 million, 50,000-square-foot building planned for its Quissett campus.