Hazards
A Tiny Camera Could Help Shellfish Farmers Avoid Big Losses
Cape Cod’s shellfish farmers face many challenges, and one of the biggest is dealing with harmful algal blooms, which can damage shellfish and be poisonous for humans to ingest. But a new project at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is looking at a way to better manage this with the help of a tiny camera.
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.
The ghosts of ancient hurricanes live in Caribbean blue holes
South Andros Island, part of the Bahamian archipelago, is a sandy slice of paradise whose shores conceal buried geological treasures: blue holes. Hiding in the depths of these ethereal submarine sinkholes lay ancient sediment sandwiches whose layers betray the bygone passages of powerful hurricanes.
Why are birds and seals starving in a Bering Sea full of fish?
Federal and university scientists are trying to better understand why some birds and marine mammals have been unable to find enough food, and whether toxic algae blooms — increasing as the water warms — could have contributed or caused some of the die-offs.
In the Blue Holes of the Bahamas, Secrets of Hurricanes Past
Researchers have assembled a 1,500-year history of hurricanes in the Bahamas, based on sand and shell fragments pulled up from submarine caverns known as blue holes.
A Lagrangian View of Spring Phytoplankton Blooms
Shin Kida, Kyushu University Sponsored by: Physical Oceanography Department
Read MoreScientists have discovered stormquakes, where earthquakes and hurricanes collide
The study says that stormquakes are actually a fairly common occurrence, but they just sounded like seismic background noise and went undetected.
Sunlight degrades polystyrene faster than expected
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.
Read MoreNOAA awards WHOI $2.9 million for harmful algal bloom research
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.
Read MoreScientists Quantify Global Volcanic CO2 Venting; Estimate Total Carbon On Earth
Preparing to summarize and celebrate the 10-year Deep Carbon Observatory program at the National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC, Oct. 24-26, DCO’s 500-member Reservoirs and Fluxes team today outlined several key findings that span time from the present to billions of years past; from Earth’s core to its atmosphere, and in size from single volcanoes to the five continents.
The History of Ancient Hurricanes Is Written in Sand and Mud
Over the past year and as a student fellow in 2017, I have been working with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Jeffrey Donnelly, who uses sediment cores—tubes of sand and mud layers that are extracted from coastal lake beds—to track ancient cyclones in the Atlantic and, recently, in the islands of the South Pacific.
Climate Change on Cape Cod: At the Edge of a Warming World
In the 81 years since the 1938 storm, the sea level here has risen about a foot, said WHOI researcher Jeff Donnelly, and is now rising faster than it has in thousands of years.
Upper-Ocean Response to Precipitation Forcing in an Ocean Model Hindcast of Hurricane Gonzalo
John Steffen, WHOI Sponsored by: Physical Oceanography Department
Read MoreUp 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)
SEA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION (SEA): “From Earth to Mars via Ocean Volcanoes and their Evolution”
SEA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION (SEA): Will host a public lecture, “From Earth to Mars via Ocean Volcanoes and their Evolution,” on…
Read MoreInfectious Diseases in a Changing World: Evolution to Ecology
Armand Kuris, University of California, Santa Barbara Sponsored by: Biology Department – Redfield Auditorium
Read MoreEverything you need to know about toxic algae blooms
The type of toxin released depends on the species causing the bloom. Some of the most common ones affect the liver or the nervous system, said Donald Anderson, director of the U.S. National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms and a senior scientist at WHOI.
This new nanotech could help clean up Earth’s microplastics
“Trying to understand the big picture on plastic and be able to weave a story together is going to take decades,” said Christopher Reddy, an environmental chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who was not involved in the study.
Know Your Ocean Science Chats: Listen Closely to “See” into the Earth
Masako Tominaga, WHOI Sponsored by: WHOI Discovery Center & Visitor Center
Read MoreWHOI prepares for 2019 Atlantic Hurricane Season
Researchers deploy autonomous underwater vehicles to improve forecasts By Evan Lubofsky | July 18, 2019 Hurricane Florence. Image courtesy of…
Read MoreHurricane Clues from a Caribbean Blue Hole
Scientists look to sediment cores from Caicos Island to gain insights about a monster, modern-day hurricane.
Read MoreSea Surface Temperature Gradients in the Red Sea: Links to Asian Monsoon Wind Strength
Konrad Hughen, WHOI Sponsored by: MC&G Department
Read MoreGeology & Geophysics Steinbach Scholar: 3D Seismic Reflection Data: Has the Geological Hubble Retained Its Focus?
Christopher Jackson, Imperial College, London Sponsored by: Academic Programs Office
Read MoreSummer Lecture Series: Volcanoes in the Deep: The 2012 Eruption of Havre Volcano
Adam Soule, WHOI Sponsored by: Academic Programs Office
Read More