Phytoplankton
The Krill Crate
Scientists from WHOI and the University of Oregon transport a tank of juvenile krill (gray square box on small boat)…
Read MorePhytoplankton
What are Phytoplankton? Phytoplankton are mostly microscopic, single-celled photosynthetic organisms that live suspended in water. Like land plants, they take…
Read MorePlankton, By Any Other Name
Scientists usually divide plankton into three groups that align with major divisions of life. The plant-like organisms are phytoplankton (from…
Read MoreForecasting Where Ocean Life Thrives
Where do plankton grow more prolifically in the ocean? At “fronts” where different water masses meet. In this case, less-salty,…
Read MoreThe Living Breathing Ocean
Rainforests have been dubbed the Earth’s lung, but like us, our planet has two lungs. The second one is the ocean.
Read MoreThe Recipe for a Harmful Algal Bloom
Harmful algal blooms can produce toxins that accumulate in shellfish and cause health problems and economic losses. They have increased in strength and frequency worldwide. Can we get advance warnings of when and where they will occur?
Read MoreLife at the Edge
What makes the shelf break front such a productive and diverse part of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean? A group of scientists on the research vessel Neil Armstrong spent two weeks at sea in 2018 as part of a three-year, NSF-funded project to find out.
Read MoreForecasting Where Ocean Life Thrives
The ocean, like the atmosphere, has “fronts,” and it’s hardly quiet on them. In fact, that is where the plankton that provide the foundation of the ocean food web are most prolific.
Read MoreMission to the Ocean Twilight Zone
The twilight zone is a part of the ocean 660 to 3,300 feet below the surface, where little sunlight can reach. It is deep and dark and cold, and the pressures there are enormous. Despite these challenging conditions, the twilight zone teems with life that helps support the ocean’s food web and is intertwined with Earth’s climate. Some countries are gearing up to exploit twilight zone fisheries, with unknown impacts for marine ecosystems and global climate. Scientists and engineers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are poised to explore and investigate this hidden frontier.
Read MoreHeidi Sosik Selected as a Fellow of The Oceanography Society
Heidi Sosik, a senior scientist in the Biology Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has been named a 2018 Fellow of The Oceanography Society (TOS). Sosik’s accomplishments will be formally recognized on Feb. 13, 2018, during a ceremony at the 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland, Oregon.
Read MorePlankZooka & SUPR-REMUS
Much of marine life begins as microscopic larvae—so tiny, delicate, and scattered in hard-to-reach parts of ocean that scientists have…
Read MoreSpring Arrives Earlier in the Ocean Too
Warmer oceans are triggering phytoplankton to start their annual blooms up to four weeks earlier than usual—a signal of how…
Read MoreA New Long-Term Ecological Research Site Announced for the Northeast U.S. Shelf
To better understand and manage the intricate ecosystem off the Northeast U.S. coast, the National Science Foundation has announced the selection of this critical ocean region for a new Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site led by WHOI.
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