Seafloor & Below
Study Examines the Role of Deep-Sea Microbial Predators at Hydrothermal Vents
Researchers Emphasize the Need for Baseline Information of Microbial Food Webs The hydrothermal vent fluids from the Gorda Ridge spreading…
Read MoreFalling in love with deep-sea parasites
At hydrothermal vents there are body-snatchers, intestinal hitchhikers, and chest-bursters, but something about them is still alluring to Lauren Dykman
Read MoreExplorer Robert Ballard’s memoir finds shipwrecks and strange life forms in the ocean’s darkest reaches
In the early 1970s, when Ballard was doing his graduate work in marine geology and geophysics, scientists were still refining the basics of plate tectonics theory.
The ocean science-art connection
Some of the most complex insights in marine science are no match for the communicative power of art. Check out these five recent collaborations between ocean scientists and artists
Read MoreGoing the Distance
Unraveling the mysteries of the vast global ocean means entering some of the most remote and dangerous places on the planet.
Read MoreWHOI research in five inhospitable locations
Whether they’re under the ice at the furthest poles or hovering above the ocean’s deepest volcanoes, these researchers get the job done.
Read MoreAncient atmospheric oxygen sleuthing with ocean chromium
Currently, geoscientists and paleoceanographers from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are looking to add another use to that list: as a way to examine chemical shifts in ancient Earth’s oceans and atmosphere that are preserved in the seafloor’s paleorecord.
Deep-sea exploration breakthrough to guide future space exploration missions
The ASU researchers exploring deep sea hydrothermal vents as part of the SUBSEA project moved their modeling to the beginning of this process, significantly speeding up their ability to interpret the data from months to a couple of hours.
AOP&E Department Virtual Seminar: Mapping the Seabed
Andrew March, MIT Lincoln Laboratory Sponsored by: AOP&E Department This will be held virtually. Please Join: https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/93873912253?pwd=Rmo0OXpTT2tJQmNsSzRVNTNwMG1Sdz09 Meeting ID: 938 7391…
Read MoreFirst description of deep benthic habitats and communities of oceanic islands and seamounts of the Nazca Desventuradas Marine Park, Chile
Racing an undersea volcano
Using AUV Sentry to make a high-resolution, near-bottom, seafloor map before the next volcanic eruption at the East Pacific Rise
Read MoreG&G Department Virtual Seminar: Transient Aseismic Subduction Deformation Events Jointly Analyzed with Geodetic and Seismological Recordings
Baptiste Rousset, University of California, Berkeley Sponsored by: G&G Department This will be held virtually. Join Zoom Meeting: https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/99572727762?pwd=ZUpkLzNxbSsrZnQzaDRsdkg2ckVOZz09 Meeting…
Read MoreG&G Department Virtual Seminar: Seismic Ocean Thermometry
Wenbo Wu, WHOI Sponsored by: G&G Department This will be held virtually. Join Zoom meeting: https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/98955999927?pwd=dk9TUXlERXU1OE1Qc2l1QUVSRXRrUT09 Meeting ID: 989 5599…
Read MoreThe Creepy, Unbelievably Inspiring World of Deep Sea Parasites
Ocean hitchhikers and bodysnatchers abound in the ocean, from the surface down to the deepest trenches. The question is, why? And is it a good thing?
Read MoreG&G Department Virtual Seminar: Seismic Imaging of the Lesser Antilles Subduction Zone from the VoiLA Project
Kate Rychert, University of Southampton, UK Sponsored by: G&G Department This will be held virtually Zoom Details: https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/94308060986?pwd=TXFiSlprc05EdHR5OFNqYm41UzIrQT09 Meeting ID:…
Read MoreDoctoral Dissertation Defense of Thesis: The Heterogeneity and Volatile Content of Earth’s Mantle, Magmas and Crust
Benjamin M. Urann, MIT-WHOI Joint Program Sponsored by: Academic Programs Office This will be held virtually. Click here to register or…
Read MoreDeep ocean drilling: Revealing earth history, geological processes and a deep biosphere
Virginia Edgcomb from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution discusses deep ocean drilling, a process that reveals earth history, geological processes and a deep biosphere.
Doctoral Dissertation Defense of Thesis: Structure and Mechanics of the Subducted Gorda Plate: Constrained by Afterslip Simulations and Scattered Seismic Waves
Jianhua Gong, MIT-WHOI Joint Program Sponsored by: Academic Programs Office This will be held virtually. Click here to register or…
Read MoreScientists call for decade of concerted effort to enhance understanding of the deep seas
An international team of scientists, spanning 45 institutions in 17 countries, has called for a dedicated decade-long program of research to greatly advance discovery in these remote regions.
Wave Glider provides gateway to remote exploration
WHOI geochemist Chris German pairs an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) called a Wave Glider with other vehicles to expand research here and on other Ocean Worlds
Read MoreFinding answers in the ocean
The test being used to diagnose the novel coronavirus—and other pandemics like AIDS and SARS—was developed with the help of an enzyme isolated from a microbe found in marine hydrothermal vents as well as freshwater hot springs.
Read MoreBiology Department Virtual Seminar: The Impact of Phagotrophic Protists at Hot Spots of Primary Production in the Deep Sea
Sarah Hu, WHOI Sponsored by: Biology Department This will be held virtually. Information will be posted when available
Read MoreMove Over, Mars: The Search for Life on Saturn’s Largest Moon
“The great thing about hydrothermal vents is that they provide a lot of energy sources for microbial life that doesn’t include sunlight,” says Julie Huber, a marine chemist at WHOI. Organisms living at hydrothermal vents on Earth’s seafloors, she explains, “can use chemical energy, so that means things like sulphur, iron, hydrogen and methane and they create a base of the food chain.”
Move Over, Mars: The Search for Life on Saturn’s Largest Moon
Alien microbes could be flourishing in the underground seas of Titan and the solar system’s other ocean worlds. “The great thing about hydrothermal vents is that they provide a lot of energy sources for microbial life that doesn’t include sunlight,” says Julie Huber, a marine chemist at WHOI.
