Seafloor & Below
The Underwater United States – virtual event recording
A virtual journey hosted by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean into the submarine canyons off the U.S. East Coast and how they play an important role in a healthy marine ecosystem in a critical part of U.S. territorial waters.
Read MoreOne Small Step: From Life on the Seafloor to Life Beyond Earth
A team of WHOI researchers and colleagues use a decision-making robot to explore Kolumbo volcano—an ancient submarine volcano sitting 500 meters below the surface off Greece’s Santorini Island in the Aegean Sea. The expedition was part of a NASA-funded program that will attempt to answer a number of key questions: What can the organisms living in the extremes of this dark and chemical-laden underworld tell us about life on Earth and beyond? Are there signs of geohazards down there that may help predict the next eruption? And to what extent can we hand over the decision-making to ocean robots and let them explore without human control?
Read MoreMC&G Department Virtual Seminar:Earth 4D – A Deep Dive into the Earth’s Subsurface Biosphere and Hidden Hydrogeosphere
Barbara Sherwood Lollar, University of Toronto Sponsored by: MC&G Department This will be held virtually. Event address for attendees: https://whoi.webex.com/whoi/onstage/g.php?MTID=ea27fc8938de084427561c28be53319b5
Read MoreScientists are trying to save coral reefs. Here’s what’s working.
Without a mix of long-term cuts in emissions and short-term innovation, there’s a not-so-far-off future where coral reefs as we know them simply cease to exist, says Anne Cohen, a coral expert at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
MC&G Department Virtual Seminar: The Role of the Forearc in Volatile Cycling through Subduction Zones
Jaime Barnes, The University of Texas at Austin Sponsored by: MC&G Department This will be held virtually via Webex: https://whoi.webex.com/whoi/onstage/g.php?MTID=ee408a1a3fb5877f8b18c149977c40e4d…
Read MoreNOAA Webinar: Dive in and Explore Coral Reef Ecosystems
Dana Wusinich-Mendez, NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program Sponsored by: NOAA To register, please visit: https://register.gotowebinar.com/rt/2586095735301690123
Read MoreMicrobes far beneath the seafloor rely on recycling to survive
Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and colleagues reveal how microorganisms could survive in rocks nestled thousands of feet beneath the ocean floor in the lower oceanic crust.
Read MoreFluid Underground Meeting- Best Subsurface Fluids Paper of 2019 Presentation and Awards Ceremony: Abiotic Methane Synthesis and Serpentinization in Olivine-Hosted Fluid Inclusions
Frieder Klein, WHOI Sponsored by: The Fluid Underground
Read MoreSediments and Sedimentary Processes of the Southern New England Continental Shelf and Slope
Jason Chaytor, USGS Sponsored by: AOP&E Department
Read MoreGeodynamics Seminar Series: The Pervasive and Evolving Role of Organic Matter-Mineral Interactions in the Global Carbon Cycle
Tim Eglinton, ETH Zürich Sponsored by: Academic Programs Office
Read MoreROV Jason captures underwater video during earthquake
In January and February 2020, scientists on R/V Atlantis explored hydrothermal vents on the Cayman Rise. They used the remotely operated vehicle Jason to get an up-close view of the vents and life around them. The vents lie on a seismically active part of the seafloor known as a mid-ocean ridge. Deep-sea shrimp swarm the vents, feeding on microbes that live on chemicals flowing from the vents. While they were there, a magnitude 4.7 earthquake struck just 100 miles away. Scientists will now be able to study how seismic activity affects hydrothermal vents and the life around them.
Read MoreHoliday Dive
Happily working through the holidays: Alvin, shown here at the vent site more than 2000 meters (1.25 miles) below the surface being piloted by Alvin program manager Bruce Strickrott.
Read MoreNereid Under Ice explores Aurora hydrothermal vent field
The newly upgraded Nereid Under Ice, a hybrid remotely operated vehicle, is deployed from the Norwegian Icebreaker KronPrins Haakon to conduct its first deep ocean dives to 4,000 meters (over 13,000 feet) along the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean.
Read MoreIf alien life exists in our solar system, it may look like this
On September 19th, the research vessel, Kronprins Haakon, departed Longyearbyen, Svalbard headed toward the Aurora hydrothermal vent field, located along the Gakkel Ridge some 4000 meters below the arctic ice.
The Rise of Orpheus
WHOI’s new deep-sea autonomous underwater vehicle moves one step closer to exploring the hadal zone—the deepest region of the ocean—to search for new clues about the limits of life on Earth, and possibly beyond.
Read MoreWhere do you park when you dive thousands of feet into the ocean?
WHOI biologist Stace Beaulieu forgets all bodily needs when chasing creatures in her tiny submarine.
Extraordinary Footage of Octopus Garden
Need a break? Sit back, relax, and enjoy this stunning and calming underwater footage from Octopus Garden, two miles below the ocean’s surface in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS), where thousands of mother octopuses were discovered nursing their eggs. Meditative soundtrack included.
Read MoreDiving to Octopus Garden in a Submarine
Check out this amazing footage taken from WHOI’s submersible Alvin in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS), where thousands of mother octopuses were discovered nursing their eggs in a place known as Octopus Garden. WHOI principal engineer Andy Bowen talks with Chad King, a research specialist with MBNMS, about the animals and how federally-protected marine sanctuaries are critical to the health and protection of these incredible ecosystems.
Read MoreDiscover Octopus Garden
Watch this amazing footage and learn some cool facts about octopus living two miles below the ocean’s surface, where thousands of mother octopuses were discovered nursing their eggs in a place known as Octopus Garden in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS).
Read MoreJames Cameron challenges Victor Vescovo’s ‘record breaking’ trip to deepest part of ocean: ‘it’s flat down there, impossible to dive deeper’
Cameron and researchers with the WHOI say the difference between the depth recorded by Deepsea Challenger and Vescovo’s submersible relates to the technology used. Measuring ocean depth is not as straightforward as measuring distance on land.
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.”
Origin of Massive Methane Reservoir Identified
New research provides evidence of the formation and abundance of abiotic methane—methane formed by chemical reactions that don’t involve organic matter—on Earth and shows how the gases could have a similar origin on other planets and moons, even those no longer home to liquid water.
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