Underwater Vehicles

Colonization in slow motion

April 4, 2019

Ecology Daily News

Quotes (Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser)

Featured image: Glider Pilot

March 25, 2019

After a journey of more than two months from Miami, a team recovers a Spray glider on the continental shelf…

WHOI to be Featured in Upcoming BBC Program ‘Blue Planet Live’

March 20, 2019

Scientists, engineers, vehicle operators, and ship crew from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will be a featured part of the upcoming BBC program, Blue Planet Live, which will air over four nights beginning March 24. The series will include two live broadcasts from the research vessel Atlantis showing launch and recovery of the human-occupied submersible Alvin.

Mesobot, Follow that Jellyfish!

March 12, 2019

WHO scientists and engineers are developing an innovative autonomous deep-sea vehicle with hovering and manuevering capabilities that will allow it to follow animals without disturbing their environment and behavior.

Assembling of Mesobot Frame

March 10, 2019

The Deep-See Peers into the Depths

February 20, 2019

Decades of research from many WHOI scientists and engineers have culminated in a multifaceted vehicle to explore deep-sea marine life.

February 6, 2019

In order to understand the ocean, scientists often find they have to get themselves or their instruments into very specific…

Coding Curiosity

January 16, 2019

The ocean is an extreme environment that is hard for humans to explore. One solution is building deep-sea robots that can autonomously make decisions on what to look for and where.

Alvin Submersible Makes 5,000th Dive

November 26, 2018

Alvin, the country’s only deep-diving research submersible capable of carrying humans to the sea floor, reached another milestone in its long career on Nov. 26, 2018, when the sub made its 5,000th dive during an expedition to the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California.

Sentry Completes Its 500th Dive

October 18, 2018

WHOI’s free-swimming robot Sentry completed its 500th dive on October 16, 2018, off the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. The autonomous underwater vehicle has used its sonar systems to help scientists map the seafloor, track the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, locate the voyage data recorder on the sunken El Faro cargo ship, and carry out advanced research on many other missions to help us better understand our ocean and our planet.

Podcast: Using Philanthropy to Explore the World’s Oceans

October 11, 2018

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Quotes Mark Abbott

Journey to the Bottom of the Sea

October 4, 2018

My eyelids were tightly pressed down as I mustered all the tricks I could think of to get myself to…

The Discovery of Hydrothermal Vents

June 11, 2018

In 1977, WHOI scientists made a discovery that revolutionized our understanding of how and where life could exist on Earth and other planetary bodies.

New Details on Discovery of San Jose Shipwreck

May 21, 2018

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) recently obtained authorization by Maritime Archaeology Consultants, Switzerland AG (MAC), and the Colombian government to release new details from the successful search for the three-century old San José 62-gun, three-masted Spanish galleon ship that sank with a cargo believed to be worth billions of dollars. The ship, which is often called the ‘holy grail of shipwrecks,’ went down with a treasure of gold, silver, and emeralds in 1708 during a battle with British ships in the War of Spanish Succession.

Mission to the Ocean Twilight Zone

April 17, 2018

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.

To Track an Oil Spill

February 8, 2018

WHOI scientists are helping to develop a robotic underwater vehicle that can track oil spills and help responders mitigate damage in remote or ice-covered areas such as the Arctic Ocean and the Great Lakes.