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Research Highlights

Oceanus Magazine

Elizabeth Spiers

Grits, storms, and cosmic patience

May 29, 2025

As storms stall liftoff, Europa Clipper Mission Team member Elizabeth Spiers patiently awaits the biggest mission of her life

kelp farming

Seeding the future

May 21, 2025

New WHOI tech lends a hand to kelp farmers

Julia Guimond (Photo by Brady Clarke © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.)

Cold, quiet, and carbon-rich: Investigating winter wetlands

May 7, 2025

A hydrologist takes on a groundbreaking study to understand how groundwater moves through New England salt marshes in the winter.

mROV concept rendering

New underwater vehicles in development at WHOI

April 30, 2025

New vehicles will be modeled after WHOI’s iconic remotely operated vehicle, Jason

Learning to see through cloudy waters

April 3, 2025

How MIT-WHOI student Amy Phung is helping robots accomplish dangerous tasks in murky waters

News Releases

Research suggests giant kelp has different factors that bear on its growth dynamics

January 4, 2022

The macroalga giant kelp, which is an iconic and important ecosystem-structuring species found off the coast of California and many other coastlines, can grow 100-feet long within 1-2 years. Now, researchers using novel remote sensing observations have found that different factors may bear on the spatial growth dynamics of the Macrocystis pyrifera kelp, which is the largest species of algae in the world.

DOE Funding will Support WHOI Research to Support Sustainable Development of Offshore Wind

November 19, 2021

Woods Hole, MA – The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has received $750,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop next‐generation autonomous robotic technology for environmental monitoring of marine organisms and the seafloor at potential wind…

auv coral

Development of a curious robot to study coral reef ecosystems awarded $1.5 million by the National Science Foundation

November 10, 2021

A prototype of an autonomous underwater vehicle capable of navigating complex underwater environments and of collecting data adaptively over long periods of time. Daniel Hentz / ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, MA – A grant by the National Science…

ROV Jason

ROV Jason helps recover two other underwater vehicles

September 3, 2021

On September 2, the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason aided in the recovery of two underwater vehicles, ROV Hercules and Argus, that were stranded on the seafloor near British Columbia

WHOI advancing a seaweed solution to develop new kelp strains

August 10, 2021

A leader in ocean science, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is embarking on a study of how new seaweed strains could further enhance the burgeoning seaweed industry and offer solutions to some of the world’s pressing challenges. This research is funded in part by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) with support from the Bezos Earth Fund.

News & Insights

WHOI builds bridges with Arctic Indigenous communities

February 10, 2021

NSF program fosters collaboration between indigenous communities and traditional scientists, allowing WHOI’s autonomous vehicles to shed light on a changing Arctic

WHOI-assisted study finds ocean dumping of DDT waste was “sloppy”

October 29, 2020

An investigative report this week in the LA Times features the work of WHOI’s marine geochemistry lab in identifying the discarded barrels and analyzing samples from the discovery.