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Research Highlights

Oceanus Magazine

New Weather-Shifting Climate Cycle Revealed

New Weather-Shifting Climate Cycle Revealed

September 28, 2012

Scientists have uncovered evidence for another natural cycle that, like El Niño and La Niña, shifts Pacific Ocean winds and currents and rearranges rainfall and weather patterns around the globe. The newly detected cycle recurs every 100 years, less frequently…

Deep-sea Detectives

Deep-sea Detectives

September 20, 2012

Links to related materials Mid-Ocean Ridges—Articles, illustrations, and video showing how new seafloor crust forms Mapping the Seafloor with Multibeam Sonar Profile of Marshall Swartz Story of the SDSL Data-Link Life at Vents and Seeps While Oil Gently Seeps from…

Deep-sea Detectives

Deep-sea Detectives

September 20, 2012

Links to related materials Mid-Ocean Ridges—Articles, illustrations, and video showing how new seafloor crust forms Mapping the Seafloor with Multibeam Sonar Profile of Marshall Swartz Story of the SDSL Data-Link Life at Vents and Seeps While Oil Gently Seeps from…

Deep-sea Vents Yield New Species

Deep-sea Vents Yield New Species

September 14, 2012

Call it “midnight at the OASES.” Neither permanent darkness nor extreme pressure and heat cause problems for a host of new deep-sea species found in January by an international research expedition called “OASES 2012.” The expedition, led by Woods Hole…

Follow the Carbon

Follow the Carbon

September 6, 2012

“Carbon is the currency of life,” said David Griffith, a marine chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). “Where carbon is coming from, which organisms are using it, how they’re giving off carbon themselves—these things say a lot about how…

News Releases

Researchers help solve mystery of clockwork-like earthquake system deep beneath the Pacific

May 14, 2026

Study of Gofar transform fault on the Pacific seafloor points to mitigating effects of “barrier zones” that keep ruptures from spreading.

A new study finds Jupiter’s moon Europa’s quiet seafloor may still hold keys for life

January 6, 2026

A new study suggests Jupiter’s icy moon lacks geophysical activity, changing how scientists think about life there

Black shale

A new study reveals how oxygen first reached Earth’s oceans

December 9, 2025

Researchers use vanadium isotopes to track the rise of oxygen in ancient seas

europa clipper

WHOI selected by NASA to investigate ocean worlds and their organic carbon cycles

December 3, 2025

The Investigating Ocean Worlds project will seek to improve the analysis of data related to carbon-rich molecules that could be an indicator of biological activity.

Six-million-year-old ice discovered in Antarctica offers unprecedented window into a warmer Earth

October 29, 2025

This is the most significant discovery to date for COLDEX, an NSF Science and Technology Center funded in 2021 to explore the Antarctic ice sheet, which is the largest ice mass on the planet.

News & Insights

Scientists tap ‘secret’ fresh water under the ocean

September 12, 2025

First-of-its-kind research expedition studies massive freshwater aquifer under the ocean floor off Cape Cod

The Search for Life

February 17, 2021

This week, NASA’s Perseverance Rover lands on Mars to continue the search for life on the Red Planet. At the same time, WHOI scientists and engineers are applying their experience exploring the deepest parts of planet Earth to the quest…

greenland ice

Will melting glaciers cool the climate?

July 29, 2020

As glaciers melt at unprecedented rates, WHOI’s Simon Pendleton is looking back to historical records to predict whether this new cool runoff will slow ocean circulation and cool the northern hemisphere––findings which could mean adjustments to some climate predictions.

Art Maxwell

Celebrating an oceanographic life

July 1, 2020

WHOI looks back at the legacy of co-founder of MIT-WHOI Joint Program, former Director of Research and Provost at WHOI, Art Maxwell

Working from home: Chris German

April 30, 2020

As I reached the end of April, I realized that too much of my time was getting consumed by zoom calls and email in a bid to over-compensate for not being able to interact with people on-site at WHOI. So…

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