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All Together

All Together

Members of a 1947-48 cruise row back R/V Atlantis to the (visible in the background). The primary purpose of the six-month “Med Cruise” was to prepare bathymetric charts of the…

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Fearsome Fish

Fearsome Fish

Skull of the deep-sea lancet fish, Alepisaurus ferox. In the early years of using moored instruments to gather information about the ocean, many moorings sustained gashes that some researchers attributed…

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The Ghost Mooring

Teacher Juan Botella, who participated in a research cruise in the Southern Ocean, describes the recovery of a decade-lost mooring. By Kate Madin :: Originally published online August 11, 2011

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Going Adrift

Going Adrift

Sophia Merrifield, a student in the MIT/WHOI Joint Program, prepares to deploy a surface drifter with the help of WHOI physical oceanographer Dave Fratantoni about 20 miles off the tip…

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Loading Up

Loading Up

WHOI physical oceanographer Dave Fratantoni prepares a Slocum glider for deployment on a research mission (in this picture, the glider’s wings have been removed). The glider moves up and down…

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DynaMITE Images

DynaMITE Images

Research engineer Fred Thwaites, associate scientist Kurt Polzin, research specialist Ruth Curry, and engineer Kevin Manganini (left to right) recover a High-Resolution Profiler onboard R/V Knorr during the month-long DynaMITE…

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Eavesdropping on Whales

Eavesdropping on Whales

Nick Woods and Sophia Merrifield, students in the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, prepare to deploy a profiling float equipped with acoustic sensors that “listen” for whales and a suite…

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Tour the Knorr!

Tour the Knorr!

Take advantage of a unique opportunity today, August 7, to tour the global class research vessel R/V Knorr. Rain or shine, the public is invited to Woods Hole, to learn…

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Captain at Work

Captain at Work

Former captain of R/V Knorr and current captain of R/V Atlantis, A.D. Colburn, is shown at work on the bridge of the Knorr. Captain Colburn commanded the ship for 10…

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Shipshape

Shipshape

After 43 years of service in oceans around the world, and two major renovations, the research vessel Knorr still looks sharp, as this view looking aft from the bow shows.…

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Reaching Titanic

Reaching Titanic

On September 1, 1985, scientists working on board the R/V Knorr captured the first photographs of the wreck of the RMS Titanic in the North Atlantic beneath more than 12,400…

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Game-Changing Discovery

Game-Changing Discovery

In 1977 during dives to the Galapagos Rift in the East Pacific, a team of geologists working aboard R/V Knorr and Lulu, the support ship for the submersible Alvin, see…

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Sharks on Cape Cod

Sharks on Cape Cod

This white shark was spotted off Chatham during a tagging cruise in 2010.During the last few summers the number of white sharks on Cape Cod appears to have increased. The presence…

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Re-fitting Atlantis

Re-fitting Atlantis

A work crew fits the boom to R/V Atlantis‘ new mizzen mast in this undated photograph from the Munro Shipyard in Chelsea, Mass. Atlantis served as WHOI’s globally ranging oceanographic…

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Ready to Set Sail

Ready to Set Sail

A group of graduate students in the MIT/WHOI Joint Program gather on the deck of the (SSV) Corwith Cramer alongside the ship’s crew for the start of the 2011 Jake…

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Happy Campers

Happy Campers

During Polar Discovery Expedition 3 in 2007, scientists and students ventured to Antarctica to study the geology and biology of the southern continent. At the start of the expedition, 20…

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Atlantis to Atlantis: Well Done

The science party and crew of R/V Atlantis send a special message to the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis. The two vessels are linked by a legendary namesake–the original…

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Steer Clear

Steer Clear

A tassled scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis oxycephala) lies camouflaged on a coral reef in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea. These carnivorous fish—known for their venomous spines—often wait in disguise for prey to…

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First Cut

First Cut

In the WHOI Core Lab, retiree and volunteer George Heimerdinger moves a length of sediment core encased in PVC pipe to the core splitter, where the PVC will be split…

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Once More Unto the Rift

Once More Unto the Rift

Giant clams up to one foot long thrive in the crevices around seafloor pillow lava, which vent hydrothermal fluids with chemical nutrients. This vent site in the Pacific on the…

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Mapping the seafloor

Mapping the seafloor

Autonomous under water vehicles (AUVs) have become an ever present tool used by oceanographers.  Here ocean engineer Hanumant Singh, tests SeaBED, the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)  designed and built by…

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Barnacle Buoy

Barnacle Buoy

Instruments, buoys, and rigging lines placed in the sea attract a wide variety of organisms. After 13 months in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska, this orange float sported a…

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Night Shift

Night Shift

With the nighttime Arctic sun as a backdrop, Hugh Maclean of Canada’s Institute of Ocean Sciences signals to the winch operator during deployment of a CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) instrument in the…

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