Multimedia Items
Elemental Journeys
Enormous amounts of chemical elements move throughout the surface of the Earth. This illustrates how much is moved by various natural processes or human activities, in units of petagrams (Pg…
Read MoreLethal Interactions
Researchers created this diagram to summarize their findings about lethal interactions among 185 strains of Vibriobacteria. Individual strains of bacteria are represented by the black lines protruding from the rim of…
Read MoreHow a Biofilm Forms in the Sea
Biofilms form when bacteria settle onto a hard surface (1), where they proliferate and produce slime (2). Most efforts to fight biofouling have targeted these steps. WHOI biochemist Ben Van…
Read MoreTale of the Tuna
Where the Whales Are
A relatively fresh coastal current carrying tiny marine organisms called copepods flows into the Great South Channel. The current collides with saltier, denser water to form an ocean front. The…
Read MoreSource of Radioactivity in the Ocean
Human and natural sources of radioactive isotopes in the ocean. NOTE: colored ovals not drawn to scale. (Illustration by Jack Cook, courtesy of the Coastal Ocean Institute, Woods Hole Oceanographic…
Read MoreRAFOS Floats
RAFOS floats are designed to take measurements of temperature, salinity, and pressure in layers of ocean water at any depth.They are deployed using one of two methods. Some floats are…
Read MoreListening in on Whales
Because the Arctic and subarctic regions are seasonally ice-covered, it is impossible to keep track of whales visually throughout the year. So scientists eavesdrop on bowhead whale calls using moorings…
Read MoreDeep-sea Gorges
The seafloor is filled with thousands of deep canyons, where powerful currents appear to be flowing uphill along the canyon floors. These currents could play a major role in driving…
Read MoreThe Gateway between the Beach and the Deep Sea
Anything traveling from the shoreline to the ocean and vice versa—water, fish larvae, sand, pollutants—must go through the shallow inner shelf, which connects the beach to the deep ocean. There’s…
Read MoreIndian Ocean Dipole
The Indian Ocean has its own seesaw behavior, the Indian Ocean Dipole. During a so-called positive phase, warmer-than-usual water temperatures in the western Indian Ocean bring heavy rains to East…
Read MoreNoah’s Not-so-big Flood
Top: When sea levels were lower 10,000 years ago, the Black Sea was a large freshwater Black Lake. It was dammed off from the salty Mediterranean Sea by the then…
Read More2010 Haiti Earthquake
The Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti alleviated built-up stress along one segment (blue gridded area boxes) of the Enriquillo fault, which cuts across the island. But scientists calculated areas (red…
Read MoreDoes Sand Move Bacteria at the Beach?
(Illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Read MoreBacteria and Diatoms
Bacteria and unicellular marine plants called diatoms depend on each other for some essential nutrients, but they also compete for other nutrients. So life gets complicated in the chemical soup…
Read MoreTypes of Estrogen
(Illustration by Amy Caracappa-Qubeck, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Read MoreGreenland-Scotland Ridge
The Greenland-Scotland Ridge is a tall undersea ridge that rises within 500 meters of the sea surface and extends from East Greenland to Iceland and across to Scotland. The ridge…
Read MoreMarine Microbe Relations
By closely examining the stew of organic carbon compounds dissolved in the ocean, scientists are beginning to reveal previously unknown relationships between specific marine microbes, forged by the materials they…
Read MoreLet the Sunshine In
Single-celled phytoplankton carry out photosynthesis within specialized organelles called chloroplasts. Like factories, the chloroplasts’ photosynthetic machinery requires raw materials and energy—sunlight—to operate. Cells living in the ocean must rapidly adapt…
Read MoreUXO Marks the Spot
Unexploded ordnance (UXO) from the 1940s and 50s can sometimes resurface in the surf or wash up on beaches at former U.S. military coastal training ranges as the coast erodes.…
Read MoreAlvin, Phone Home
When the human-occupied submersible Alvin surfaces from a deep-sea mission, specially trained crew members called “swimmers” ride a small boat from the research vessel Atlantis to meet the sub. They…
Read MoreBreaking Through
WHOI research engineer Peter Koski prepares an ice tethered profiler for Arctic deployment, working in the science lab of the Coast Guard Cutter Healy. Koski was one of 30 scientists aboard the…
Read MoreMic Drop
Adam Smith, a visiting investigator in WHOI biologist Aran Mooney’s lab, sets up several microphones that will be “dropped” down the side of a cliff and into the burrows of…
Read MoreCreating the Perfect Rip
Rip currents pose a threat to public safety, so officials are interested in ways to predict when and where they form. To study the dynamic and intermittent conditions that create…
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