Oceanus Magazine - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

One of the Greatest Volcanic Shows on Earth

About 50,000 years ago, a huge meteorite smacked into our planet, gouging a hole more than a mile wide and 790 feet deep in India. Of the roughly 150 known […]

Ocean Life

What Brings the Food that Brings the Whales?

Watching the gray, pitching ocean from the beach in Barrow, Alaska, Carin Ashjian, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), wonders if the seas are too rough for the […]

Ocean Tech

New Sonar Method Offers Window into Squid Nurseries

Squid fishing has increased substantially in the past decade, with no way to assess the continuing viability of the stock?until now.

Ocean Tech

Dust Busters for the Oceans

Like most living things, microscopic marine plants need iron and other minerals to live and grow. On land, soil provides a ubiquitous source of minerals, but how do essential nutrients […]

Climate & Weather

Analyzing Ancient Sediments at Warp Speed

Like a toy out of a science fiction story, the X-ray fluorescence core scanner reveals intimate details of the composition of ancient mud and sediment–which can contain a variety of clues about past climate and environmental conditions on Earth–without breaking the surface. In a matter of hours, the XRF simultaneously captures digital photographs and X-ray images of every millimeter of a core sample, while detecting the presence of any of 80 chemical elements.

Small Island. Big Ocean.

This week, more than 200 WHOI scientists and graduate students will brave the balmy trade winds, drooping palm trees, and misdirected laser pointers to present research in Honolulu. Reporters Hugh […]

Climate & Weather

An Ocean Warmer Than a Hot Tub

Scientists have found evidence that tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures may have once reached 107°F (42°C)—about 25°F (14°C) higher than today. The surprisingly high ocean temperatures occurred millions of years ago […]

Ocean Life

Graduate Student Discovers an Unusual New Species

Sheri Simmons gets into the rugged wilderness as often as she can, backpacking in Newfoundland, the Sierras, the Adirondacks, and Alaska—where she once encountered a grizzly bear on a trail. […]

Ocean Tech

Float 312, Where Are You?

The ocean is so enormous, even a fleet of 2,338 ocean-monitoring instruments can sail into it and go largely unnoticed. That’s what floats 312 and 393 were doing until something […]

How the Ocean Works

Under-ice Floats Offer a ‘Breakthrough’

The Arctic Ocean, home to fierce winds, punishing temperatures, and thick sea ice, is no place for wimpy people?or machines. So when WHOI physical oceanographers Peter Winsor and Breck Owens set out to explore the largely unknown currents beneath the polar sea ice, they had to design an instrument with true grit. (Fifth in a five-part series.)

Ocean Tech

A Sentry at the Atlantic Gateway

Here’s an easy recipe to change Earth’s climate: Just add more fresh water to the North Atlantic Ocean.

In this oceanic part of the world lies a critical—and sensitive—component of the […]

How the Ocean Works

The Flywheel of the Arctic Climate Engine

A key component of the Arctic climate clockworks is the Beaufort Gyre?a bowl of cold, icy, relatively fresh waters north of Alaska that is swept by prevailing winds into a circular swirl larger than the Gulf of Mexico.

How the Ocean Works

Flying Blind in the Ice Factory

Al Plueddemann wants to push the envelope and fly a robotic vehicle into the wild blue under the polar ice cap.

North of Alaska lies a key region for understanding Earth’s […]

Is Global Warming Changing the Arctic?

In the Arctic, the air, sea ice, and underlying ocean all interact in a delicately balanced system. Four ambitious Arctic projects are pulling back the icy veil that shrouds our understanding of the Arctic Ocean?s role in our climate system. (First of a five-part series.)

Ocean Life

To Find Whales, Follow Their Food

The average adult right whale consumes about a ton of food a day, eating billions of tiny crustaceans called copepods that are packed with protein and calorie-rich oils.

“To whales, copepods […]

Diving into the Right Whale Gene Pool

Like forensic detectives, a multi-institutional team of scientists has followed a thread of DNA from the highly endangered right whale population across the oceans and back through generations.

Doing the Right Thing for the Right Whale

The situation is urgent: Seventy years after whaling was banned, the North Atlantic right whale population has not recovered. Only 300 to 350 remain, and the species is headed toward […]

Ocean Tech

Going Wireless in the Deep Blue

How do you get long-term ocean measurements from any spot on the globe, with day by day feedback and low costs? If you are Dan Frye of the WHOI Advanced Engineering Laboratory, you take an old oceanographic concept?the moored buoy?and bring it into the 21st century with wireless technology.

Institution Receives Surprise Bequest

The latest news from around the Institution includes: the second-largest donation in WHOI history; training and awards for mid-career journalists; a new fund for graduate student training in seagoing skills; and a successful program for undergraduates.

WHOI Opens New Research Facilities

For the first time in 15 years, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has added significant office and laboratory space to its Quissett Campus. This fall, scientists, technical staff, and students started moving into more than 67,000 square feet of new space, a 25 percent increase in the Institution?s scientific facilities.

A Touchstone for Marine Chemists and Students Retires

John Farrington touched the lives of hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students. He helped scores of young scientists launch their careers with postdoctoral scholarships. He won the admiration of colleagues for his leadership in the study of organic geochemistry in the ocean. In November, the chemical oceanographer and longtime dean and vice president for Academic Programs at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution stepped aside from his post.

How the Ocean Works

Tracking an Ocean of Ice Atop Greenland

Sarah Das calls herself a “frozen oceanographer.” Most people look at Greenland and see a vast ice sheet covering Earth’s largest island. But Das sees a huge reservoir of water—temporarily […]

Ocean & Human Lives

10,000 Earth & Ocean Scientists. Five days.

Over the next week, I will be posting daily reports about what’s happening at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting. This is the premier meeting in the field of Earth sciences, and it has […]

Ocean Tech