Daniel Fornari
Four wins worth recognizing this World Ocean Month
Amid a sea of environmental issues, these four victories spark hope for the ocean’s future
Racing an undersea volcano
Using AUV Sentry to make a high-resolution, near-bottom, seafloor map before the next volcanic eruption at the East Pacific Rise
Sea Ahead
Once upon a time, ocean scientists hung up cans on up a tree on Bikini Atoll to measure wave height in the Marshall Islands during nuclear weapons testing. Today, ocean technologies and data harvesting are heading somewhere big, from swarming bots, to more autonomous submersibles, and the miniaturization of ocean sensors
The Bottom of the Ocean On Top of Your Coffee Table
Here’s a way to journey to the seafloor without leaving your living room or classroom. Five deep-sea scientists have created a comprehensive, lavishly illustrated book that transports readers to Earth’s last frontier—where volcanoes, boiling hot […]
At 50, Alvin Gets an Extreme Makeover
The deep-sea research submersible Alvin returned to service in March 2014 after undergoing an historic overhaul that significantly enhanced its capabilities.
A Serendipitous Seafloor Sample
This research was funded by the National Science Foundation. The pillow lava display and coffee table were funded by the Deep Ocean Exploration Institute at WHOI.
In Search of the Pink and White Terraces
The dazzling Pink and White Terraces on the shores of Lake Rotomahana at one time were the greatest national treasure of New Zealand. They were cherished by the Maori and known far and wide as […]
Basic Sea Cable Gets a High-tech Upgrade
In April, when the Deepwater Horizon petroleum drilling rig exploded and oil began gushing from a drill hole almost a mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists and engineers scrambled to figure out where […]
A New Deep-Sea Robot Called Sentry
There’s been a changing of the guard among deep-sea exploration vehicles.
Sentry, a new undersea robot built by engineers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), completed its first scientific mission last summer, scouting out […]
Building the Next-Generation Alvin Submersible
Three times geologist Adam Soule has climbed inside the deep-diving submersible Alvin and headed to the seafloor. Geochemist Susan Humphris stopped counting after 30 dives. Dan Fornari, who studies deep-sea volcanoes, has descended more than […]
Rescue Mission on the Seafloor
The two earthquake-monitoring instruments—each the size and weight of a small refrigerator—were glued to the ocean bottom by erupting lava that had flowed and hardened around them. If scientists could pry them loose, the payoff […]
Action, Camera … Lights
Exploring the sunless seafloor can be like using a flashlight to find something in a dark basement. Now Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists and engineers have built a portable light system to illuminate the depths, essentially transforming areas of the deep sea into a photography studio.
Rapid Response
The earthquakes were coming fast and frequent, as many as 50 to 70 an hour. On the morning of Sunday, Feb. 28, undersea hydrophones began detecting the most intense swarm of earthquakes to occur in the last three years along the Juan de Fuca Ridge, about 200 miles off the Pacific Northwest coast.