News Releases
Study Links Major Shifts in Indian Civilizations to Past Changes in Monsoon
A fundamental shift in the Indian monsoon has occurred over the last few millennia, from a steady humid monsoon that favored lush vegetation to extended periods of drought, reports a new study led by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The study has implications for our understanding of the monsoon’s response to climate change.
Read MoreSpecial Fukushima Session at 2012 Ocean Sciences Meeting
The March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent radioactivity releases from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants resulted in the largest accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history.
In […]
Read MoreWHOI Scientists Awarded Distinctions from The Oceanography Society and American Geophysical Union
Jim Yoder Named 2012 fellow of The Oceanography Society
Jim Yoder, Vice President for Academic Programs and Dean at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has been named a 2012 fellow […]
Read MoreWHOI Receives $1Million from Keck Foundation for First Real-Time Seafloor Earthquake Observatory at Cascadia Fault
One of the most dangerous faults in North America is the Pacific Northwest’s Cascadia fault – an offshore, subduction zone fault capable of producing a magnitude 9 earthquake that would damage Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, and Victoria, British Columbia, and generate a large tsunami. Yet there are currently no instruments installed offshore, directly above the fault, for measuring the strain that is currently building up along the fault.
But a recent $1 million grant from The W. M. Keck Foundation to scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will change that. An interdisciplinary project led by WHOI geologist Jeff McGuire, an expert in global earthquake seismology and geodesy, and John Collins, director of WHOI’s Ocean Bottom Seismometer Lab, will build and install the first seafloor geodesy observatory above the expected rupture zone of the next great Cascadia earthquake.
Two WHOI Scientists Named 2012 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Senior Scientists Lloyd Keigwin and Robert Weller have been elected 2012 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a fellow […]
Read MoreWHOI’s John Waterbury receives NAS Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has awarded John Waterbury, scientist emeritus in the Biology Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the 2012 Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal.
Waterbury is […]
Read MoreMysterious Flotsam in Gulf of Mexico Came from Deepwater Horizon Rig, Study Finds
Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, mysterious honeycomb material was found floating in the Gulf of Mexico and along coastal beaches. Using state-of-the-art chemical forensics and a bit of old-fashioned […]
Read MoreLouis St. Laurent Receives Nicholas P. Fofonoff Award From AMS
Louis St. Laurent of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) was selected by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) to receive the prestigious Nicholas P. Fofonoff Award. There will be a […]
Read MoreFour WHOI Scientists Contribute to Comprehensive Picture of the Fate of Oil from Deepwater Horizon Spill
A new study provides a composite picture of the environmental distribution of oil and gas from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It amasses a vast […]
Read MoreStudy Examines How Diving Marine Mammals Manage Decompression
How do marine mammals, whose very survival depends on regular diving, manage to avoid decompression sickness? Do they, indeed, avoid it? A workshop held by WHOI’s Marine Mammal Center brought together the world’s experts in human diving and marine-mammal diving physiology to discuss the issue of how marine mammals manage gas under pressure.
Read MoreTwo WHOI Scientists Receive Medals from the American Geophysical Union
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists Henry Dick, a geologist, and Joseph Pedlosky, a physical oceanographer, have been selected to receive two of the American Geophysical Union’s prestigious medals this year. The awards will be given at an honors ceremony on December 7 in San Francisco at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, the largest worldwide conference in the geophysical sciences, attracting nearly 20,000 Earth and space scientists, educators, students, and policy makers.
Read MoreResearchers Assess Radioactivity Released to the Ocean from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Facility
The impact on the ocean of releases of radioactivity from the Fukushima nuclear power plants remains unclear. But a new study by U.S. and Japanese researchers analyzes the levels of radioactivity discharged from the facility in the first four months after the accident and draws some basic conclusions about the history of contaminant releases to the ocean.
Read MoreWHOI Statement on the R/V Atlantis Rescue at Sea of 93 Egyptians
The research vessel Atlantis, operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), rescued 93 Egyptians aboard a disabled fishing boat in the Mediterranean Sea late Friday night (Nov. 25).
Read MoreWHOI Director of Research to Join Mass. Governor Patrick on Innovation Economy Mission to Brazil
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Executive Vice President and Director of Research Larry Madin will join Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and a coalition of business executives, academic leaders, and government officials on the Massachusetts-Brazil Innovation Economy Mission 2011 this December to pursue job growth and economic development partnerships between Massachusetts and Brazil.
Read MoreLong-Term Carbon Storage in Ganges Basin May Portend Global Warming Worsening
Global warming could destabilize the pool of carbon in the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin and similar places on Earth, potentially increasing the rate of CO2 release into the atmosphere.
Read MoreNSF Announces Major Awards for Biodiversity Research, WHOI Scientists Selected
A WHOI-led project is one of several major awards recently announced by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Dimensions in Biodiversity research program. The multi-disciplinary, international collaborative effort will advance our understanding of deep-sea hydrothermal vent microbial communities and their global impact.
Read MoreWHOI and Ocean Leadership Award McLane Research Laboratories OOI Profiler Contract
WHOI and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership announced McLane Research Laboratories, of East Falmouth, Mass., will provide the Wire Following Profilers for the Coastal and Global Scale Nodes component of […]
Read MoreStranded Dolphins Exhibit Bubbles, and Ability to Recover
In a study published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a team that includes researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has confirmed that bubbles do form in live, stranded dolphins. But in many cases, those animals are able to manage those bubbles and can resume relatively normal lives of swimming and diving in the ocean.
Read MoreWHOI and Ocean Leadership Select Pro-Oceanus Systems to Provide OOI Instrument Packages
WHOI and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership have awarded a contract to Pro-Oceanus Systems, Inc., of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada, to provide Partial Pressure of CO2, or p(CO2) , air-sea instrument packages for the Coastal and Global Scale Nodes component of the Ocean Observatories Initiative program.
Read MoreBacterial Communication Could Affect Earth’s Climate
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists have discovered that bacterial communication could have a significant impact on the planetÃÂs climate.
Read MoreMass. Governor Deval Patrick Makes First Visit to WHOI
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) hosted a visit Wednesday, October 12, by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, marking his first visit to the Cape-based non-profit ocean research, engineering, and education […]
Read MoreWHOI Teaming with Flatley Discovery Lab in Search for Effective Treatments for Cystic Fibrosis
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has signed a $1.18 million agreement with the Flatley Discovery Lab in Charlestown, Mass., to investigate and supply marine microbial extracts as possible treatments for cystic fibrosis (CF).
Read MoreResearchers from WHOI and MBL Receive $1.2 Million Grant for Collaborative Salt-Marsh Study
Scientists from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) were recently awarded a $1.2 million collaborative grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for studies on the role of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in salt marsh nitrogen and carbon cycling. The fieldwork will be conducted at the Plum Island Ecosystem Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site on the North Shore of Boston.
Read MoreNew Coral Dating Method Hints at Possible Future Sea-Level Changes
New evidence of sea-level oscillations during a warm period that started about 125,000 years ago raises the possibility of a similar scenario if the planet continues its more recent warming trend, says a research team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
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