Press Room
A new paper published January 10, 2018, in the journal Science Advances describes the first up-close investigation of the largest underwater volcanic eruption of the past century. The international research team led by the University of Tasmania and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) used the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry and the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason to explore, map, and collect erupted materials from the Havre volcano during a 2015 expedition. They found that the eruption was surprising in many ways.
Scientists have found surprising evidence of rapid climate change in the Arctic: In the middle of the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole, they discovered that the levels of radium-228 have almost doubled over the last decade.
Scientists and engineers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will receive a two-year, $3 million award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to transform how the oceanographic community develops and deploys technology ranging from individual sensors to comprehensive, round-the-clock observing systems. By integrating new ideas and exploring new partnerships, WHOI researchers aim to foster an environment that reduces the cost of ocean science and engineering and that enables more flexible ocean observing systems that can rapidly incorporate new technologies to meet evolving science objectives and requirements.
The U.S. research vessel Atlantis will launch a search-and-recovery mission for the missing Argentinian submarine ARG San Juan, equipped with a U.S. Navy remotely operated vehicle (ROV) flown down to Argentina.
WHOI research vessel Atlantis joins search for missing Argentine submarine using equipment to survey the seafloor
Two new grants to the Woods Hole Sea Grant program totaling more than $650,000 are part of a national strategic investment in aquaculture and will support research aimed at expanding aquaculture production in Massachusetts.
Scientists have found lingering radioactivity in the lagoons of remote Marshall Island atolls in the Pacific Ocean where the United States conducted 66 nuclear weapons tests in the 1940s and 1950s. Radioactivity levels at Bikini and Enewetak Atolls were extensively…
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) was awarded a competive federal grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop a forecast system that will predict seasonal and year-to-year changes in ocean temperatures on the Northeast U.S. Shelf.…
Jim Ledwell, Emeritus Research Scholar at the Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has been named a 2017 Fellow of The Oceanography Society (TOS). The society noted his many achievements, in particular his “seminal contributions to the understanding of oceanic mixing,”…
A new study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and colleagues identified for the first time an extensive conserved group of bacteria within healthy humpback whales’ blow’the moist breath that whales spray out of their blowholes when they exhale.
WHOI was awarded $5.7 million from ARPA-E’s Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources (MARINER) Program for two projects that develop tools and technology to advance the mass production of seaweed for biofuels and bio-based chemicals.
Scientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated’in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away. The sands took up and retained radioactive cesium originating from the disaster in 2011 and have been slowly releasing it back to the ocean.
The organizers of a new event at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) want to make ocean science more accessible to people who are not native English speakers by reaching out to two of the largest non-English-speaking communities on Cape Cod: those that speak Spanish or Portuguese. The symposium will feature short presentations in either language about marine research by students and scientists from WHOI and other science institutions in Woods Hole, Mass. The event is free and open to the public, and pre-registration is recommended.
A study published Aug. 28, 2017, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences adds a new dimension to the controversial decision to inject large amounts of chemical dispersants immediately above the crippled oil well at the seafloor during the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. The dispersants may have significantly reduced the amount of harmful gases in the air at the sea surface’diminishing health risks for emergency responders and allowing them to keep working to stop the uncontrolled spill and clean up the spilled oil sooner.
The League of American Bicyclists recognized the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) with a Silver Bicycle Friendly Business award, which acknowledges efforts by the Institution that promote cycling to help ease traffic congestion, reduce greenhouse gas and pollution emissions, and encourage a healthy lifestyle among its employees.
The discovery of lush communities of deep-sea life at thermal springs on the seafloor in 1977 forever changed our perception of where and how life could exist on Earth. Diving in the human-occupied submersible Alvin, a team of scientists, including…
The Oceanography Society proudly announces that Dr. Andone C. Lavery has been selected as the 2017 recipient the Walter Munk Award for Distinguished Research in Oceanography Related to Sound and the Sea. Dr. Lavery is an Associate Scientist with Tenure in the Department of Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
The living, breathing ocean may be slowly starting to suffocate. More than two percent of the ocean – s oxygen content has been depleted during the last half century, according to reports, and marine – dead zones – continue to expand throughout the global ocean. This deoxygenation, triggered mainly by more fertilizers and wastewater flowing into the ocean, pose a serious threat to marine life and ecosystems.
Dr. Margaret K. (Meg) Tivey has been selected as the next Vice President and Dean for Academic Programs at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Tivey will oversee all academic programs at WHOI, which include the MIT/WHOI Joint Program (JP) in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science & Engineering for graduate students, postdoctoral and undergraduate programs, and the graduate-level Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Program. Tivey has served since August 2010 as Associate Dean of Academic Programs and will transition to dean on Nov. 1, 2017.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Ocean Science Exhibit Center is extending its hours to include Sundays during the month of August. “We’re pleased to be able to increase our hours to include another weekend day so that more visitors…