Press Room
A physical oceanographer known for his theories of wind driven ocean circulation and the fluid dynamics of the oceans will receive the 2005 Sverdrup Gold Medal from the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the nation’s leading professional society for scientists in the atmospheric and related sciences, in ceremonies January 12 at the AMS annual meeting in San Diego.
The Institution will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2005 with a series of activities ranging from an Anything-But-a-Boat Regatta in August to a public open house and science symposium in September. Speakers from 15 institutions and agencies will address six…
Scientists from the Chilean Navy Hydrographic and Oceanographic Office (SHOA), in cooperation with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), deployed a SHOA tsunami warning buoy off Northern Chile in the Pacific in December 2004 just prior to the devastating Indian…
With decades of experience designing, building and operating marine observing systems of many types around the world, the Institution has established a Center for Ocean, Seafloor and Marine Observing Systems (COSMOS) to provide administrative, management and systems engineering oversight of…
Woods Hole, MA–In a study published in the December 24, 2004 issue of the journal Science, Michael Moore and Greg Early at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have documented bone lesions in the rib and chevron bones of sperm…
A Gulf Stream and ocean circulation expert has been named second director of the Ocean and Climate Change Institute at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Physical Oceanographer Terrence Joyce will assume his new position on January 1, 2005. He succeeds…
Imagine a lake three times the size of the present-day Lake Ontario breaking through a dam and flooding down the Hudson River Valley past New York City and into the North Atlantic. The results would be catastrophic if it happened…
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) President and Director Robert Gagosian has been appointed to the U.S. National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The National Commission, re-established by the U.S. Department of State on October…
A Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) biologist has been honored for her contributions to graduate education with the Institution’s first Arnold B. Arons Award for Excellence in Teaching, Advising and Mentoring. Dr. Lauren Mullineaux, a senior scientist in the Biology…
Five researchers have been recognized by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) for their contributions to ocean sciences research and education. All will receive funding provided by the endowed awards to support their research over periods of three to five…
Three new deep-sea hydrothermal vent fields were discovered in September 2004 in the Lau Basin in the western Pacific between Tonga, Fiji and Samoa and were geologically and biologically mapped by the Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE), one of WHOI’s autonomous…
Cabled ocean observatories, like the Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO), and new sensors like the Flow Cytobot are enabling scientists to study plankton community structure and processes with unprecedented detail. MVCO is connected to shore by a fiber optic cable…
Reconstructing the history and intensity of hurricanes is useful when assessing future risks of these extreme events in coastal regions. Previous studies of North Atlantic hurricane activity have identified many of the environmental factors that presently influence tropical cyclone activity.…
Like the sailing vessel used by Captain Joshua Slocum to sail solo around the world 100 years ago, another ocean-going vehicle is making history. A small ocean glider named Spray is the first autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV, to cross…
Salps, members of a large group of free-swimming, gelatinous organisms collectively known as jellies, are more common than previously thought in the waters around Antarctica. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists are studying the role of these fragile creatures in…
Institution researchers will spend the next three months in Papua, New Guinea tracking clownfish, the same species made popular in the animated film “Finding Nemo,” as part of population studies. The team will tag all the embryos produced by approximately…
One of the largest known mineral deposits in the deep sea, the Tag hydrothermal site on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) in the North Atlantic Ocean, was the subject of a recent month-long cruise aboard the WHOI research vessel Knorr. Institution…
Oceanographers will soon be able to sit in their labs ashore and communicate with instruments in the water at ocean observatories around the world, enabling researchers to direct instruments to respond to recent events like hurricanes and earthquakes in that…
Noted nature author Carl Safina will present a lecture titled “Eye of the Albatross” at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 21, in Redfield Auditorium of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), 45 Water Street, Woods Hole. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Sea level rise, eroding coastlines and increasing economic impact from severe storms on coastal communities are all part of studies underway at the Institution’s Coastal Ocean Institute. Climate researchers note that 2004 has been an unusually active hurricane season in…