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Research Highlights

Oceanus Magazine

underwater paddle board

Counting on Corals

June 20, 2024

As struggling reefs put a squeeze on Belize’s Blue Economy, could heat-tolerant corals be the answer?

Joides Resolution

Unlocking the Earth’s time capsule

November 2, 2023

Mantle rocks and fluids from one of the final expeditions on the R/V JOIDES Resolution will provide insights into how Earth was formed—and maybe how life began—for generations of scientists

Paddling Illustration

Paddling an angry, ancient ocean

May 24, 2023

If ancient Beringians got to the Americas by boat, it couldn’t have been easy

Reconstructing the Bering Sea’s stormy past

February 12, 2023

Researchers help Bering Sea indigenous communities understand the past and plan for future

A man dressed in orange samples orange lava from black volcanic rock.

The predictive power of geochemistry

December 19, 2022

A WHOI researcher looks for changes in gas molecules to forecast volcanic eruptions such as Mauna Loa in Hawai’i.

News Releases

Study Offers Economical Solutions for Maintaining Critical Delta Environments

December 9, 2013

Millions of people across the world live or depend on deltas for their livelihoods.

Formed at the lowest part of a river where its water flow slows and spreads into the sea, deltas are sediment-rich, biodiverse areas, a valuable source of […]

New Explanation for Slow Earthquakes on San Andreas

June 3, 2013

New Zealand’s geologic hazards agency reported this week an ongoing, “silent” earthquake that began in January is still going strong. Though it is releasing the energy equivalent of a 7.0 earthquake, New Zealanders can’t feel it because its energy is […]

Scientists Find Possible Solution to an Ancient Enigma

May 28, 2013

The widespread disappearance of stromatolites, the earliest visible manifestation of life on Earth, may have been driven by single-celled organisms called foraminifera.

The findings, by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI); Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of Connecticut; Harvard […]

Scientists Explore Roots of Future Tropical Rainfall

May 19, 2013

How will rainfall patterns across the tropical Indian and Pacific regions change in a future warming world? Climate models generally suggest that the tropics as a whole will get wetter, but the models don’t always agree on where rainfall patterns […]

The Black Sea is a Goldmine of Ancient Genetic Data

May 6, 2013

Black Sea, sediment, genetic data, past climate, Strait of Bosphorus, Liviu Giosan, Marco Coolen, paleo, DNA, dinocysts, dinoflagellate

News & Insights

Deep-sea coral reef discovered in the Galápagos with Alvin

May 12, 2023

In April 2023, scientists diving in the human-occupied submersible Alvin discovered extensive, ancient deep-sea coral reefs within the Galápagos Marine Reserve.

The Search for Life

February 17, 2021

This week, NASA’s Perseverance Rover lands on Mars to continue the search for life on the Red Planet. At the same time, WHOI scientists and engineers are applying their experience exploring the deepest parts of planet Earth to the quest […]

iceberg

Can icebergs be towed to water-starved cities?

January 6, 2021

WHOI researchers are now investigating the feasibility of towing icebergs to alleviate water shortages.

A REMUS-600 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) communicates with an ocean-bottom seismograph (OBS) via a WHOI-developed optical modem link during lab testing. This link enables REMUS vehicles to act as "seismic data mules" whereby they offload data OBS stations without the need for ships or human intervention. (Photo by Dara Tebo, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Can seismic data mules protect us from the next big one?

October 7, 2020

Ocean scientists leverage game-changing technologies to improve our understanding of the global ocean’s most dangerous earthquake faults and enable more advanced warnings for seismic risk.

greenland ice

Will melting glaciers cool the climate?

July 29, 2020

As glaciers melt at unprecedented rates, WHOI’s Simon Pendleton is looking back to historical records to predict whether this new cool runoff will slow ocean circulation and cool the northern hemisphere––findings which could mean adjustments to some climate predictions.