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15 Feb 2023

Rare Footage of Titanic Wreckage Released

(Photo: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Rare video footage showing the Titanic ocean liner on the floor of the Atlantic is being released on Wednesday, decades after the discovery of the wreckage and more than a century after the ship hit an iceberg and sunk.The footage from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) was shot about 2 miles (3 km) below the ocean's surface, just months after explorers found the wreckage in 1985. Most of it has not been previously released to the public.Since the discovery, several documentaries about the Titanic have showed footage of the wreckage scene.

19 Aug 2022

New Buoys Aim to Help Protect Whales from Ship Strikes

(Photo: CMA CGM)

A network of acoustic monitoring buoys aims to help protect North Atlantic right whales—one of the world’s most critically endangered species—from ship strikes along the U.S. East Coast.Although North Atlantic right whales are protected under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, serious threats to their survival abound with only approximately 336 of these great whales remaining on the planet. The installment of the buoys aims to aid in right whale’s survival and will fill a critical gap in monitoring along the East Coast.

27 Dec 2021

NOAA Using Sailing Vessel for Ocean Research

The 82- foot long S/V Iris tied up at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) dock, moored next to WHOI’s R/V Armstrong. The Iris departed Woods Hole on December 14, and will spend the next two months deploying approximately 78 Argo floats in the South Atlantic, before finishing its epic voyage back in Brest, France. (Courtesy of Blue Observer)

NOAA and partners have joined together to launch approximately 100 new Argo floats across the Atlantic ocean to collect data that supports ocean, weather and climate research and prediction. These will bolster the international Argo Program, which maintains a global array of about 3,800 floats that measure pressure, temperature and salinity of the upper 2,000 meters (1.2 miles) of the ocean.The French sailing vessel Iris recently arrived in Woods Hole, Mass., after deploying the initial batch of 17 Argo floats across the Atlantic.

01 Oct 2021

Academia’s Climate Change Challenge is Far from Academic

Mesobot, an underwater robot capable of tracking and recording high-resolution images of slow-moving and fragile zooplankton, gelatinous animals, and particles, is providing researchers with deeper insight into the vast mid-ocean region known as the twilight zone. © Evan Kovacs/©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Highlighted in Marine Technology Reporter's MTR100 is the work and technology ongoing in the halls of academia. The most recent report released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emphasized our warming planet, an expected announcement for many in the scientific community. Faced with the confirmation that human activities have caused an increase in global temperatures, research has turned to seeking answers in the planet’s natural systems. How does each part of the global carbon cycle work and how may it be impacted by the changing climate?

02 Aug 2021

Eye on the Navy: Navy extends Life for Research Ships, but Says Farewell to FLIP

Tugs guide the Department of the Navy's Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP) from her berth at the Nimitz Marine Facility in Point Loma, Calif. (U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams/Released)

The U.S. Navy’s three Global class oceanographic research ships (AGORs) have received a new lease on life. The ships-- R/V Thomas G. Thompson (AGOR 23), R/V Roger Revelle (AGOR 24) and R/V Atlantis (AGOR 25)-- which entered service between 1991 and 1998--were built with 30-year expected service lives. Thanks to extensive overhauls on all three they have been returned to service with another 15 years of useful service.AGOR 23 is operated by the University of Washington; AGOR 24 is operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography


12 May 2021

VIDEO: Up Close and Personal with Ocean Explorer Robert Ballard

In 2019, Nautilus plied the Pacific waters off the island of Nikumaroro, searching for any sign of Amelia Earhart's lost plane. In the cool, dark control room, we kept a 24-hour vigil. (Gabriel Scarlett/National Geographic Image Collection)

Ocean explorer and scientist Dr. Robert D. Ballard opens up on his personal life and his world-famous ocean discoveries like never before in his new book, “Into the Deep.” Best known as ‘the man who found the Titanic,’ Marine Technology Reporter had the opportunity to interview Ballard on the contents of the book, a book released yesterday with a follow-up National Geographic television special scheduled for June 14, 2021, taking a deep dive into his dyslexia, the importance of his family throughout his career


01 Dec 2020

Derecktor Wins Deal to Build Hybrid RVl for University of Vermont

Chartwell Marine selected to design and specify build for new low emission university research vessel, in collaboration with BAE Systems and Derecktor Shipyards. Image: Chartwell

The University of Vermont (UVM) has ordered what is touted as the first hybrid research vessel, a project which brings together Derecktor Shipyards, BAE Systems and Chartwell Marine.The 19-meter catamaran will be designed for low-emission, low-fuel-burn operations and is set for launch in April 2022. Chartwell Marine’s hybrid design, which is powered by two Cummins QSB 6.7m 306hp diesel engines and two BAE AC traction motors, will provide the University with a new research and instruction platform to facilitate its advanced research operation.

24 Nov 2020

Interview: Rear Admiral John Okon, Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, US Navy

“The ocean is critical to National and Global Security. Back in the early 90’s the ocean wasn’t contested, the U.S. was the most powerful Navy and we had freedom of movement, anytime, anywhere,” said RDML Okon. “Now, while we are still the most powerful Navy in the world, near peer competitors are racing to close that gap." Photo: U.S. Navy

Insights on technology advances with Rear Admiral John Okon, Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command.Rear Admiral Okon never started out to have a career in Oceanography, rather in Broadcast Meteorology. “At NY Maritime College, I studied both Meteorology and Oceanography and became equally passionate about Oceanography. Thanks to the U.S. Navy, we have a career field in both.”By its very nature, the U.S. Navy operates in one of the most discussed and disected environments on earth, the oceans.“The ocean is critical to National and Global Security.

07 Aug 2020

Florida Current is the Weakest Its Been in a Century

A new study uses a method of tracking the strength of near-shore ocean currents from a distance via measurements of coastal sea level. (Photo by Carol Anne Clayson, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

The Florida Current, which forms the start of the Gulf Stream, has slowed over the past century and is the slowest it has been at any point in the past 110 years, a new study reveals.Researchers have developed a method of tracking the strength of near-shore ocean currents using measurements made at the coast, offering the potential to reduce one of the biggest uncertainties related to observations of climate change over the past century.“In the ocean, almost everything is connected


28 May 2020

Tech Talk: Algorithm Aims to Assist Ocean Search and Rescue

A new MIT-developed search-and-rescue algorithm identifies hidden “traps” in ocean waters. The method may help quickly identify regions where objects — and missing people — may have converged. Image courtesy of the researchers/http://news.mit.edu/

Search & Rescue algorithm identify hidden “traps” in ocean waters, helping to more quickly identify regions where objects — and missing people — may have converged.The ocean is a messy and turbulent space, where winds and weather kick up waves in all directions. When an object or person goes missing at sea, the complex, constantly changing conditions of the ocean can confound and delay critical search-and-rescue operations.Now researchers at MIT, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)


20 Apr 2020

What Did Scientists Learn from Deepwater Horizon?

Deepwater Horizon burning in April 2010. Image by US Coast Guard

April 20, 2020, marks the tenth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, the offshore oil industry's biggest environmental disaster.Eleven people died, 17 others were injured, Transocean's drilling rig sank, and an incident caused more than four million barrels of oil to spill into the U.S. Gulf of Mexico from the BP-operated Macondo well which spewed oil into the ocean for 87 days before it was finally capped.In a review paper published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment


23 Jan 2020

Ørsted, US Unis to Study Whales in OWP

Danish developer Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind has signed a research partnership  with Rutgers University, the University of Rhode Island and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to support academic research activities related to offshore wind.The group is set to launch the Ecosystem and Passive Acoustic Monitoring (ECO-PAM) project.Ørsted signed an initial memorandum of understanding with Rutgers University in May 2019 to support academic research activities related to offshore wind. The ECO-PAM project will be in addition to this initial funding agreement.The company plans to apply the project’s learnings to develop tailored processes and procedures to better protect the North Atlantic right whale during survey, construction and operation phases of their U.S. offshore wind farm portfolio.

10 Oct 2019

Study: Sunlight Degrades Polystyrene Faster than Expected

Polystyrene pollution at the tide’s edge. Photo by Jayne Doucette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

A study published by researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) shows that polystyrene, one of the world’s most ubiquitous plastics, may degrade in decades or centuries when exposed to sunlight, rather than thousands of years as previously thought. The study published October 10, 2019, in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters.“Right now, policy makers generally assume that polystyrene lasts forever in the environment,” says Collin Ward, a marine chemist at WHOI and lead author of the study. “That’s part of justification for writing policy that bans it.

14 Dec 2018

LRAUV: Arctic Oil-Spill-Mapping Robot Put to the Test

An artist’s depiction of LRAUV under sea ice. Using photo-chemical sensors, the robot scans the density of a billowing cloud of oil coming from an ocean floor well. The red and yellow objects are parts of a communication system consisting of antennas suspended under ice from a buoy installed on top of the ice.  Graphic by ADAC.

As commercial shipping and energy activities picks up in the Arctic region, the prospect of accidental oil spills in this pristine environment remain a concern. In response, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking the lead – through the U.S. Coast Guard – to develop a subsea robotic system to map and report on spills.“Because of ice coverage and the tyranny of distance, it is difficult to get resources and assets up in the Arctic in a quick manner,” said Kirsten Trego, Executive Director of the Coast Guard’s Interagency Coordinating Committee on Oil Pollution Research.

03 Apr 2017

NUWC Division, Newport Signs EPA with New Bedford Whaling Museum

Capt. Michael R. Coughlin, commanding officer of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division, Newport, and James Russell, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the New Bedford Whaling Museum (NBWM), signed an education partnership agreement (EPA) for undersea acoustic research during a brief ceremony on Friday, March 31. Under the EPA, NUWC Newport will provide research, expertise, and material on the Navy's historic and current role in marine mammal research in conjunction with the museum’s recently acquired collection of historic marine mammal recordings, photographs and collection equipment. The William A. Watkins Collection of Marine Mammal Sound Recordings and the William E.

26 Apr 2016

El Faro’s Voyage Data Recorder Located

Voyage data recorder next to El Faro mast on ocean floor (Photo: NTSB)

The voyage data recorder (VDR) belonging to sunken cargo ship El Faro was found early Tuesday morning in 15,000 feet of water, about 41 miles northeast of Acklins and Crooked Islands, Bahamas, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced. A specialist team comprised of investigators and scientists from the NTSB, the U.S. Coast Guard, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Tote Services, the owner and operator of El Faro, located the VDR using remotely operated undersea search equipment. Video footage showing El Faro's VDR is available here. At about 1 a.m.

07 Apr 2016

RV Neil Armstrong Arrives in Woods Hole

The research vessel Neil Armstrong was met by a jubilant crowd at the WHOI dock Wednesday, as it arrived to its homeport for the first time. (Photo by Daniel Cojanu, WHOI)

The research vessel Neil Armstrong arrived to its home port at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) dock for the first time Wednesday, escorted by the WHOI coastal research vessel R/V Tioga, two Coast Guard vessels and fireboats from neighboring towns. “What a wonderful day for Woods Hole, for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the entire ocean science community,” enthused WHOI President and Director Mark Abbott. “We’re very proud to have been selected by the Office of Naval Research to operate the Neil Armstrong. Six years ago, the U.S.

04 Apr 2016

Research Vessel Neil Armstrong Joins WHOI Fleet

R/V Neil Armstrong sails into San Francisco Harbor at the conclusion of the first leg of its inaugural voyage in late 2015. (Image by Aerial Productions, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

I woke up the first night out of Anacortes, Washington, when the ship dropped out from under me and I levitated off my bunk. Then came the sound of shuffleboard in the conference room one deck above. The only trouble was, there's no shuffleboard on the research vessel Neil Armstrong. It was Halloween 2015 in the Northeast Pacific. We were in the first hours of the first voyage of the newest ship in the U.S. academic research fleet, and we were already plowing through 15-foot waves. But the ship’s motion made it feel more like we were facing much heavier seas.

07 Mar 2016

Fukushima Site Still Leaking After 5 Years

Map shows the location of seawater samples taken by scientists and citizen scientists that were analyzed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for radioactive cesium as part of Our Radioactive Ocean. Cesium-137 is found throughout the Pacific Ocean and was detectable in all samples collected, while cesium-134 (yellow/orange dots), an indicator of contamination from Fukushima, has been observed offshore and in select coastal areas. (Figure by Jessica Drysdale, Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti

Five years after the Fukushima nuclear accident, there is still no U.S. federal agency responsible for studies of radioactive contaminants in the ocean. But scientific data about the levels of radioactivity in the ocean off our shores are available publicly thanks to ongoing efforts of independent researchers, including Ken Buesseler, a radiochemist with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), who has led the effort to create and maintain an ocean monitoring network along the U.S. West Coast.

11 Feb 2016

NTSB to Search for El Faro’s Voyage Data Recorder

EL Faro sits in 15,000 feet of water near the Bahamas (Photo: NTSB)

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it will initiate a second search expedition to the wreckage of sunken El Faro in an effort to gather further evidence in its investigation of the loss of the containership, which sank in the Atlantic during Hurricane Joaquin on October 1, 2015. A key objective of the mission, which is expected to begin in April and last about two weeks, is to locate the voyage data recorder (VDR) and to provide investigators with a more extensive and detailed survey of the shipwreck, NTSB said, adding the exact launch date will be announced later.

06 Aug 2015

Allied Marine Crane Outfits R/V Neil Armstrong

(Photo: Allied Marine Crane)

The U.S. Navy’s research vessel Neil Armstrong (AGOR-27), scheduled for completion this year, is equipped with a modern array of oceanographic research equipment. To handle this equipment, Allied Marine Crane, a division of Allied Systems, Co., was chosen to design and manufacture two cranes, one A-frame, one davit, two handling systems and two hydraulic power units. Allied Marine Crane equipment was specified based on their history with research equipment handling, their proven design and build capabilities, and strong working relationship with marine winch supplier Markey Machinery.

18 Aug 2015

Examining the Fate of Fukushima Contaminants

Researchers deployed time-series sediment traps 115 kilometers southeast of the nuclear power plant at depths of 500 meters and 1,000 meters. The two traps began collecting samples on July 19, 2011—130 days after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami—and were recovered and reset annually. (Makio Honda, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology)

An international research team reports results of a three-year study of sediment samples collected offshore from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in a new paper published August 18, 2015, in the American Chemical Society's journal, Environmental Science and Technology. The research aids in understanding what happens to Fukushima contaminants after they are buried on the seafloor off coastal Japan. Led by Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist and marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)


03 Sep 2015

Climate Change Will Forever Alter Key Ocean Microbes

Global warming will irrevocably mutate a micro-organism that plays a crucial role in the ocean food chain, reports a study. Trichodesmium (referred to as “Tricho” for brief by researchers) is likely one of the few organisms within the ocean that may “repair” atmospheric nitrogen fuel, making it out there to different organisms. It’s essential as a result of all life—from algae to whales—wants nitrogen to develop. A brand new research from USC and the Massachusetts-based Woods Gap Oceanographic Establishment (WHOI) exhibits that altering circumstances because of might ship Tricho into overdrive with no strategy to cease—reproducing quicker and producing tons extra nitrogen.