Tag: WHOI

WHOI Scientists 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 collection of available atmospheric, surface and subsurface chemical data to assemble a "mass balance" of how much oil and gas was released, where it went and the chemical makeup of the compounds that remained in the air, on the surface, and in the deep water.In June 2010, a WHOI-led team used the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry in the Gulf of Mexico to define and characterize the deepsea hydrocarbon plume from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Sentry, equipped with a miniaturized mass spectrometer called TETHYS, was able to crisscross plume boundaries 19 times to help determine the trapped plume's size, shape, and composition. (Photo by Chris Reddy, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)The study, "Chemical data quantify Deepwater Horizon hydrocarbon flow rate and environmental distribution," is published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.The lead author, NOAA research chemist Thomas Ryerson, assembled an all-star team of 14 scientists from diverse backgrounds and organizations including academia, private research institutions and federal labs, all of whom played important roles ...

Amazing photos of the Arctic Ocean On the Greenland Ice Sheet, lakes form atop the ice each spring and summer as sunlight melts ice and snow. As lakes fill, large cracks or holes can open suddenly in the lakes' basins, allowing water to drain in a dramatic waterfall more than a half mile down to the bedrock beneath the ice sheet. The water lubricates the base of the ice sheet, like grease on a railroad track, allowing the water to flow faster. As global temperatures rise, more lakes and cracks may form, accelerating the flow of ice to the sea. (Photo: courtesy of Chris Linder, WHOI) From the International League of Conservation Photographers:What do you think of when you hear the word "scientist" -- white-bearded men scribbling formulas on blackboards or huddling over bubbling test tubes? These are not the scientists I know. To challenge this popular stereotype, I teamed up with science writers to document four major polar research expeditions -- to a colony of Adélie penguins, aboard icebreakers in the Bering Sea and eastern Arctic Ocean and to the lake-studded surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet. My goal was to reveal the inner workings of science fieldwork, showing ...

They are all safe and sound 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).Atlantis was commencing an oceanographic research expedition, steaming toward its first study site, when it was diverted by a mayday call at 9 p.m. from a fishing boat that was relayed to all nearby ships by the Greek Coast Guard. Atlantis responded to the call and began the rescue, coordinating with the Greek Coast Guard and the Rescue Coordination Center.PHOTO:Ninety-three men boarded the research vessel Atlantis one-by-one. After they had all left their small fishing trawler, R/V Atlantis quickly moved away from the foundering boat. (Photo courtesy Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)Following standard security procedures, Atlantis Captain A.D. Colburn III raised the ship's U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security Level from I to II and took protective measures to secure non-crew members inside the vessel, locking all exterior hatches and portholes before boarding the Egyptians.By midnight, all 93 men were aboard the deck of Atlantis, a ship that had 50 crew, technicians, and scientists aboard. The fishing boat was abandoned with its lights and power on, its position radioed ...

A study by WHOI team More than a year after the largest oil spill in history, perhaps the dominant lingering question about the Deepwater Horizon spill is, "What happened to the oil?" Now, in the first published study to explain the role of microbes in breaking down the oil slick on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers have come up with answers that represent both surprisingly good news and a head-scratching mystery.In research scheduled to be published in the Aug. 2 online edition of Environmental Research Letters, the WHOI team studied samples from the surface oil slick and surrounding Gulf waters. They found that bacterial microbes inside the slick degraded the oil at a rate five times faster than microbes outside the slick-accounting in large part for the disappearance of the slick some three weeks after Deepwater Horizon's Macondo well was shut off.At the same time, the researchers observed no increase in the number of microbes inside the slick-something that would be expected as a byproduct of increased consumption, or respiration, of the oil. In this process, respiration combines food (oil in this case) and oxygen to create carbon dioxide and energy."What did ...