Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

About: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a nonprofit organization based out in Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Mantle (geology). The organization has 5685 authors who have published 18396 publications receiving 1202050 citations. The organization is also known as: WHOI.

Short-and long-term changes in right whale calling behavior : The potential effects of noise on acoustic communication

Abstract: The impact of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals has been an area of increasing concern over the past two decades. Most low-frequency anthropogenic noise in the ocean comes from commercial shipping which has contributed to an increase in ocean background noise over the past 150 years. The long-term impacts of these changes on marine mammals are not well understood. This paper describes both short- and long-term behavioral changes in calls produced by the endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and South Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena australis) in the presence of increased low-frequency noise. Right whales produce calls with a higher average fundamental frequency and they call at a lower rate in high noise conditions, possibly in response to masking from low-frequency noise. The long-term changes have occurred within the known lifespan of individual whales, indicating that a behavioral change, rather than selective pressure, has resulted in the observed differences. This study provides evidence of a behavioral change in sound production of right whales that is correlated with increased noise levels and indicates that right whales may shift call frequency to compensate for increased band-limited background noise.

Monsoon-controlled export fluxes to the interior of the Arabian Sea

Abstract: As a part of the US-JGOFS Arabian Sea Process Study (ASPS), we deployed a mooring array consisting of 16 Mark-7G time-series sediment traps on five moorings, each in the mesopelagic and interior depths in the western Arabian Sea set along a transect quasi-perpendicular to the Omani coast. The array was deployed for 410 days to cover all monsoon and inter-monsoon phases at 4.25-, 8.5- or 17-day open-close intervals, all of which were synchronized at 17-day periods. Total mass flux, fluxes of organic, inorganic carbon, biogenic Si and lithogenic Al (mg m −2 day −1 ) were obtained from samples representing 667 independent periods. The average total mass fluxes estimated in the interior depth along this sediment trap array at Mooring Stations 1–5 (MS-1–5) during 1994-5 ASPS were 147, 235, 221, 164 and 63 mg m −2 day −1 , respectively. Mass fluxes during the southwest (SW) Monsoon were always larger than during the northeast (NE) Monsoon at all divergent zone stations, but the difference was insignificant at the oligotrophic station, MS-5. Four major pulses of export flux events, two each at NE Monsoon and SW Monsoon, were observed in the divergent zone; these events dominated in quantity production of the annual mass flux, but did not dominate temporally. Export pulses were produced by passing eddies and wind-curl events, but the direct processes to produce individual export blooms at each station were diversified and highly complex. The onset of these pulses was generally synchronous throughout the divergent zone. Export pulses associated with specific biogeochemical signatures such as the ratio of elevated biogenic Si to inorganic carbon indicate a supply of deep water to the euphotic layer in varying degrees. The variability of mass fluxes at the oligotrophic station, MS-5, also represented both monsoon events, but with far less amplitude and without notable export pulses.

Demographic models and IPCC climate projections predict the decline of an emperor penguin population

Abstract: Studies have reported important effects of recent climate change on Antarctic species, but there has been to our knowledge no attempt to explicitly link those results to forecasted population responses to climate change. Antarctic sea ice extent (SIE) is projected to shrink as concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) increase, and emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) are extremely sensitive to these changes because they use sea ice as a breeding, foraging and molting habitat. We project emperor penguin population responses to future sea ice changes, using a stochastic population model that combines a unique long-term demographic dataset (1962-2005) from a colony in Terre Adelie, Antarctica and projections of SIE from General Circulation Models (GCM) of Earth's climate included in the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report. We show that the increased frequency of warm events associated with projected decreases in SIE will reduce the population viability. The probability of quasi-extinction (a decline of 95% or more) is at least 36% by 2100. The median population size is projected to decline from approximately 6,000 to approximately 400 breeding pairs over this period. To avoid extinction, emperor penguins will have to adapt, migrate or change the timing of their growth stages. However, given the future projected increases in GHGs and its effect on Antarctic climate, evolution or migration seem unlikely for such long lived species at the remote southern end of the Earth.

Rare-earth distributions with a positive Ce anomaly in the Western North Atlantic Ocean

Abstract: From the vertical distributions of the rare-earth elements (REE) in the Sargasso Sea we now report the first profiles of Pr, Tb, Ho, Tm and Lu in seawater, together with profiles for La, Ce, Sm, Eu and Yb The first observations of positive Ce anomalies in seawater are ascribed to reducing inshore sediments as a source for Ce (ref 1) All vertical profiles are consistent with adsorption of trivalent rare earths by settling particles, possibly siliceous or calcareous, followed by their release at or near the sea floor on dissolution of the carriers The very different Ce profile demonstrates the additional effects of oxidation–reduction reactions