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.

The westward intensification of wind‐driven ocean currents

Abstract: A study is made of the wind-driven circulation in a homogeneous rectangular ocean under the influence of surface wind stress, linearised bottom friction, horizontal pressure gradients caused by a variable surface height, and Corlolie force. An intense crowding of streamlines toward the western border of the ocean is discovered to be caused by variation of the Cortolis parameter with latitude. It is suggested that this process is the main reason for the formation of the intense currents (Gulf stream and others) observed in the actual oceans.

Parameter estimation of superimposed signals using the EM algorithm

Abstract: A computationally efficient algorithm for parameter estimation of superimposed signals based on the two-step iterative EM (estimate-and-maximize, with an E step and an M step) algorithm is developed. The idea is to decompose the observed data into their signal components and then to estimate the parameters of each signal component separately. The algorithm iterates back and forth, using the current parameter estimates to decompose the observed data better and thus increase the likelihood of the next parameter estimates. The application of the algorithm to the multipath time delay and multiple-source location estimation problems is considered. >

Fate of Dispersants Associated with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Abstract: Response actions to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill included the injection of ∼771,000 gallons (2,900,000 L) of chemical dispersant into the flow of oil near the seafloor. Prior to this incident, no deepwater applications of dispersant had been conducted, and thus no data exist on the environmental fate of dispersants in deepwater. We used ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) to identify and quantify one key ingredient of the dispersant, the anionic surfactant DOSS (dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate), in the Gulf of Mexico deepwater during active flow and again after flow had ceased. Here we show that DOSS was sequestered in deepwater hydrocarbon plumes at 1000−1200 m water depth and did not intermingle with surface dispersant applications. Further, its concentration distribution was consistent with conservative transport and dilution at depth and it persisted up to 300 km from the well, 64 days after deepwater dispersant applications ceased...

Polystyrene Spherules in Coastal Waters

Abstract: Polystyrene spherules averaging 0.5 millimeter in diameter (range 0.1 to 2 millimeters) are abundant in the coastal waters of southern New England. Two types are present, a crystalline (clear) form and a white, opaque form with pigmentation resulting from a diene rubber. The spherules have bacteria on their surfaces and contain polychlorinated biphenyls, apparently absorbed from ambient seawater, in a concentration of 5 parts per million. White, opaque spherules are selectively consumed by 8 species of fish out of 14 species examined, and a chaetognath. Ingestion of the plastic may lead to intestinal blockage in smaller fish.

Microhabitats of benthic foraminifera within deep-sea sediments

Abstract: Benthic foraminifera are protozoans found throughout the deep-sea environment, secreting a test of calcium carbonate or constructing a test of cemented sediment particles (agglutinated or arenaceous foraminifera). In typical deep-sea sediments, the organic cement of agglutinated taxa degrades upon burial in the sediment and, consequently, few specimens survive in the fossil record. In contrast, calcareous species are well preserved in most oceanic sediments, except at abyssal depths where most carbonate sediment is dissolved because of high levels of carbonate under-saturation of the bottom waters. Although benthic foraminifera have been widely used in studies of Cenozoic palaeoceanography, little is known about the ecology of deep-sea species. I present here an analysis of living (stained) benthic foraminifera within the upper 15 cm of deep-sea sediments, which reveals species-specific microhabitat preferences, with distinct morphological features found with epifaunal and infaunal species. The existence of infaunal habitats suggests that the distribution of certain foraminifera is not directly controlled by overlying bottom-water conditions, but by physicochemical conditions within the sediments. The microhabitat preferences may also explain interspecific carbon isotope differences, as existing data show that infaunal foraminifera generally have lower δ13C isotope values than epifaunal species.