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.

Ocean Warming Slows Coral Growth in the Central Red Sea

Abstract: Sea surface temperature (SST) across much of the tropics has increased by 0.4° to 1°C since the mid-1970s. A parallel increase in the frequency and extent of coral bleaching and mortality has fueled concern that climate change poses a major threat to the survival of coral reef ecosystems worldwide. Here we show that steadily rising SSTs, not ocean acidification, are already driving dramatic changes in the growth of an important reef-building coral in the central Red Sea. Three-dimensional computed tomography analyses of the massive coral Diploastrea heliopora reveal that skeletal growth of apparently healthy colonies has declined by 30% since 1998. The same corals responded to a short-lived warm event in 1941/1942, but recovered within 3 years as the ocean cooled. Combining our data with climate model simulations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we predict that should the current warming trend continue, this coral could cease growing altogether by 2070.

Climate related sea-level variations over the past two millennia

Abstract: We present new sea-level reconstructions for the past 2100 y based on salt-marsh sedimentary sequences from the US Atlantic coast. The data from North Carolina reveal four phases of persistent sea-level change after correction for glacial isostatic adjustment. Sea level was stable from at least BC 100 until AD 950. Sea level then increased for 400 y at a rate of 0.6 mm/y, followed by a further period of stable, or slightly falling, sea level that persisted until the late 19th century. Since then, sea level has risen at an average rate of 2.1 mm/y, representing the steepest century-scale increase of the past two millennia. This rate was initiated between AD 1865 and 1892. Using an extended semiempirical modeling approach, we show that these sea-level changes are consistent with global temperature for at least the past millennium.

The importance of boundary-layer flows in supplying phytoplankton to the benthic suspension feeder, Mytilus edulis L.

Abstract: Measurements of vertical gradients in phytoplankton fluorescence over an intertidal mussel bed in the St. Lawrence River estuary (Qukbec) indicate a significant reduction in phytoplankton concentration close to the bed. Furthermore, measurements of near-bed fluorescence as a function of current speed, and of mussel consumption rate as a function of in situ fluorescence, suggest that consumption rate varies with flow speed. A steady, two-dimensional, finite-difference model was constructed to represent the balance between horizontal advection and vertical diffusion of phytoplankton over a mussel bed, in order to simulate the observed influence of mussels on the phytoplankton distribution. The vertical distribution of phytoplankton generated by the model shows a marked reduction close to the bed, consistent with the field measurements, and the model also confirms the depcndcnce of consumption rate on flow speed. Enhanced vertical diffusive transport at higher current speeds results in a higher rate of replenishment of phytoplankton to food-impoverished near-bottom waters. Model runs with different values of the bottom roughness parameter indicate that roughness due to the mussels themselves may significantly increase the food supply to the bed, due to enhanced turbulent transport. In addition, since there is a strong vertical gradient in food concentration above the seabed, the time-averaged food concentration obtained by the mussels is a strong function of the height from which they ingest.

A Simple Theory for the Fate of Buoyant Coastal Discharges

Abstract: A simple theory that predicts the vertical structure and offshore spreading of a localized buoyant inflow onto a continental shelf is formulated. The theory is based on two competing mechanisms that move the buoyant fluid offshore: 1) the radial spread of the lighter water over the ambient water, being deflected by the Coriolis force and producing an anticyclonic cyclostrophic plume, and 2) offshore transport of buoyant water in the frictional bottom boundary layer that moves the entire plume offshore while maintaining contact with the bottom. The surface expression of the cyclostrophic plume moves offshore a distance ys = 2(3g′h0 + υ 2i)/(2g′h0 + υ 2i)1/2f,where g′ is reduced gravity based on the inflow density anomaly, h0 is the inflow depth, υi is the inflow velocity, and f is the Coriolis parameter. The plume remains attached to the bottom to a depth given by hb = (2Lυih0f/g′)1/2,where L is the inflow width. Both scales are based solely on parameters of the buoyant inflow at its source. There...

Benthic studies in buzzards bay ii. the meiofauna1

Abstract: During the summer of 1957 a study of the small metazoans (meiofauna), based on a series of Phleger core samples, Massachusetts. was undertaken at three stations in Buzzards Bay, The number of animals ranged from 1.69 x lo5 to 1.86 x 106/m2, the dry weights varied from approximately 100 to 600 mg/m2. The nematodes and kinorhynchs, which comprised between 89 and 99% of the total mieofauna, were studied in detail. The sandy localities ( stations P and J ) were characterized by a number of nematodes restricted to this habitat, particularly by three representatives of the genus Odontophora and by all representatives of the genus LeptonemeZZa. The locality rich in fine deposits (station R) was characterized by the relative abundance of several nematodes, particularly of Terschellingia Zongicaudata, and the three kinorhynch species. It was possible to recognize an Odontophora-LeptonemeZZu community in the sandy habitats, and a TerschelZingia Zongicaudata-Trachydemus mainensis (kinorhynch) community in the silty habitat, the former being equivalent to the Ampelisca community, the latter to the Nucula proximaNephthys in&a community described for the macrofauna in the same area. However, these “communities” can also be considered as two ecological groups of species, the former dependent on the presence of sand, the latter on that of fine deposits, which actually live side by side, forming an intricate meshwork of faunal combinations. Each combination is determined by the relative amounts of sand and fine deposits present. The uniformity of the nematode fauna within each station was greater than that between two different stations. Most important in determining the degree of faunal uniformity between paired samples is the similarity in their silt-clay content. However, other mechanical factors also play a role. An analysis of the total species composition of the nematode fauna revealed that Terschellingia Zongicaudata was the most abundant species at station R, whereas at the stations P and J there were three or four equally dominant species. This is interpreted as indicating a splitting up of the sandy habitat into subhabitats. The simultaneous occurrence of closely related species in this environment further supports the conjecture. The distribution of “buccal types” amongst nematodes is correlated with the distribution of sediments.