Woods Hole Oceanographie Institution

THE WOODS HOLE Océanographie Institution (WHOI), a world-renowned private, not-for-profit organization founded in 1930, is the largest independent océanographie research institution in the United States. WHOI is committed to higher education and scientific research that furthers the understanding of the world's oceans and their role within the Earth's ecosystem as a whole. In addition, WHOI disseminates its research findings and information to the public and policymakers to foster understanding and decisionmaking for the greater good of society. At any given moment, more than 350 projects are in progress around the world, representing a wide range of scientific inquiries, in which collaboration and creativity are highly valued and encouraged.

WHOI recruits distinctly qualified scientists, engineers, staff, and students and provides an interdisciplinary and flexible setting in which students, as future scientists and engineers, can thrive. The research activities of the WHOI are centered in five departments: applied ocean physics and engineering, encompassing ocean acoustics, observation systems, and immersible vehicles; biology, with specialties in biooptical studies, pollution effects in the sea, and the behavior of marine animals; marine chemistry and geochemistry, focusing on chemical analyses and modeling of ocean processes; physical oceanography, including the examination of the geography and physics of the ocean currents; and geology and geophysics, including the study of the oceans' role in past climate change.

WHOI's research efforts are enhanced by four ocean institutes, established in 2000, which address the concerns of members of the general public and policymaking bodies and make research findings available as expeditiously as possible. The Coastal Ocean Institute encourages pioneering, interdisciplinary experiments, and field missions to increase knowledge and understanding about basic ocean processes. The Ocean Life Institute sponsors studies of the oceans' organisms and processes to understand the evolution of life and adaptability of species to their natural surroundings.

The Ocean and Climate Change Institute, among other undertakings, supports research about the effect of greenhouse gases on the ocean and the effect of ocean dynamics that may cause large, sudden climate shifts. WHOI's interest in research and technology that focus on the possible regional and global effects of changes in the Arctic on circulation and climate, including the effects on fisheries and ecosystems beyond the Arctic, was advanced in 2006 with the receipt of a grant to establish the Clark Arctic Research Initiative. The initiative is intended to [Page 1097]make resources available to support individual and collaborative focused research based in the Arctic region through 2007.

The WHOI's fourth institute, the Deep Ocean Exploration Institute, encourages multidisciplinary research endeavors throughout WHOI and advocates the development of deep-sea technology, including vehicles such as Alvin, the Deep Submergence Vehicle owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by WHOI. In addition to Alvin, the National Deep Submergence Facility, funded by the federal government and located at WHOI, oversees the operation of the remotely operated vehicle Jason/Medea and the robotic underwater vehicle ABE. The year 2008 will be one of significant change as the ABE is replaced by the Sentry, which can dive to greater depths and has longer deployment capability than its predecessor.

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