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Woods Hole Science Center

News and Events

The recently published State of the Earth's Cryosphere at the Beginning of the 21st Century summarizes past and present-day changes in the Earth's cryosphere (the whole of its frozen water) and describes the ongoing and potential effects of those changes. Extensively illustrated in print and connected to a companion online image gallery, this volume supplies a synthesis for 10 other geographically-based volumes in the 11-volume Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World. Read more at usgs.gov

A new project in Japan is helping scientists make significant progress in studying gas hydrates as a potential source for natural gas production. This research advances understanding of the global distribution of gas hydrates as well as whether and how methane contained in gas hydrates can be used as a viable energy source. Read more at usgs.gov

The United States and Canada joined forces once again in August and September 2011 to survey the seafloor in remote and ice-covered regions of the Arctic Ocean. The two-icebreaker expedition was the last of four joint cruises designed to collect data that each country will use to define its "extended continental shelf"—the area beyond 200 nautical miles (nm) from shore where a nation has sovereign rights over resources on and beneath the seafloor according to the Law of the Sea Convention. (Visit http://www.un.org/Depts/los/ to learn more.) Read more in Sound Waves

Georges Bank is a large (42,000 square kilometers) part of the continental shelf offshore of New England that lies in both U.S. and Canadian waters. The seabed is primarily glacially derived sand and gravel deposited since the end of the last glacial maximum approximately 20,000 years ago. A series of maps showing the seabed topography of the Canadian portion of relatively shallow Georges Bank and the deeper Fundian and Northeast Channels has been compiled by geologists Brian Todd and John Shaw of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) and Page Valentine of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Read more in Sound Waves

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (WHCMSC) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to develop and deliver a summer science pilot program for Mashpee Wampanoag tribal youth in grades 6, 7, and 8. The program was developed by Renée Lopes-Pocknett, Director of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's Education Department, and Monique Fordham, USGS National Tribal Liaison, and was guided by Chris Polloni, WHCMSC Outreach Coordinator. Troy Currence (WHCMSC) provided initial contacts and advice for the science staff about tribal customs. The program was designed to help reconnect Mashpee Wampanoag youth with the ecology and geology of their traditional homelands through classroom and field presentations, with an emphasis on hands-on experience. The program wove scientific information and data collection together with traditional ecological knowledge provided by tribal culture keepers, to ensure that information was provided in a context that stressed the ancestral relationships between the Wampanoag people and the ecosystems of their homelands. Read more in Sound Waves

(CNN) -- Superstorm Sandy has taken a tragic toll on the residents of the mid-Atlantic's barrier islands. All along the coast, hundreds of homes were lost, and thousands of people still have no power after Sandy wreaked havoc. The impact is not unlike many other destructive recent storms in the United States, such as Ivan, Katrina and Ike. So what can be done? Read more at cnn.com

Deep beneath the frozen Arctic are deposits of methane. Lots of methane. And there's even more on the sea floor. As the environment warms, these deposits are being released into the atmosphere, presenting grave risks of runaway warming. Read more at pri.org

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A Cold Look at Planet Earth	The recently published State of the Earth's Cryosphere at the Beginning of the 21st Century summarizes past and present-day changes in the Earth's cryosphere (the whole of its frozen water) and describes the ongoing and potential effects of those changes. Extensively illustrated in print and connected to a companion online image gallery, this volume supplies a synthesis for 10 other geographically-based volumes in the 11-volume Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World. Read more at usgs.gov
Groundbreaking Gas Hydrate Research	A new project in Japan is helping scientists make significant progress in studying gas hydrates as a potential source for natural gas production. This research advances understanding of the global distribution of gas hydrates as well as whether and how methane contained in gas hydrates can be used as a viable energy source. Read more at usgs.gov
Arctic Expedition Reaches 88.5 Degrees North Latitude	The United States and Canada joined forces once again in August and September 2011 to survey the seafloor in remote and ice-covered regions of the Arctic Ocean. The two-icebreaker expedition was the last of four joint cruises designed to collect data that each country will use to define its "extended continental shelf"—the area beyond 200 nautical miles (nm) from shore where a nation has sovereign rights over resources on and beneath the seafloor according to the Law of the Sea Convention. (Visit http://www.un.org/Depts/los/ to learn more.) Read more in Sound Waves
U.S. and Canadian Geologists Collaborate in Mapping the Georges Bank Seabed	Georges Bank is a large (42,000 square kilometers) part of the continental shelf offshore of New England that lies in both U.S. and Canadian waters. The seabed is primarily glacially derived sand and gravel deposited since the end of the last glacial maximum approximately 20,000 years ago. A series of maps showing the seabed topography of the Canadian portion of relatively shallow Georges Bank and the deeper Fundian and Northeast Channels has been compiled by geologists Brian Todd and John Shaw of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) and Page Valentine of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Read more in Sound Waves
Native Youth in Science—Preserving Our Homelands	The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center (WHCMSC) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to develop and deliver a summer science pilot program for Mashpee Wampanoag tribal youth in grades 6, 7, and 8. The program was developed by Renée Lopes-Pocknett, Director of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's Education Department, and Monique Fordham, USGS National Tribal Liaison, and was guided by Chris Polloni, WHCMSC Outreach Coordinator. Troy Currence (WHCMSC) provided initial contacts and advice for the science staff about tribal customs. The program was designed to help reconnect Mashpee Wampanoag youth with the ecology and geology of their traditional homelands through classroom and field presentations, with an emphasis on hands-on experience. The program wove scientific information and data collection together with traditional ecological knowledge provided by tribal culture keepers, to ensure that information was provided in a context that stressed the ancestral relationships between the Wampanoag people and the ecosystems of their homelands. Read more in Sound Waves
What's next after Superstorm Sandy?	(CNN) -- Superstorm Sandy has taken a tragic toll on the residents of the mid-Atlantic's barrier islands. All along the coast, hundreds of homes were lost, and thousands of people still have no power after Sandy wreaked havoc. The impact is not unlike many other destructive recent storms in the United States, such as Ivan, Katrina and Ike. So what can be done? Read more at cnn.com
Warming climate presents grave risk of greenhouse gas release in Arctic	Deep beneath the frozen Arctic are deposits of methane. Lots of methane. And there's even more on the sea floor. As the environment warms, these deposits are being released into the atmosphere, presenting grave risks of runaway warming. Read more at pri.org