In the News
Gothamist: Meet The Freaky ‘Twilight Zone’ Sea Creatures Eating Our Carbon Emissions
On February 8th, Gothamis published an article about the how the ocean’s twilight zone impacts the carbon cycle with featured photos by WHOI post-doc Paul Caiger.
Read MoreThe New York Times: Visitors from the Ocean’s Twilight Zone
On Thanksgiving Day, the New York Times published an online article about the ocean’s twilight zone that featured photos by WHOI post-doc Paul Caiger of just some of the amazing organisms that call the midwater home.
Read MoreTwilight Zone at the Microsoft Faculty Research Summit
WHOI President & Director Mark Abbott attended the 2018 Microsoft Research Faculty Summit in Redmond, Wash., recently and took a moment to discuss application of new technologies and platforms to the design, test, and deployment of ocean observing systems and to improving understanding of the ocean twilight zone.
Read MoreDissecting the Deep-See
The Deep-See is a new, sensor-filled platform for observing animals in the ocean twilight zone and estimating their biomass (amount) and biodiversity (species or type). The vehicle is towed behind a research ship using an electro-optical cable that can transmit data back to scientists on board in real time. Weighing about 2,500 pounds and extending 16 feet…
Read MoreWhat Lives in the Ocean’s Twilight Zone? New Technologies Might Finally Tell Us
The sea’s murky depths might host more life than we thought. That’s the preliminary conclusion of scientists who this week completed the inaugural cruise of the Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ) initiative, a 6-year, $35 million effort that is using innovative technologies—and an unusual funding model—to document the ocean’s mysterious midwater layer.
Read MoreMeet 6 Bewitching, Rarely Seen Creatures from the Ocean’s Twilight Zone
8/22/2018 — You won’t see these amazing animals on a day at the beach, but they’re there—living in the vast, cold, unexplored midwater region of the ocean. Learn about six of its residents and how they’ve adapted to life in the dark.
Read MoreThis Twilight Zone is Dark, Watery, and, Yes, Also Full of Intrigue
8/20/2018 — Like many kids growing up in the 1960’s, I eagerly anticipated every episode of a black-and-white TV series by Rod Serling, expecting to be surprised, maybe even a little scared, of the mysteries of that 5th dimension he called “The Twilight Zone.”
Read MoreWHOI Plunges into Ocean ‘Twilight Zone’ with NASA, NSF to Explore Global Carbon Flow
A large multidisciplinary team of scientists, equipped with advanced underwater robotics and an array of analytical instrumentation, will set sail for the northeastern Pacific Ocean this August. The team’s mission for NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) is to study the life and death of the small organisms that play a critical role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and in the ocean’s carbon cycle. The expedition will mark an important step in growing efforts to explore and understand the ocean’s twilight zone.
Read MoreWe Should Be Exploring the Ocean’s Twilight Zone, Not Exploiting It
James Cameron, explorer, filmmaker, and advisor to WHOI’s Ocean Twilight Zone initiative, looks at the ocean and sees hope in the “near-limitless opportunity for us to explore our planet more deeply than ever before.”
Read MoreFrom Oceanus Magazine: Mission to the Twilight Zone
The twilight zone is a part of the ocean 660 to 3,300 feet below the surface, where little sunlight can reach. It is deep and dark and cold, and the pressures there are enormous. Despite these challenging conditions, the twilight zone teems with life that helps support the ocean’s food web and is intertwined with Earth’s climate. Some countries are gearing up to exploit twilight zone fisheries, with unknown impacts for marine ecosystems and global climate. Scientists and engineers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are poised to explore and investigate this hidden frontier.
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