Video
The Overlooked Midwater: Deep Dive into the Twilight Zone
On June 4, 2020, the OTZ Project team participated in the World Economic Forum & Friends of Ocean Action Virtual Ocean Dialogues event to introduce participants to the overlooked mesopelagic and new discoveries being made there. You can watch a recording of their presentation here.
Read MoreExploring Deepwater Ecosystems with eDNA
Between September 23-27, 2019, a team of ocean scientists and engineers from WHOI and Lehigh University used NOAA’s research vessel Manta and the newly developed autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Mesobot to collect environmental DNA (eDNA) in order to explore the biodiversity of deepwater ecosystems near Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico. eDNA,…
Read MoreOpen ocean diving observations
Watch and learn how Ocean Twilight Zone fish biologist conducts blue- and black-water dives in the open ocean and what he sees during the day and at night when animals from the twilight zone migrate to the surface under cover of darkness.
Read MoreTagging sharks to study the twilight zone
Former MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student and current University of Washington post-doc Camrin Braun and his team on the charter fishing vessel Machaca tagged two porbeagles, a relative of the goblin shark, about 30 miles east of Chatham, Mass., in 2019. One shark was a female nearly seven feet long and weighing 270 pounds. A…
Read MoreAntarctic Krill—the Unsung Heroes of Climate Mitigation in the Southern Ocean
Antarctic krill—and more importantly, krill poop—are an important part of the global climate system. Unlike many species that migrate miles across the surface, krill migrate vertically, depositing their carbon-filled waste deep below the surface. This helps mitigate climate change, but they’re under threat from capture for use as fishmeal to feed aquaculture operations or oils…
Read MoreMesobot: Following Life in the Twilight Zone
Mesobot is a brand new underwater vehicle designed to reveal what lives in the ocean’s twilight zone. Mesobot can follow animals as they move through the darkness and as they migrate from the depths to the surface and back. The twilight zone is vast and remote, but is threatened by unregulated fishing and climate change.…
Read MoreA Tunnel to the Twilight Zone
Last year, researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Applied Physics Lab at the University of Washington (UW) discovered that when white sharks are ready to feast, they ride large, swirling ocean currents known as eddies to fast-track their way to the ocean twilight zone—a layer of the ocean between 200 and 1000 meters…
Read MoreDiscovering the Ocean Twilight Zone with Joel Llopiz
Most life forms in the twilight zone are tiny—a few inches or less—but even the smallest twilight zone inhabitants are powerful through sheer number. Joel Llopiz, Associate Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, is part of the Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ) project. The project is embarking on a bold new journey to explore one…
Read MoreEntering the Ocean Twilight Zone with Heidi Sosik
It is hard to describe what it’s like to physically travel down to the twilight zone. In addition to extraordinary bioluminescence, Heidi Sosik, senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Ocean Twilight Zone (OTZ) project lead, was able to observe beautiful jellies and small fishes like bristlemouths, hatchetfish, and lanternfish, all in their natural…
Read MoreEXPORTS 2018 and the Ocean Twilight Zone
From Voice of The Sea TV. EXPORTS is a unique scientific undertaking by NASA and the National Science Foundation to understand and predict the carbon cycle. There is an urgent need to better understand the fate of carbon in the deep ocean in order to predict future climate conditions, and OTZ members are deeply embedded…
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