Dec 3, 2015 – MBARI’s new Deep-Sea Guide makes it easy for anyone to search MBARI’s treasure trove of images and scientific observations of deep-sea animals, seafloor habitats, geological features, and research tools. Previously only available for internal use, the Deep-Sea Guide is now available to scientists and the general public.
Oct 29, 2015 – MBARI divers conduct routine maintenance on the M1 mooring in Monterey Bay. The M1 mooring was installed in 1989 when the Institute was only two years old. Since then, the buoy, equipped with dozens of different scientific instruments, has collected over 25 years of data.
Oct 20, 2015 – MBARI researchers have been monitoring seawater temperatures at our M1 mooring in the middle of Monterey Bay since 1990. Biological oceanographer Francisco Chavez has been analyzing these data to find out how they reflect conditions in the Pacific Ocean as a whole.
Oct 7, 2015 – When remotely operated vehicle Ventana dove near the head of Monterey Canyon yesterday, in the area of intense whale activity, the vehicle was surrounded by the very thing attracting the whales—an incredibly thick school of anchovies.
Aug 18, 2015 – On August 18, researchers on board the research vessel Nautilus used the ROVs Hercules and Argus to dive on the wreck of the USS Macon, a rigid-frame dirigible airship that crashed off the Big Sur coast in 1935.
Jul 31, 2015 – On July 27, Kakani Katija and collaborators Alana Sherman, Dale Graves, Chad Kecy, and Bruce Robison tested DeepPIV (particle image velocimetry) using MBARI’s MiniROV. The DeepPIV instrument consists of a laser and optics that can illuminate “slices” through transparent animals (such as larvaceans) using a single plane of light.
Oct 15, 2015 – Underwater avalanches and turbidity currents carry huge amounts of sediment, organic material, and pollutants down submarine canyons and into the deep sea. Yet geologists know very little about how sediment moves during these events.
Oct 15, 2015 – Submarine canyons are notoriously difficult to study because underwater avalanches periodically surge down the bottoms of many canyons, often burying or destroying scientific instruments.
Oct 15, 2015 – Submarine canyons are notoriously difficult to study because underwater avalanches periodically surge down the bottoms of many canyons, often burying or destroying scientific instruments. After more than a decade of placing (and sometimes losing) equipment in Monterey Canyon, MBARI researchers have created a unique new tool to study canyon processes.
Jul 21, 2015 – MBARI researchers were part of a team that recently won second place in the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE, a $2 million world-wide competition to develop an accurate and sustainable pH sensor for monitoring ocean acidification.
Jul 13, 2015 – Last Thursday, MBARI Postdoctoral Fellow Stephanie Bush and her team from the Monterey Bay Aquarium went to sea aboard the R/V Rachel Carson in Monterey Bay. They were on a mission to collect octopuses in the genus Opisthoteuthis to be used for species description and display at the aquarium.
Jul 9, 2015 – Marcia McNutt, who led MBARI for 12 years, was nominated this week to lead the prestigious National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The NAS prepares independent scientific reports for the federal government on science and technology issues.
Jul 1, 2015 – An amazing variety of bristle worms thrive in the ocean, both on the seafloor and up in the water column. Here are some examples of the bizarre and wonderful polychaetes that MBARI researchers have seen in the ocean depths.
Jun 26, 2015 – For the second year in a row, MBARI has partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Science Friday, the American Museum of Natural History, and other groups to present a wonderful array of cephalopod images and videos as part of “Cephalopod Week.”
Jun 11, 2015 – Last week, a group of MBARI engineers deployed three long-range autonomous underwater vehicles (LRAUVs). Developed at MBARI, LRAUVs can travel several thousands of kilometers in the ocean, collecting data as they go.
Jun 3, 2015 – On May 28, MBARI Postdoctoral Fellow Kakani Katija presented a talk at the TEDWomen conference in Monterey about her research studying how marine organisms interact with the fluid world. As a bioengineer, she is interested in the underwater “footprints”, or wakes that organisms leave behind as they move through the water.
Jun 2, 2015 – In spring 2015, MBARI researchers discovered a large, previously unknown field of hydrothermal vents in the Gulf of California, about 150 kilometers (100 miles) east of La Paz, Mexico.
Jun 1, 2015 – In May 2015, as part of a large-scale experiment, ocean researchers measured some of the highest concentrations of harmful algae and their toxin ever observed in Monterey Bay.
May 26, 2015 – If you’ve visited beaches in the Monterey Bay area earlier this year, you may have seen young California sea lions stranded on the beaches, weak and emaciated from lack of food. Recently, the Marine Mammal Center has reported that juvenile and sub-adult sea lions have also been stranding on beaches as a result of domoic acid poisoning.
May 19, 2015 – Scientist Steve Haddock, Electrical Engineer Chad Kecy, and Mechanical Engineer François Cazenave introduced the SeeStar camera system at the Bay Area Maker Faire, a large festival held May 16th and 17th to celebrate invention and creativity by showcasing creations that relate to science, engineering, or art.
Research programs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) encompass the entire ocean, from the surface waters to the deep seafloor, and from the coastal zone to the open sea. The need to understand the ocean in all its complexity and variability drives MBARI's research and development efforts.