RSS 1.0WHOI Theses
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WHOI's educational role, at the graduate level, was formalized in 1968 with a change in its charter and the signing of an agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a Joint Program leading to doctoral (Ph.D. or Sc.D.) or engineer's degrees. Joint master's degrees are also offered in selected areas of the program. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is also authorized to grant doctoral degrees independently.
New theses are added as they are published.
Recent Submissions
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Demonstration of passive acoustic detection and tracking of unmanned underwater vehicles
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2018-06)In terms of national security, the advancement of unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) technology has transformed UUVs from tools for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and mine countermeasures to autonomous ... -
Chaotic advection, mixing, and property exchange in three-dimensional ocean eddies and gyres
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2018-06)This work investigates how a Lagrangian perspective applies to models of two oceanographic flows: an overturning submesoscale eddy and the Western Alboran Gyre. In the first case, I focus on the importance of diffusion ... -
Measurements and dynamics of multiple scale bedforms in tidally energetic environments
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2018-06)The presence of superimposed bedforms, where smaller bedforms exist on larger bedforms, is ubiquitous to energetic tidal environments. Due to their wide range in scale, it is difficult to simultaneously observe these ... -
Carbon and mineral transformations in seafloor serpentinization systems
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2018-02)This thesis examines abiotic processes controlling the transformation and distribution of carbon compounds in seafloor hydrothermal systems hosted in ultramafic rock. These processes have a direct impact on carbon budgets ... -
Evolutionary conservation and characterization of the metazoan amino acid response
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2018-02)Signaling pathways that respond to stress and sense nutrient availability are highly conserved throughout eukaryotes. In mammalian cells, these pathways have evolved to regulate immune responses, representing important ... -
An investigation of basin-scale controls on upper ocean export and remineralization
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2018-02)The biological carbon pump (BCP) helps to moderate atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by bringing carbon to the deep ocean, where it can be sequestered on timescales of centuries to millennia. Climate change is predicted ... -
Water and volatile element accretion to the inner planets
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2018-02)This thesis investigates the timing and source(s) of water and volatile elements to the inner solar system by studying the basaltic meteorites angrites and eucrites. In chapters 2 and 3, I present the results from angrite ... -
The marine biogeochemistry of chromium isotopes
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2018-02)In the ocean, chromium (Cr) is a redox-sensitive trace metal. The reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) occurs in oxygen deficient zones (ODZs), and Cr reduction in general has been identified as a significant Cr isotope ... -
Multi-modal and inertial sensor solutions for navigation-type factor graphs
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-09)This thesis presents a sum-product inference algorithm for platform navigation called Multi-modal iSAM (incremental smoothing and mapping). CommonGaussian-only likelihoods are restrictive and require a complex front-end ... -
Field observations and numerical model simulations of a migrating inlet system
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-09)Waves, currents, and bathymetric change observed along 11 km of the southern shoreline of Martha’s Vineyard include storm events, strong tidal flows (> 2 m/s), and an inlet migrating 2.5 km in ~7 years. A field-verified ... -
Influence of meltwater on Greenland Ice Sheet dynamics
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-09)Seasonal fluxes of meltwater control ice-flow processes across the Greenland Ice Sheet ablation zone and subglacial discharge at marine-terminating outlet glaciers. With the increase in annual ice sheet meltwater production ... -
Trace element proxies and mineral indicators of hydrothermal fluid composition and seafloor massive sulfide deposit formation processes
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-06)This thesis analyzes compositions of seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits and related hydrothermal vent fluids to identify proxies of reaction zone conditions (host-rock lithology, hydrothermal fluid temperature and ... -
Low frequency active sonar performance in the Arctic Beaufort Lens
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-09)A newly discovered double ducted acoustic environment present throughout much of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic has a major effect on active acoustic transmissions. This work performs an in depth analysis of how the lower ... -
Age of air and the circulation of the stratosphere
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-09)The circulation of air in the stratosphere is important for the distribution of radiatively important trace gases, such as ozone and water vapor, and other chemical species, including ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons. ... -
MEMS IMU navigation with model based dead-reckoning and one-way-travel-time acoustic range measurements for autonomous underwater vehicles
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-09)Recent advances in acoustic navigation methodologies are enabling the way for AUVs to extend their submerged mission time and maintain a bounded XY position error. Additionally, advances in inertial sensor technology ... -
Extraction of uranium from seawater : design and testing of a symbiotic system
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-06)Seawater is estimated to contain 4.5 billion tonnes of uranium, approximately 1000 times that available in conventional terrestrial resources. Finding a sustainable way to harvest uranium from seawater will provide a ... -
Trait-based modeling of larval dispersal in the Gulf of Maine
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-09)Population connectivity is a fundamental process that governs the spatial and temporal dynamics of marine ecosystems. For many marine species, population connectivity is driven by dispersal during a planktonic larval ... -
Wave-, wind-, and tide-driven circulation at a well-mixed ocean inlet
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-06)The effects of waves, wind, and bathymetry on tidal and subtidal hydrodynamics at unstratified, shallow New River Inlet, NC, are evaluated using field observations and numerical simulations. Tidal flows are ebb-dominated ... -
Alexandrium catenella cyst dynamics in a coastal embayment : temperature dependence of dormancy, germination, and bloom Initiation
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-06)Blooms of the dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella cause paralytic shellfish poisoning syndrome and present an expanding public health threat. They are inoculated through the germination of benthic cysts, a process ... -
The geochemistry of methane isotopologues
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2017-06)This thesis documents the origin, distribution, and fate of methane and several of its isotopic forms on Earth. Using observational, experimental, and theoretical approaches, I illustrate how the relative abundances of ...
