WHOI 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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The heterogeneity and volatile content of Earth’s mantle, magmas and crust
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2021-02)This thesis explores the volatile content of the mantle, subducted oceanic crust, and arc magmas as well as the structure of slow spreading ocean crust and the heterogeneity of Earth’s upper mantle. In Chapter 2, I directly ... -
Structure and mechanics of the subducted Gorda plate: constrained by afterslip simulations and scattered seismic waves
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2021-02)Subduction zones host the greatest earthquakes on earth and pose great threat to human society. The largest slip in megathrust earthquakes often occurs in the 10–50 km depth range, yet seismic imaging of the material ... -
Coral reefs in the Anthropocene Ocean: novel insights from skeletal proxies of climate change, impacts, and resilience
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2021-02)Anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are driving rapid changes in ocean conditions. Shallow-water coral reefs are experiencing the brunt of these changes, including intensifying marine heatwaves (MHWs) and rapid ... -
Computational approaches for sub-meter ocean color remote sensing
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2021-02)The satellite ocean color remote sensing paradigm developed by government space agencies enables the assessment of ocean color products on global scales at kilometer resolutions. A similar paradigm has not yet been developed ... -
The Role of Zooplankton in Regulating Carbon Export and Phytoplankton Community Structure: Integrating Models and Observations
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2021-02)In this thesis, I explore two topics in plankton ecology with a combination of models and observations. First, I investigate the contribution of zooplankton diel vertical migration (DVM) to the vertical flux of carbon as ... -
Distribution, growth, and transport of larval fishes and implications for population dynamics
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2021-02)The early life stages of marine fishes play a critical role in population dynamics, largely due to their high abundance, high mortality, and ease of transport in ocean currents. This dissertation demonstrates the value of ... -
Radium isotopes and radon-222 as tracers of sediment-water interaction in Arctic coastal and lacustrine environments
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)Arctic marine and lacustrine systems are experiencing rapid warming due to climate change. These changes are especially important at the interface between sediments and surface waters because they are hotspots for ... -
A planned approach to high collision risk area
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)This thesis examines the transition of a vessel from the open ocean, where collisions are rare, to a high risk and heavy traffic area such as a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS). Previous autonomy approaches generally view ... -
Residual overturning circulation and its connection to Southern Ocean dynamics
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)Over the last 20 years, our understanding of the meridional overturning circulation has improved, but primarily in a two-dimensional, zonally-averaged framework. In this thesis, I have pushed beyond this simplification and ... -
Development and testing of the AXBT Realtime Editing System (ARES)
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)Airborne eXpendable BathyThermographs (AXBTs) are air-launched, single use temperature-depth probes that telemeter temperature observations as a VHF-modulated frequency. This study describes the AXBT Realtime Editing System ... -
Morphological approaches to understanding Antarctic Sea ice thickness
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)Sea ice thickness has long been an under-measured quantity, even in the satellite era. The snow surface elevation, which is far easier to measure, cannot be directly converted into sea ice thickness estimates without ... -
Investigating Mexican paleoclimate with precisely dated speleothems
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)Speleothems, or sedimentary rocks formed in caves, act as valuable archives of past climate change due to their suitability for U-series dating and high-resolution proxy analysis. These records can provide insights into ... -
A method for on-line water current velocity estimation using low-cost autonomous underwater vehicles
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)Advances in the miniaturization of microelectronics has greatly contributed to the proliferation of small, low cost autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). These affordable vehicles offer organizations a flexible platform ... -
An analysis of Atlantic Water in the Arctic Ocean using the Arctic Subpolar Gyre State Estimate and observations
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)The Atlantic Water (AW) Layer in the Arctic Subpolar gyre sTate Estimate (ASTE), a regional, medium-resolution coupled ocean-sea ice state estimate, is analyzed for the first time using bounding isopycnals. A surge of AW, ... -
Towards basin-scale in-situ characterization of sea-ice using an Autonomous Underwater Glider
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)This thesis presents an Autonomous Underwater Glider (AUG) architecture that is intended for basin-scale unattended survey of Arctic sea-ice. The distinguishing challenge for AUG operations in the Arctic environment is the ... -
High resolution sedimentary archives of past millennium hurricane activity in the Bahama Archipelago
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)Little is known about how Atlantic hurricane activity changes on long timescales. This thesis uses proxy development and proxy-model integration to constrain the spatiotemporal variability in hurricane activity in the ... -
Signal Absorption-Based Range Estimator for Undersea Swarms
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)Robotic swarms are increasingly complex above the waterline due to reliable communication links. However, the limited propagation of similar signals in the ocean has impacted advances in undersea robotics. Underwater ... -
Modifiable Stability and Maneuverability of High Speed Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) Through Bioinspired Control Fins
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-09)Underwater Vehicles generally have control fins located only near their aft end, for making controllable changes in directions. This design allows for stability of control; but, the turns are typically large in comparison ... -
Characterizing cobalamin cycling by Antarctic marine microbes across multiple scales
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-05)Highly productive marine microbial communities in the coastal Southern Ocean sustain the broader Antarctic ecosystem and play a key role in Earth’s climate via the biological pump. Regional phytoplankton growth is primarily ... -
Enabling human-robot cooperation in scientific exploration of bandwidth-limited environments
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2020-05)Contemporary scientific exploration most often takes place in highly remote and dangerous environments, such as in the deep sea and on other planets. These environments are very hostile to humans, which makes robotic ...