Infrastructure projects that intentionally use natural and nature-based habitats and processes to reduce risks and deliver multiple benefits are referred to as nature-based solutions. Continue ...
The ocean’s water is constantly circulated by currents. Tidal currents occur close to shore and are influenced by the sun and moon. Surface currents are influenced by the wind. However, other, ...
Lines of latitude, also called parallels, are imaginary lines that divide the Earth. They run east to west, but measure your distance north or south. The equator is the most well known parallel. ...
Lines of longitude, also called meridians, are imaginary lines that divide the Earth. They run north to south from pole to pole, but they measure the distance east or west. The prime meridian, ...
Barrier islands form as waves repeatedly deposit sediment parallel to the shoreline. As wind and waves shift according to weather patterns and local geographic features, these islands constantly ...
Scientists have suspected for a while that Greenland sharks lived extremely long lives, but they didn’t have a way to determine how long. The age of other shark species can be estimated by coun...
Scientists estimate that 50-80% of the oxygen production on Earth comes from the ocean. The majority of this production is from oceanic plankton — drifting plants, algae, and some bacteria that...
The word “plankton” comes from the Greek for “drifter” or “wanderer.” An organism is considered plankton if it is carried by tides and currents, and cannot swim well enough to move ag...
Harmful algal blooms — often referred to as HABs for short — occur when algae produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, birds, or other aquatic organisms. B...
Did you know that near St. Augustine, Florida — the nation’s oldest city — there exists an actual “castle” made of sand? Located on 20.5 acres on the western shore of Matanzas Bay, the ...
Carbon is the foundation of all life on Earth, required to form complex molecules like proteins and DNA. This element is also found in our atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2). Carbon h...
Sponges are animals with dense skeletons that are highly adapted to their environments, although it is easy to see why they may be mistaken for plants. Sponges are found in a wide variety of colo...
An archipelago is an area that contains a chain or group of islands scattered in lakes, rivers, or the ocean. Formed in depressions along the shoreline of rocky coasts, tide pools are filled w...
Broken bottles, discarded love letters, castoff clothing, candy wrappers, flotsam and jetsam washed ashore: During a walk along a beach, one finds any of these items and more. In all that litter,...
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/most-common-ocean-litter.html
An archipelago is an area that contains a chain or group of islands scattered in lakes, rivers, or the ocean. The word “archipelago” comes from the medieval Italian word archi, meaning chie...
Intertidal zones exist anywhere the ocean meets the land, from steep, rocky ledges to long, sloping sandy beaches and mudflats that can extend for hundreds of meters. Four physical divisions, eac...
Seasickness is a result of a conflict in the inner ear, where the human balance mechanism resides, and is caused by a vessel’s erratic motion on the water. Inside the cabin of a rocking boat, f...
Summertime means hot weather — sometimes dangerously hot — and extreme heat waves have become more frequent in recent decades. Sometimes, the scorching heat is ensnared in what is called a he...
Though numerous lighthouses still serve seafarers, modern electronic aids to navigation play a larger role in maritime safety in the 21st century. Continue reading →
A canal is a manmade waterway that allows boats and ships to pass from one body of water to another. Canals are also used to transport water for irrigation and other human uses. While the advent ...
An island’s windward side faces the prevailing, or trade, winds, whereas the island’s leeward side faces away from the wind, sheltered from prevailing winds by hills and mountains. As trade w...
While some places have one high tide and one low tide per day, most coastal locations have two high tides and two low tides a day. These highs and lows typically aren't equal. This is why, in mos...
How does SOFAR work? Think of the ocean as consisting of various zones, or layers — sort of like oil and vinegar salad dressing before it’s shaken up—except that ocean layers occur due to ...
Lagoons are separated from larger bodies of water by sandbars, barrier reefs, coral reefs, or other natural barriers. The word "lagoon" derives from the Italian word laguna, which means "pond" or...
When a storm churns across the ocean, the warm surface waters provide additional moisture and can fuel the storm into a hurricane. As the hurricane grows larger and more potent, it can generate w...
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/hurricanes-sea-life.html
Glass sponges in the class Hexactinellida are animals commonly found in the deep ocean. Their tissues contain glass-like structural particles, called spicules, that are made of silica (hence thei...
"The Bloop" is the given name of a mysterious underwater sound recorded in the 90s. Years later, NOAA scientists discovered that this sound emanated from an iceberg cracking and breaking away fro...
Hurricanes are powerhouse weather events that suck heat from tropical waters to fuel their fury. These violent storms form over the ocean, often beginning as a tropical wave—a low pressure area...
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/how-hurricanes-form.html
Just as a microphone collects sound in the air, a hydrophone detects acoustic signals under the water. Most hydrophones are based on a special property of certain ceramics that produces a small e...
Ecoforecasts detail how interactions between organisms and their environment may affect ecological phenomena such as animal extinction, the spread of invasive plants and disease, and the health o...
Wind, tides, and differences in temperature and salinity drive ocean currents. The ocean churns up different types of currents, such as eddies, whirlpools, or deep ocean currents. Larger, sustain...
Given the vast size of the ocean, it is impossible to know the exact number of species that live there. Research suggests, however, that the number of species in the ocean is decreasing. The cont...
Tides originate in the ocean and progress toward the coastlines, where they appear as the regular rise and fall of the sea surface. Thanks to Sir Isaac Newton’s 1687 discovery, we know that tid...
Meteotsunamis are large waves that scientists are just beginning to better understand. Unlike tsunamis triggered by seismic activity, meteotsunamis are driven by air-pressure disturbances often a...
The size of a watershed (also called a drainage basin or catchment) is defined on several scales—referred to as its Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUC)—based on the geography that is most relevant to...
NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services provides tidal current predictions to commercial and recreational mariners who rely on this information for safe navigation. In o...
Backscatter is the reflection of a signal (such as sound waves or light) back in the direction from where it originated. Backscatter is commonly used in medical ultrasounds to understand characte...
As sea level rises, more and more saltwater encroaches on the land. Along the world’s coasts and estuaries, invading seawater advances and overtakes the fresh water that deciduous trees rely up...
Rivers flowing over Earth’s gorges create waterfalls that are natural wonders, drawing millions of visitors to their breathtaking beauty, grandeur, and power. But no waterfall is larger or more...
Eutrophication is a big word that describes a big problem in the nation's estuaries. Harmful algal blooms, dead zones, and fish kills are the results of a process called eutrophication—which be...
High tide flooding—flooding that leads to public inconveniences such as road closures—is increasingly common as coastal sea levels rise. Continue reading →
Sand is the end product of many things, including decomposed rocks, organic by-products, and even parrotfish poop. Continue reading →
Our ocean and coasts affect us all—even those of us who don't live near the shoreline. Consider the economy. Through the fishing and boating industry, tourism and recreation, and ocean transpor...
Oceanic and atmospheric Rossby waves — also known as planetary waves — naturally occur largely due to the Earth's rotation. These waves affect the planet's weather and climate. Waves in the o...
The world ocean provides so many benefits. Here are ten things the ocean does for humans and the planet: - The air we breathe: The ocean produces over half of the world's oxygen and absorbs 50 ...
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/why-care-about-ocean.html
In 1513, Spanish explorer Ponce de León sailed into the strong currents of the Florida Straits. Little did he know that within a few years, these uncharted waters, which fed into the Gulf Stream...
A tide gauge, which is one component of a modern water level monitoring station, is fitted with sensors that continuously record the height of the surrounding water level. This data is critical f...
The cerebral-looking organisms known as brain corals do not have brains, but they can grow six feet tall and live for up to 900 years! Found in the Caribbean, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans, brain ...
Not to be confused with a dumping ground or heavily trashed public beach, a catcher beach typically receives its accumulations of debris due to its shape and location in combination with high-ene...
A King Tide is a non-scientific term people often use to describe exceptionally high tides. Tides are long-period waves that roll around the planet as the ocean is "pulled" back and forth by the ...
NOAA's nowCOAST is a GIS-based webmap service that provides frequently updated ocean observations along with coastal and marine weather forecasts 24 hours a day. The free online map offers point-...
Clocked at speeds in excess of 68 mph, some experts consider the sailfish the fastest fish in the world ocean. Easily recognized, sailfish are named for the spectacular sail-like dorsal fin that ...
Sea ice is frozen water that forms, expands, and melts in the ocean. It is different from icebergs, glaciers, ice sheets, and ice shelves, which originate on land. For the most part, sea ice expa...
In most species, gender is determined during fertilization. However, the sex of most turtles, alligators, and crocodiles is determined after fertilization. The temperature of the developing eggs ...
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/temperature-dependent.html
Scientists now believe that some corals can live for up to 5,000 years, making them the longest living animals on Earth. Continue reading →
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oldest-living-animal.html
During the Age of Sail (circa 15th to 19th centuries), these strong prevailing winds propelled ships across the Pacific, often at breakneck speed. Nevertheless, sailing west into heavy seas and s...
Atmospheric rivers are narrow regions in the atmosphere that transport much of the moisture from the tropics to northern latitudes. Atmospheric rivers are part of the Earth's ocean water cycle, a...
Not all fish are cold-blooded. In 2015, researchers with the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center revealed the opah, or moonfish, as the first fully warm-blooded fish. Although not as warm as ...
Have you ever wondered how fish survive in cold winter weather, or where they go when lakes and ponds freeze over? Like many people, fish tend to be less active in the cold. As cold-blooded creat...
Ocean noise refers to sounds made by human activities that can interfere with or obscure the ability of marine animals to hear natural sounds in the ocean. Many marine organisms rely on their abi...
Known to sailors around the world, the trade winds and associated ocean currents helped early sailing ships from European and African ports make their journeys to the Americas. Likewise, the trad...
Satellites are amazing tools for observing the Earth and the big blue ocean that covers more than 70 percent of our planet. By remotely sensing from their orbits high above the Earth, satellites ...
Among the most primitive of all vertebrate species, the sea lamprey is a parasitic fish native to the northern and western Atlantic Ocean. Due to their similar body shapes, lampreys have sometime...
Did you know that naturally occurring oil seeps from the seafloor are the largest source of oil entering the world ocean? In fact, they account for nearly half of the oil released into the ocean ...
Once a year, on cues from the lunar cycle and the water temperature, entire colonies of coral reefs simultaneously release their tiny eggs and sperm, called gametes, into the ocean. The phenomeno...
Sea surface temperature provides fundamental information on the global climate system. Because the ocean covers 71 percent of Earth's surface, scientists record sea surface temperature (SST) to u...
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sea-surface-temperature.html
Marine telemetry interprets into data the movements and behavior of animals as they move through oceans, coastal rivers, estuaries, and the Great Lakes. Telemetry devices, called tags, are affixe...
Known to sailors around the world as the doldrums, the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, (ITCZ, pronounced and sometimes referred to as the “itch”), is a belt around the Earth extending approx...
A beach advisory leaves it up to users as to whether they wish to risk going into the water. In the case of a beach closure, the state and/or local government decides that water conditions are un...
Plastic is the most prevalent type of marine debris found in our ocean and Great Lakes. Plastic debris can come in all shapes and sizes, but those that are less than five millimeters in length (o...
Impacts from land-based sources of pollution—including coastal development, deforestation, agricultural runoff, and oil and chemical spills—can impede coral growth and reproduction, disrupt o...
Climate change and ocean acidification can result in mass coral bleaching events, increased susceptibility to disease, slower growth and reproductive rates, and degraded reef structure. There a...
Coral reef ecosystems support important commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishery resources in the U.S and its territories. Fishing also plays a central social and cultural role in many i...
Climate change is the greatest global threat to coral reef ecosystems. Scientific evidence now clearly indicates that the Earth's atmosphere and ocean are warming, and that these changes are prim...
In summertime when the weather is warm, pregnant female sea turtles return to the beaches where they themselves hatched years before. They swim through the crashing surf and crawl up the beach se...
Wildlife viewing is a popular recreation activity, but it is important to know how to interact with ocean wildlife so that you can make the right decisions. Irresponsible human behavior can distu...
Mount Everest, located in Nepal and Tibet, is usually said to be the highest mountain on Earth. Reaching 29,029 feet at its summit, Everest is indeed the highest point above global mean sea level...
Global sea level trends and relative sea level trends are different measurements. Just as the surface of the Earth is not flat, the surface of the ocean is also not flat — in other words, the s...
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sealevel-global-local.html
Living shorelines are a green infrastructure technique using native vegetation alone or in combination with offshore sills to stabilize the shoreline. Living shorelines provide a natural alternat...
During the threat of an oil spill, responders need to know where that spilled oil will go in order to protect shorelines with containment boom, stage cleanup equipment, or close areas for fishing...
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oil-spill-trajectory.html
Pocosins are generally found along the Atlantic coastal plain of the United States, from southern Virginia to northern Florida. These areas typically occur in broad, low-lying shallow basins that...
Of the more than 1,400 species of barnacles found in the world’s waterways, the most common ones are called "acorn barnacles." As anyone who’s ever maintained a vessel knows, removing barnacl...
For thousands of years, humans found their way by looking to the sky. Sailors used the constellations, sun, and moon to navigate to distant shores. Today, all that's needed is a device called a G...
The Great Loop is a continuous waterway that recreational mariners can travel that includes part of the Atlantic, Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, the Great Lakes, Canadian Heritage Canals, and the i...
Most people would say that icebergs are white—and most of them are. But did you know that icebergs can also appear in spectacular shades of blue and green? An iceberg looks white because compre...
Marine biogeography is the study of marine species, the geographic distribution of their habitats, and the relationships between living organisms and the environment. By mapping benthic habitats,...
In 1865, the Danish geologist and mineralogist Johan Georg Forchhammer, with the help of naval and civilian collaborators, collected numerous samples of seawater from the Northern Atlantic and th...
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/forchhammers-principle.html
Whether on the high seas or at port, misunderstood communication can lead to serious and even dangerous situations. "Seaspeak", the official language of the seas, helps to prevent miscommunicatio...
GRAV-D measures and monitors Earth’s gravity field to support the geoid—a model of roughly global mean sea level used to measure precise surface elevations—so that it may serve as the “ze...
A tide table provides daily high and low tide predictions. NOAA tide tables are available for more than 3,000 locations around the nation. NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products a...
The vampire squid is a small ( 12-inch-long ) cephalopod found in deep temperate and tropical seas. Originally thought to be an octopus because it lacks the two long tentacles that usually extend...
Just like we may need sponges, scrub brushes, and a disinfectant to expel a mess in our house or yard, emergency responders employ a variety of tools and techniques to remove oil and chemicals sp...
Maritime forests are shoreline estuaries along coastal barrier islands that are relatively pristine and support a great diversity of plants and animals. Maritime forests remain largely untouched ...
NOAA's High Seas Forecasts are weather forecasts and data transmitted around the world in real- and near-real-time. Continue reading →
A bight is a long, gradual bend or recess in the shoreline that forms a large, open bay. Bights are shallow and may pose hazards to navigation, so their depths, in addition to any submerged featu...
Bodies of water are made up of layers, determined by temperature. The top surface layer is called the epipelagic zone, and is sometimes referred to as the "ocean skin" or "sunlight zone". This la...
The Portuguese man o’ war, (Physalia physalis) is often called a jellyfish, but is actually a species of siphonophore, a group of animals that are closely related to jellyfish. A siphonophore i...
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/portuguese-man-o-war.html
Land subsidence is a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth’s surface. This geodetic mark in Louisiana is anchored deep below the ground and was level with the ground when it was origi...
A wetland is an area of land that is saturated with water. Continue reading →
HAZMAT is an abbreviation for "hazardous materials." Continue reading →
An ocean glider is an autonomous underwater vehicle used to collect ocean data. Continue reading →
Glacial isostatic adjustment is the ongoing movement of land once burdened by ice-age glaciers. Continue reading →
NOAA monitors water levels in the U.S. with the National Water Level Observation Network. Continue reading →
The high winds, heavy rains, storm surge, and flooding associated with natural disasters can pull large structures and other articles into surrounding waters. Continue reading →
The "marsh organ" is a simple instrument that helps scientists study sea-level rise. Continue reading →
The nautilus is a mollusk that uses jet propulsion to roam the ocean deep. Continue reading →
The platypus is a remarkable mammal found only in Australia. Continue reading →
Once oyster larvae permanently attach to a surface, they are known as spat. Continue reading →
A turbidity current is a rapid, downhill flow of water caused by increased density due to high amounts of sediment. Continue reading →
Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting activity that uses GPS-enabled devices. Continue reading →
GIS is a computer system that captures, stores, checks, and displays information related to positions on Earth’s surface. Continue reading →
The Census of Marine Life was an international project that recorded the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the ocean. Continue reading →
Aquaculture is the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of fish, shellfish, plants, algae and other organisms in all types of water environments. Continue reading →
Mesophotic coral ecosystems exist in low light—"meso" means middle and "photic" refers to light. Continue reading →
An Operational Forecast System provides a nowcast and forecast of oceanographic conditions. Continue reading →
Waves are created by energy passing through water, causing it to move in a circular motion. Continue reading →
The distance that sound travels in the ocean varies greatly, depending primarily upon water temperature and pressure. Continue reading →
While most fish rest by reducing their activity and metabolism, fish "sleep" is different from that of land mammals. Continue reading →
Blue carbon is a term used to described the carbon captured by the world's ocean and coastal ecosystems. > Continue reading →
PORTS® stands for Physical Oceanographic Real Time System. NOAA PORTS® is an information system that measures and disseminates the oceanographic and meteorological data that mariners need to na...
High tide flooding, sometimes referred to as "nuisance" flooding, is flooding that leads to public inconveniences such as road closures. It is increasingly common as coastal sea levels rise. Co...
Tectonic shift is the movement of the plates that make up Earth’s crust. Continue reading →
Dead whales, or whale falls, provide years to decades of nutrients for deepwater creatures. Continue reading →
The horse latitudes are regions of the subtropics characterized by calm winds and little precipitation. . Continue reading →
Horseshoe crabs are "living fossils" more closely related to spiders and scorpions than they are to crabs. . Continue reading →
PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers, are a class of fire retardant chemicals.
The first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970. Continue reading →
Pelagic fish inhabit the water column (not near the bottom or the shore) of coasts, open oceans, and lakes. Continue reading →
Bombogenesis is a popular term that describes a midlatitude cyclone that rapidly intensifies. Continue reading →
Geodesists measure and monitor the Earth’s size and shape, geodynamic phenomena (e.g., tides and polar motion), and gravity field to determine the exact coordinates of any point on Earth and ho...
" /> The International Date Line serves as the "line of demarcation" between two consecutive calendar dates. Continue reading →
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/international-date-line.html
Scientists agree that the BOWHEAD WHALE has the longest lifespan of all marine mammals. Continue reading →
An anchialine pool is an enclosed water body or pond with an underground connection to the ocean.
An artificial reef is a manmade structure that may mimic some of the characteristics of a natural reef.
Currently, Earth is the only known planet (or moon) to have consistent, stable bodies of liquid water on its surface. In our solar system, Earth orbits around the sun in an area called the habita...
Dredging is the removal of material from the bottom of lakes, rivers, harbors, and other water bodies. It is a routine necessity in waterways around the world because sedimentation—the natural ...
A slough (pronounced "slew") is typically used to describe wetlands. Sloughs along the edges of rivers form where the old channel of the river once flowed. These areas are also referred to as oxb...
While the earth appears to be round when viewed from the vantage point of space, it is actually closer to an ellipsoid. However, even an ellipsoid does not adequately describe the earth’s uniqu...
A hurricane is a type of storm called a tropical cyclone, which forms over tropical or subtropical waters.
While Moby Dick was not a real whale, real-life events inspired the classic novel.
Until the early 1950s, tropical storms and hurricanes were tracked by year and the order in which they occurred during that year. Over time, it was learned that the use of short, easily remembere...
A seiche is a "standing" wave oscillating in a body of water.
Unlike left and right, "port" and "starboard" refer to fixed locations on a vessel.
A fish ladder is a structure that allows migrating fish passage over or around an obstacle on a river.
Bivalve mollusks (e.g., clams, oysters, mussels, scallops) have an external covering that is a two-part hinged shell that contains a soft-bodied invertebrate.
Ocean acidification refers to a reduction in the pH of the ocean over an extended period time, caused primarily by uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
A commercial ship is properly loaded when the ship’s waterline equals the ship’s Plimsoll line.
Lidar — Light Detection and Ranging — is a remote sensing method used to examine the surface of the Earth.
The Australian box jellyfish is considered the most venomous marine animal.
A spring tide refers to the 'springing forth' of the tide during new and full moon.
Storm surge is the abnormal rise in seawater level during a storm, measured as the height of the water above the predicted astronomical tide. The surge is caused primarily by a storm’s winds pu...
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/stormsurge-stormtide.html
The Mariner's 1-2-3 Rule is the guideline mariners follow to keep out of a tropical storm or hurricane's path.
Hurricane warnings indicate that hurricane conditions (sustained winds of 74 mph or higher) are expected somewhere within the specified area. A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions (...
AUV stands for autonomous underwater vehicle and is commonly known as unmanned underwater vehicle. A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is an unoccupied underwater robot that is connected to a ship ...
"Armoring" is the practice of using physical structures to protect shorelines from coastal erosion.
A nautical mile is based on the circumference of the Earth, and is equal to one minute of latitude. It is slightly more than a statute (land measured) mile (1 nautical mile = 1.1508 statute miles...
When the tide comes in from the Bay of Fundy, located off the Atlantic Coast between the State of Maine and the Province of New Brunswick, a tremendous amount of ocean water, called a current, fl...
No evidence of mermaids has ever been found.
Want to get away from it all? You can't do better than a point in the Pacific Ocean popularly known as 'Point Nemo,' named after the famous submarine sailor from Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand L...
Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), a species may be listed as either threatened or endangered depending on their risk for extinction. The ESA defines an endangered species as "any species ...
Research is underway to determine if invasive Asian tiger shrimp in U.S. Atlantic waters pose a threat to native species or the environment. Asian tiger shrimp are native to Indo-Pacific, Asian...
A perigean spring tide occurs when the moon is new or full and closest to Earth.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/perigean-spring-tide.html
If you scoop up some water from the ocean in a clear glass and look at it closely, you'll see that it's chock full of tiny particles. Sea water contains dissolved salts, proteins, fats, dead alga...
The Atlantic Ocean covers an area of approximately 41,105,000 square miles (106,460,000 square kilometers).
Datums are the basis for all geodetic survey work.
The Sargasso Sea, located entirely within the Atlantic Ocean, is the only sea without a land boundary.
NOAA's Harmful Algal Bloom Operational Forecast System in the Gulf of Mexico identifies whether or not a bloom of algae is likely to contain a toxic species, where it is, how big it is, where it'...
You won't find Spirobranchus giganteus, also known as the Christmas tree worm, eating your fir tree this year. The common name for these worms is derived from their appearance, not their habitat ...
orals have long been popular as souvenirs, for home decor, and in jewelry, but many consumers are unaware that these beautiful structures are made by living creatures. Fewer still realize that co...
To be classified as an iceberg, the height of the ice must be greater than 16 feet (five meters) above sea level and the thickness must be 98-164 feet (30-50 meters) and the ice must cover an are...
The cryosphere is the frozen water part of the Earth system.
Tide and current data is available from NOAA's Center for Operational Products and Services website.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/find-tides-currents.html
'Turkeyfish' is another name for lionfish.
While we often think of the earth as a sphere, our planet is actually very bumpy and irregular. The radius at the equator is larger than at the poles due to the long-term effects of the earth's...
The Digital Coast is a cost-effective resource for coastal communities. Through the Digital Coast, users can find the information they need to explore the implications of sea level rise, conduct ...
Notable in the development of the law of the sea are two international conventions signed in the latter half of the 20th Century. One, the United Nations Convention on the Territorial Sea and the...
The latest NOAA nautical charts and chart-related publications are available on the Office of Coast Survey website.
Adult green turtles are herbivores, which means they eat only plants such as seagrasses and algae. This diet is thought to give them their greenish-colored fat, hence the name, the green turtle.
The Office of Coast Survey maintains a historical map and chart collection of over 35,000 scanned, high-resolution images. The collection includes some of the nation’s earliest nautical charts,...
Derelict fishing gear, sometimes referred to as "ghost gear," is any discarded, lost, or abandoned, fishing gear in the environment. This gear continues to fish and trap animals, entangle and pot...
Found only in salt water, more than a thousand species of sea cucumbers exist around the world. These squishy invertebrates are echinoderms, making them distant relatives to starfish and urchins....
When NOAA's National Weather Service issues a tropical storm warning for the U.S. or its territories, the Storm QuickLook is activated. This free online tool is a snapshot of near real-time coast...
We hear about weather and climate all of the time. Most of us check the local weather forecast to plan our days. And climate change is certainly a "hot" topic in the news. There is, however, stil...
In 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, in the employ of Spain, began a journey across the Atlantic Ocean to seek a western route to the Spice Islands via South America.
Yes, there is gold in the ocean. Ocean waters do hold gold – nearly 20 million tons of it. However, if you were hoping make your fortune mining the sea, consider this: Gold in the ocean is so...
Sea stars, commonly called, "starfish," are not fish.
The health of submerged aquatic vegetation is an important environmental indicator of overall ocean and estuary health.
Fascinating, elegant, and mysterious to watch in the water, take a jellyfish out of the water, and it becomes a much less fascinating blob. This is because jellyfish are about 95 percent water.
Some seaweeds are microscopic, such as the phytoplankton that live suspended in the water column and provide the base for most marine food chains. Some are enormous, like the giant kelp that grow...
While it's relatively common to spot unidentified dark or reddish patches on the surface of the ocean in coastal areas around the U.S., it's not always easy to discern by sight what the substance...
The Earth’s outer crust is made up of a series of tectonic plates that move over the surface of the planet. In areas where the plates come together, sometimes volcanoes will form. Volcanoes can...
Water levels in the Great Lakes have long-term, annual, and short-term variations. Long-term variations depend on precipitation and water storage over many years. Annual variations occur with the...
For all of our reliance on the ocean, 95 percent of this realm remains unexplored, unseen by human eyes.
Lightering is the process of removing oil or other hazardous chemicals from a compromised vessel to another vessel to prevent oil from spilling into the surrounding waters.
The NOAA Air Gap system is a tool that measures the clearance between the water surface and the bridge.
The main difference between national marine sanctuaries and marine national monuments is the designation process and the laws under which they are established. Sanctuaries are designated by the S...
VDatum stands for Vertical Datum Transformation, an innovative and evolving software tool under development by NOAA's National Ocean Service. Free to the public, VDatum's primary purpose is to co...
Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are flooded and drained by salt water brought in by the tides.
Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) is the process that federal agencies like NOAA, together with the states and Indian tribes, use to evaluate the impacts of oil spills, HAZMAT incidents a...
Learn more about the many threats that seabirds face along our coasts.
Have you ever wondered about the main differences between seals and their "second cousins," the sea lions?
At sea level, the air that surrounds us presses down on our bodies at 14.7 pounds per square inch (1 bar). You don't feel it because the fluids in your body are pushing outward with the same forc...
The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a network of 28 areas representing different biogeographic regions of the United States. The reserves are protected for long-term research, water...
Reef-building corals are restricted in their geographic distribution by factors such as the temperature and the salinity (salt content) of the water. The water must also be clear to permit high l...
Corals are sessile, which means that they permanently attach themselves to the ocean floor, essentially "taking root" like most plants do. We certainly cannot recognize them by their faces or oth...
The EEZ includes waters three to 200 miles (five to 322 kilometers) offshore (or nine to 200 miles – 14.5 to 322 kilometers – offshore in western Florida and Texas). Coastal states are respon...
Part of each station is a recorder which sends an audio signal down a half-inch-wide sounding tube and measures the time it takes for the reflected signal to travel back from the water's surface.
NOAA's navigation response teams, part of the Office of Coast Survey, conduct hydrographic surveys of the ocean floor, monitoring for changes in depth or hazards below the surface of the water th...
In the beginning, the primeval seas were probably only slightly salty. But over time, as rain fell to the Earth and ran over the land, breaking up rocks and transporting their minerals to the oce...
People use the terms dolphins, porpoises, and whales to describe marine mammals belonging to the order Cetacea (from the Greek work ketos, “large sea creature”), and often use them interchang...
The NOAA Marine Forensics Program is the only laboratory in the country dedicated to the forensic analysis of marine species. The group's mission began in the 1970s when congress passed a s...
Invasive species can harm both the natural resources in an ecosystem as well as threaten human use of these resources. An invasive species can be introduced to a new area via the ballast water of...
Cold water has a higher density than warm water. Deep water gets colder at depth because cold, salty ocean water sinks to the bottom of the ocean basins. Less dense, warmer water rises to the sur...
The right whale is the most endangered species of whale off the coast of the United States. It was the first whale hunted by American whalers, and it was so depleted that it has not recovered des...
As there is no reference that designates one specific shoreline as the “legal” shoreline, numbers for the length of the U.S. shoreline can vary depending on how the shoreline is defined.
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States and is one of the most productive bodies of water in the world.
The ocean is a huge body of water that is constantly in motion. General patterns of ocean flow are called currents . Sometimes theses currents can pinch off sections and create circular currents ...
Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon; we just use different names for these storms in different places. In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term “hurric...
Weighing in at between 550 and 2,000 pounds (250 to 907 kilograms) with lengths of up to six feet, the leatherback is a big turtle! Leatherback sea turtles can be distinguished from other species...
With predicted, real-time, and forecasted currents, people can safely dock and undock ships, maneuver them in confined waterways, and safely navigate through coastal waters. This helps to avoid s...
Waterspouts fall into two categories: fair weather waterspouts and tornadic waterspouts.
In 1970, NOAA was officially recognized and all of its components were united under a common name and mission. One year later, NOAA's first administrator, Dr. Robert White, gave NOAA employees th...
The loop current is an area of warm water that travels up from the Caribbean, past the Yucatan Peninsula, and into the Gulf of Mexico. The current is also known as the Florida current as it flows...
Seamounts — undersea mountains formed by volcanic activity — were once thought to be little more than hazards to submarine navigation. Today, scientists recognize these structures as biologic...
Penguins are birds, so they do have wings. However, the wing structures of penguins are evolved for swimming, rather than flying in the traditional sense. Penguins do “fly” underwater at spee...
Oil destroys the insulating ability of fur-bearing mammals, such as sea otters, and the water-repelling abilities of a bird's feathers, thus exposing these creatures to the harsh elements. Withou...
Debris found in this area can easily be ingested by marine species causing choking, starvation, and other impairments.
Bathymetric data, which includes information about the depths and shapes of underwater terrain, has a range of uses.
National marine sanctuary staff conduct research and use that science to better understand the marine environment at all 14 sanctuary sites. This knowledge is necessary to establish an effective ...
Warmer water temperatures can result in coral bleaching. When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. Th...
Even though they live in the ocean all of the time, dolphins are mammals, not fish.
The term “bathymetry” originally referred to the ocean’s depth relative to sea level, although it has come to mean “submarine topography,” or the depths and shapes of underwater terrain...
The light emitted by a bioluminescent organism is produced by energy released from chemical reactions occurring inside (or ejected by) the organism.
A tidal wave is a shallow water wave caused by the gravitational interactions between the Sun, Moon, and Earth. The term “tidal wave” is often used to refer to tsunamis; however, this referen...
There are many things you may encounter when swimming in the ocean. Alligators probably aren’t one of them.
Most people are surprised to learn that, just as the surface of the Earth is not flat, the surface of the ocean is not flat, and that the surface of the sea changes at different rates around the ...
NOAA orchestrates the collection of ocean data through a federal, regional, and private-sector partnership called the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, or IOOS®. This system helps the nati...
For decades, the Atlantic Ocean’s fabled Bermuda Triangle has captured the human imagination with unexplained disappearances of ships, planes, and people.
NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS) defines and maintains the NSRS. The NSRS includes a network of permanently marked points; a consistent, accurate, and up-to-date national shoreline; a netw...
Of the three percent of the water that is not in the ocean, about 69 percent is locked up in glaciers and icecaps. Ninety percent of that frozen water is in Antarctica and about nine percent cove...
The Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), passed in 1972 and administered by the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management , provides for the management of the nation’s coastal resources by...
With an area of about 5.4 million square miles, the Arctic Ocean is about 1.5 times as big as the United States. It is bordered by Greenland, Canada, Norway, Alaska, and Russia. The average depth...
Whales are very social creatures that travel in groups called “pods.” They use a variety of noises to communicate and socialize with each other. The three main types of sounds made by whales ...
The most common type of reef is the fringing reef. This type of reef grows seaward directly from the shore. They form borders along the shoreline and surrounding islands. When a fringing reef con...
The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is not only the largest conservation area in the U.S., it's one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world. It's larger than all of Ame...
In kelp forests, the most commonly found invertebrates are bristle worms, scud, prawn, snails, and brittle stars. These animals feed on the holdfasts that keep kelp anchored to the bottom of the ...
Maritime heritage includes not only physical resources such as historic shipwrecks and prehistoric archaeological sites, but also archival documents and oral histories. Maritime heritage can also...
An observer stands on a ship, throws the drifter into the water, and then measures the time that it takes that object to move along the side of a ship. As technology improved over time, oceanogra...
The Monitor was the first of 14 marine protected areas that make up the National Marine Sanctuary System, which includes more than 388,498 square kilometers (150,000 square miles) of marine and G...
Losses from catastrophic events such as hurricanes can be extensive. The economic losses from the 2005 hurricane season, which included Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, were $200 billion, the costlie...
Less than one percent of algal blooms actually produce toxins. Harmful algal blooms are blooms of species of algae that can have negative impacts on humans, marine and freshwater environments, an...
With the advent of online mapping tools such as Google Earth, exploring our planet is easier than ever before. Recently, many of these tools have been updated to provide detailed seafloor mapping...
Scientists measure the times, heights, and extents of both the inflow and outflow of the tidal waters that support a number of different aspects of our daily lives. Navigating ships safely throug...
Many organizations use geodesy to map the U.S. shoreline, determine land boundaries, and improve transportation and navigation safety. To measure points on the Earth’s surface, geodesists assig...
These chemicals were banned in the U.S. in 1979 amid suggestions that PCBs could have unintended impacts on human and environmental health. From the 1920s until their ban, an estimated 1.5 billio...
Land cover data documents how much of a region is covered by forests, wetlands, impervious surfaces, agriculture, and other land and water types. Water types include wetlands or open water. Land ...
This process is also known as eutrophication. Excessive amounts of nutrients can lead to more serious problems such as low levels of oxygen dissolved in the water. Severe algal growth blocks ligh...
A community that is more informed and prepared will have a greater opportunity to rebound quickly from weather and climate-related events, including adapting to sea level rise. The ability to reb...
An environmental sensitivity index (ESI) map compiles information for coastal shoreline sensitivity, biological resources, and human resources. This information is used to create cleanup strategi...
Less oxygen dissolved in the water is often referred to as a “dead zone” because most marine life either dies, or, if they are mobile such as fish, leave the area. Habitats that would normall...
Ranging in size from less than 2.6 square kilometers to 356,880 square kilometers (one square mile to 137,792 square miles), each sanctuary site is a unique place needing special protections. Mar...
There are many things you can do to protect coral reefs!
Remote sensors collect data by detecting the energy that is reflected from Earth. These sensors can be on satellites or mounted on aircraft.
An ecosystem is an ecological community comprised of biological, physical, and chemical components, considered as a unit.
A lunar day is how long it takes for one point on the Earth to make one complete rotation and end up at the same point in relation to the moon. The reason that a lunar day is longer than a normal...
Phytoplankton, also known as microalgae, are similar to terrestrial plants in that they contain chlorophyll and require sunlight in order to live and grow. Most phytoplankton are buoyant and floa...
A guyot is a seamount, or undersea mountain. Seamounts are formed by volcanic activity and can be taller than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet). They can be isolated or part of large mountain chains. ...
Although first observed in 1513 by Ponce de Leon, the Gulf Stream was not charted until the early 1770s by Benjamin Franklin, with the help of a Nantucket sea captain.
Algin, an emulsifying and bonding agent, is extracted from kelp and used in these products. Kelp is also used as food on mollusk farms. Between 100,000 and 170,000 wet tons of kelp are harvested ...
Whale sharks can grow to 15 meters (50 feet) and weigh as much as 40 tons by some estimates! They have broad, flat heads with short snouts and their backs have an interesting white, yellow, and g...
Smart growth is a way of approaching community development and expansion with the goal of making them “more livable, more economically efficient, and more effective at meeting the needs of the ...
Only about a dozen of the more than 300 species of sharks have been involved in attacks on humans. Sharks evolved millions of years before humans existed and therefore humans are not part of thei...
Covering approximately 155 million square kilometers (59 million square miles) and containing more than half of the free water on Earth, the Pacific is by far the largest of the world’s ocean b...
Seawater contains salt. When humans drink seawater, their cells are thus taking in water and salt. While humans can safely ingest small amounts of salt, the salt content in seawater is much highe...
There are over 1,700 marine protected areas, or MPAs, in the U.S. that cover approximately 34 percent of marine waters. MPAs are found in every region of the United States. The West Coast (Califo...
IOOS coastal and marine data (e.g., water temperature, water level, currents, winds, and waves) are collected by many different tools including satellites, buoys, tide gauges, radar stations, and...
El Niño and La Niña are opposite phases of what is known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle. The ENSO cycle is a scientific term that describes the fluctuations in temperature be...
Kelp forests can be seen along much of the west coast of North America. Kelp are large brown algae that live in cool, relatively shallow waters close to the shore. They grow in dense groupings mu...
The great ocean conveyor moves water around the globe.
Stony corals (or scleractinians) are the corals primarily responsible for laying the foundations of, and building up, reef structures. Massive reef structures are formed when each individual ston...
Many people are interested in climate change and how a changing climate will affect the ocean. With the majority of Americans living in coastal states, rising water levels can have potentially la...
There are about 80 different species of mangrove trees. All of these trees grow in areas with low-oxygen soil, where slow-moving waters allow fine sediments to accumulate. Mangrove forests only g...
Estuaries are tidally driven. Tides flush the system and provide nutrients to keep food webs functional. By doing this, tides create constantly changing conditions of exposure to air or increased...
Estuaries - areas where fresh and saltwater mix - are made up of many different types of habitats. These habitats can include oyster reefs, coral reefs, rocky shores, submerged aquatic vegetation...
Oceanography covers a wide range of topics, including marine life and ecosystems, ocean circulation, plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor, and the chemical and physical properties of ...
Rip currents are powerful, narrow channels of fast-moving water that are prevalent along the East, Gulf, and West coasts of the U.S., as well as along the shores of the Great Lakes.
Lionfish are native to the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea, but are now established along the eastern coast of the U.S. from Florida to North Carolina. They are also regularly found throughout the Baham...
Winds blowing across the ocean surface push water away. Water then rises up from beneath the surface to replace the water that was pushed away. This process is known as “upwelling.” Upwelling...
As plants and animals near the surface of the ocean die and decay, they fall toward the sea floor, just like leaves and decaying material fall onto a forest floor. In addition to dead animals and...
Nautical charts show what is in, under, and around the water, to help mariners transit our waters safely. The time it takes to develop a new nautical chart varies and it depends on the intensity ...
Soundings are water depth measurements that indicate how deep the water is in a particular area in either feet or fathoms. A fathom is a nautical unit of measurement and is equal to six feet.
Ocean water freezes just like freshwater, but at lower temperatures. Fresh water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), but seawater freezes at about -1.9 degrees Celsius (28.4 deg...
Tsunamis are giant waves caused by earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the sea. Out in the depths of the ocean, tsunami waves do not dramatically increase in height. But as the waves travel i...
Each year, three times as much rubbish is dumped into the world's oceans as the weight of fish caught. Marine debris injures and kills marine life, interferes with navigation safety, and poses a ...
Ocean currents are driven by wind, temperature changes, and tides
Human-made products are not completely biodegradable. These products will take a long time, possibly hundreds of years, to degrade. Some products such as glass never degrade. To determine how lon...
When it comes to eating, the ocean provides much more than just seafood. Many of the foods and products found in your local grocery store contain ingredients from the ocean.
Reef-building corals cannot tolerate water temperatures below 64° Fahrenheit (18° Celsius). Many grow optimally in water temperatures between 73° and 84° Fahrenheit (23°–29°Celsius), but ...
The Gulf Stream is an intense, warm ocean current in the western North Atlantic Ocean. It moves north along the coast of Florida and then turns eastward off of North Carolina, flowing northeast a...
Stretching for 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers) over an area of approximately 133,000 square miles (344,400 square kilometers), the Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world....
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/gbrlargeststructure.html
Many people use the terms "ocean" and "sea" interchangeably when speaking about the ocean, but there is a difference between the two terms when speaking of geography (the study of the Earth's sur...
The origins of the phrase 'Seven Seas' can be traced to ancient times. In various cultures at different times in history, the Seven Seas has referred to bodies of water along trade routes, region...
There are over 1,700 marine protected areas (MPAs) in the United States established by federal, state, and territorial governments. These areas cover 34 percent of U.S. marine waters and vary wid...
The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) is primarily responsible for predicting and measuring water levels and currents and disseminating this information. CO-OPS ...
Underwater volcanoes at spreading ridges and convergent plate boundaries produce hot springs known as hydrothermal vents.
Extremophiles are microorganisms with the ability to thrive in extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents.
The concept of coastal zone management is a relatively new one, emerging less than four decades ago from the need to tackle an array of interconnected problems associated with population growth a...
Volcanic eruptions occur only in certain places and do not occur randomly. This is because the Earth’s crust is broken into a series of slabs known as tectonic plates. These plates are rigid, b...
Rogues, called 'extreme storm waves' by scientists, are those waves which are greater than twice the size of surrounding waves, are very unpredictable, and often come unexpectedly from directions...
Life on Earth is found in conditions ranging from the coldest arctic ice to extremely hot hydrothermal systems on the ocean floor. Microbes are also found in very acidic conditions, very salty co...
The highest tides in the world can be found in Canada at the Bay of Fundy, which separates New Brunswick from Nova Scotia.
Tides are very long-period waves that move through the oceans in response to the forces exerted by the moon and sun. Tides originate in the oceans and progress toward the coastlines where they ap...
Most scientists agree that the atmosphere and the oceans accumulated gradually over millions and millions of years with the continual ‘degassing’ of the Earth’s interior.
While there is only one global ocean, the seas are geographically divided into the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern (Antarctic) Oceans.
Some people may think that because it is easier to hear in air than in water, then sound must travel faster in air. Actually, sound travels five times faster in water than in air.
The ocean is blue because water absorbs colors in the red part of the light spectrum. Like a filter, this leaves behind colors in the blue part of the light spectrum for us to see.
It's hard to imagine, but an astounding 97 percent of the Earth's water can be found in our oceans.
A nautical chart is one of the most fundamental tools available to the mariner. It's a graphic portrayal of the marine environment showing the nature and form of the coast, the general configurat...
Coral reefs are sometimes considered the medicine cabinets of the 21st century.
Salt in the ocean comes from rocks on land.
Marine protected areas (MPAs) in the U.S. come in a variety of forms and are established and managed by all levels of government. There are marine sanctuaries, estuarine research reserves, ocean ...
Tides are driven by the gravitational force of the moon and sun. Tides are characterized by water moving up and down over a long period of time. When used in association with water, the term "cur...
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) occur when colonies of algae—simple ocean plants that live in the sea—grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, mari...
Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, occur when colonies of algae—simple ocean plants that live in the sea—grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, m...
Eighty percent of pollution to the marine environment comes from the land. One of the biggest sources is called nonpoint source pollution, which occurs as a result of runoff.
Sunlight entering the water may travel about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) into the ocean under the right conditions, but there is rarely any significant light beyond 200 meters (656 feet).
Coastal areas are home to a wealth of natural and economic resources and are the most developed areas in the nation. The narrow fringe comprising 17 percent of the contiguous U.S. land area is ho...
For all of our reliance on the ocean, 95 percent of this realm remains unexplored, unseen by human eyes.
A nautical chart provides a very detailed and accurate representation of the coastline, which takes into account varying tidal levels and water forms, critical to a navigator.
Sonar, short for Sound Navigation and Ranging, is helpful for exploring and mapping the ocean because sound waves travel farther in the water than do radar and light waves.
Coral reefs are home to millions of species. Hidden beneath the ocean waters, coral reefs teem with life. Fish, corals, lobsters, clams, seahorses, sponges, and sea turtles are only a few of the ...
Hydrography is the science that deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of bodies of water and the land areas that are affected by those bodies of water.
The U.S. economy is very dependent on the health of the ocean. Consider the following facts: Through the fishing and boating industry, tourism and recreation, and ocean transport, one out of six ...
You may be surprised to learn that the National Ocean Service is responsible for surveying in support of the nation's airports and airspace.
The ocean plays an important role in shaping our climate and weather patterns.
There is strong evidence that global sea level is now rising at an increased rate and will continue to rise during this century.
The coral reef structure buffers shorelines against waves, storms and floods, helping to prevent loss of life, property damage and erosion. When reefs are damaged or destroyed, the absence of thi...
The longest mountain range on Earth is called the mid-ocean ridge. Spanning 65,000 kilometers (40,389 miles) around the globe, it's truly a global landmark.
The term benthic refers to anything associated with or occurring on the bottom of a body of water. The animals and plants that live on or in the bottom are known as the benthos. In ocean waters...
Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water usually found where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries are home to unique plant and animal communities that have adapted to brackish water...
Healthy coral reefs support commercial and subsistence fisheries as well as jobs and businesses through tourism and recreation. Approximately half of all federally managed fisheries depend on cor...
The average depth of the ocean is about 4,267 meters (14,000 feet). The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern en...