NOAA's National Ocean Service

Brush up on your facts about 'perigean spring tide' - the special tide that happens three to four times each year.
Today's Diving Deeper looks at how we can stop the spread of invasive lionfish.
A new NOAA report finds that 36 shipwrecks scattered across the U.S. sea floor could pose a pollution threat to coastal marine resources.
In celebration of World Ocean Day on June 8, decorate your desktop with
images of our ocean.

Ocean Facts

How long is the U.S. shoreline?

NOAA's official value for the total length of the U.S. shoreline is 95,471 miles. 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 NOAA figure was determined by hand in 1939-40 with a recording instrument on the largest-scale charts and maps available at that time. Read more

What's New

National Ocean Service Mission: In the U.S., where over half of us live along the coast and more than 78 percent of our overseas trade by volume comes and goes along our marine highways, the health of our coasts is intricately connected to the health of our nation's economy. The National Ocean Service (NOS) translates science, tools, and services into action, to address threats to coastal areas such as climate change, population growth, port congestion, and contaminants in the environment, all working towards healthy coasts and healthy economies. About NOS