A biologist from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary uses a glue gun to reattach a piece of living coral broken loose when a boat went aground on the shallow coral reef.

An iceberg captured on camera during a 30-day mission in 2012 to map areas of the Arctic aboard the NOAA Ship Fairweather.

As multi-year sea ice continues to disappear at a rapid rate, vessel traffic in the Arctic is on the rise. NOAA is working to update Arctic nautical charts, add new tide and current monitoring stations, and conduct geodetic surveys to support safe navigation, national security, and economic growth in the region.

Polar bears have evolved to living in the extreme conditions of the Arctic. Polar bears and seals are dependent on sea ice for foraging, resting, and reproduction.

Located north of Monterey, Calif., this site is renowned for outstanding birding opportunities. There are a total of 28 National Estuarine Research Reserves located in 22 states and Puerto Rico. The reserves protect more than 1.3 million coastal and estuarine acres.

A view of the new "Gateway to NOAA," a permanent exhibit now open in Silver Spring, Maryland. The exhibit--only steps away from the Silver Spring Metro stop--features breathtaking imagery, multimedia presentations, and amazing artifacts that illustrate how NOAA has, since its earliest history, sought to increase people's understanding of the land, the sea, and the sky.

Nitrogen is a nutrient that plants need to grow. While helpful in small amounts, too much nitrogen can cause explosive growths of algae that depletes the water of oxygen when the algae die and are eaten by bacteria. This condition is called nutrient pollution. Across the nation, shallow water habitats are increasingly under threat from too many nutrients introduced into our waterways through activities ranging from sewage runoff to over-fertilization of lawns. Recently, scientists sponsored by NOAA's Ecological Effects of Sea Level Rise Program, part of the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, found that habitats in North Carolina such as submerged aquatic plants and oyster reefs provide about $3,000 per acre per year in nitrogen removal services, while wetlands provide about $2,500 per acre year. Putting a dollar value to the helpful role these types of ecosystems provide in removing excess nutrients from our waterways will help decision makers better protect our shallow water habitats.

A single colony of the black coral Bathypathes sp. forms habitat for two squat lobsters and a fish at 400 meters (1,312 feet) depth in Roatan, Honduras. In 2010 and 2011, a NOAA-led team of researchers explored the deep Meso-American Reef off Roatan, Honduras, as part of a multi-year expedition called 'Deep Coral and Associated Species Taxonomy and Ecology', or DeepCAST. The goal of DeepCAST is to estimate deep-sea coral abundance and diversity; and to discern the nature of the relationship between host corals and their associated species. The primary reasons we study deep-sea corals are because they provide habitat to other species of fish, sea stars, shrimp and crabs; and they grow very slowly, so they are vulnerable to bottom contact fishing gear. Image credit: NOAA DeepCAST I Expedition.

Four crinoids (feather stars) with a squat lobster on top of a sea fan colony with Lophelia pertusa growing at the base. The image is from 400 meters (1,312 feet) depth in Roatan, Honduras. In 2010 and 2011, a NOAA-led team of researchers explored the deep Meso-American Reef off Roatan, Honduras, as part of a multi-year expedition called 'Deep Coral and Associated Species Taxonomy and Ecology', or DeepCAST. The goal of DeepCAST is to estimate deep-sea coral abundance and diversity; and to discern the nature of the relationship between host corals and their associated species. The primary reasons we study deep-sea corals are because they provide habitat to other species of fish, sea stars, shrimp and crabs; and they grow very slowly, so they are vulnerable to bottom contact fishing gear. Image credit: NOAA DeepCAST II Expedition.

An aggregation of the reef building scleractinian coral Lophelia pertusa at 580 meters (1,903 feet) depth in Roatan, Honduras. In 2010 and 2011, a NOAA-led team of researchers explored the deep Meso-American Reef off Roatan, Honduras, as part of a multi-year expedition called 'Deep Coral and Associated Species Taxonomy and Ecology', or DeepCAST. The goal of DeepCAST is to estimate deep-sea coral abundance and diversity; and to discern the nature of the relationship between host corals and their associated species. The primary reasons we study deep-sea corals are because they provide habitat to other species of fish, sea stars, shrimp and crabs; and they grow very slowly, so they are vulnerable to bottom contact fishing gear. Image credit: NOAA DeepCAST I Expedition.

The brisingid sea-star Novodinia antillensis perched on a rock next to a primnoid sea fan colony at 610 meters (2,001 feet) depth in Roatan, Honduras. In 2010 and 2011, a NOAA-led team of researchers explored the deep Meso-American Reef off Roatan, Honduras, as part of a multi-year expedition called 'Deep Coral and Associated Species Taxonomy and Ecology', or DeepCAST. The goal of DeepCAST is to estimate deep-sea coral abundance and diversity; and to discern the nature of the relationship between host corals and their associated species. The primary reasons we study deep-sea corals are because they provide habitat to other species of fish, sea stars, shrimp and crabs; and they grow very slowly, so they are vulnerable to bottom contact fishing gear. Image credit: NOAA DeepCAST II Expedition.

This yellow sea fan is an octocoral colony in the family Paramuriceidae at 400 meters (1,312 feet) depth in Roatan, Honduras. The white forms in the branches are ophiuroid brittle stars (or "snake stars") in the genus Asteroschema. In 2010 and 2011, NOAA researchers explored the deep Meso-American Reef off Roatan, Honduras, as part of a multi-year expedition called 'Deep Coral and Associated Species Taxonomy and Ecology', or DeepCAST. The goal of DeepCAST is to estimate deep-sea coral abundance and diversity; and to discern the nature of the relationship between host corals and their associated species. The primary reasons we study deep-sea corals are because they provide habitat to other species of fish, sea stars, shrimp and crabs; and they grow very slowly, so they are vulnerable to bottom contact fishing gear. Image credit: NOAA DeepCAST I Expedition.

With distinctive reddish and white stripes, gracefully flowing fins, and menacing spines, few fish embody the beauty, mystery, and danger of the ocean quite like the lionfish. Although native to the Indo-Pacific region, lionfish were introduced to the Atlantic and are now found along the U.S. coast from North Carolina to Florida and in the Bahamas and Caribbean. The lionfish's lack of predators, voracious appetite, rapid reproduction, and fast growth spell trouble for the balance of invaded ecosystems and fisheries, as lionfish can out-compete native species for food and space.

Over 50 percent of the nation's population lives in only 17 percent of the U.S. land area (excluding Alaska), which generates a wide range of pressures on sensitive coastal ecosystems. As our nation's coastal county population continues to grow, it is imperative to understand, manage, and protect the bounty and beauty that have drawn so many Americans to our coasts.

NOAA's Office of Coast Survey worked with state and federal partners following the March 11, 2011 tsunami. Using a small boat equipped with powerful echo-sounding SONAR equipment, this navigation response team in Crescent City, Calif, searched the seafloor for sunken vessels, debris, and other hazards dangerous to commercial shippers and recreational boaters.

The March 11, 2011 tsunami off the coast of Japan left the port at Crescent City, Calif., in a shambles, with marine debris and wreckage above and below the waterline. To prepare the port for re-opening, a navigation response team from NOAA's Office of Coast Survey used their echo sounders to find underwater debris.

NOAA's Office of Coast Survey responded to requests from the Coast Guard and the Army Corp of Engineers following the March 11, 2011 tsunami. A navigation response team surveyed the federal channel at the port in Santa Cruz, Calif., which experienced extensive damage and destruction to boats, looking for submerged debris. The bathymetric data will also be used to update NOAA's nautical charts of the area.

Seventy-five percent of the world's coral reefs are currently threatened by local and global pressures, according to a 2011 analysis. The most immediate and direct threats arise from local sources, which currently threaten more than 60% of coral reefs. Local threats include impacts from fishing, coastal development, and pollution. Left unchecked, the percent of threatened reefs will increase to more than 90 percent by 2030 and to nearly all reefs by 2050.

DNA testing confirmed that the eggs pictured here were those of a loggerhead turtle, a marine reptile species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA's Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research in Charleston, S.C., runs the only laboratory in the country dedicated to the forensic analysis of marine species.

A manatee, also known as a 'seacow.' These air-breathing herbivores are listed as a federally endangered species. Manatees are slow-moving and therefore unable to swim quickly away from boats; this often results in collisions that may cause injury or death to the creatures. In areas that are known manatee habitats, "no-wake" signs are posted requiring boaters to slow down and produce only minimal wake.

Each year, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary hosts the 'Sanctuary Ocean Count.' This a fun volunteer activity for residents and visitors on the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, and Kauai—and it helps to provide important population and distribution information on humpback whales around the Hawaiian Islands.

Each year, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary hosts the 'Sanctuary Ocean Count.' This a fun volunteer activity for residents and visitors on the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, and Kauai—and it helps to provide important population and distribution information on humpback whales around the Hawaiian Islands.

A loggerhead turtle captured on camera during an 'Aquarius 2010' dive. During the 10-day mission, students from around the country participated in live broadcasts with Aquanauts based on NOAA's Aquarius, the world's only undersea research station.

Students from Adelante Elementary School in Santa Barbara, Calif., conducted a point-to-point live broadcast with Aquanauts, scientists, and educators from 60-feet underwater and topside in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary during the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries' 'Aquarius 2010: If Reefs Could Talk' mission in October, 2010. Check out the mission log online.

Several NOAA volunteers plant Switch Grass previously grown in 26 NOAA offices on a newly created Living Shoreline during the 2010 NOAA Restoration Day event at the NOAA Cooperative Oxford Lab in Oxford, Maryland.

Rapture Reef sits within the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, which was created in 2006. One hundred times larger than Yellowstone National Park, the monument encompasses more than 140,000 square miles of ocean and coral reef habitat. It is the single largest fully protected marine conservation area in the world. Image credit: Robert Schwemmer, NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries

NOAA's National Geodetic Survey established a high-accuracy vertical control network at the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center to support coastal restoration, research, testing of new geodetic technologies, and monitoring of the effects of local relative sea-level rise. The network includes over a dozen geodetic bench marks distributed throughout the 510-acre wetland reserve near Graysonville, Maryland, with four deep-rod Surface Elevation Table (SET) marks located in the rapidly deteriorating marsh. Here, NOS employees install stainless steel rods into the ground as part of the process to install a SET. The SETs provide data to model the fate of the marsh in the face of rising water levels and ultimately provide insight into its restoration.

The Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) is a nationally standardized database of land cover and land change information, developed using remotely sensed imagery, for the coastal regions of the United States. This image shows Mt. Pleasant (a suburb of Charleston), South Carolina.

Divers free a seal from fishing nets. The impacts of marine debris such as floating nets are wide ranging. From being an eyesore on a beach to injuring marine life or stopping a 400-ton vessel at sea, marine debris is a problem that we cannot ignore.

Removal of two dams built on the Elwha River, Washington, in the early 20th century will allow spawning salmon to access to pristine reaches of the river that lie within the Olympic National Park.

NOS marine mammal forensic scientist Kathy Moore uses calipers to measure sea turtle eggs.

Kelp and sardines, Anacapa Island, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Image credit: Robert Schwemmer, NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries

Seventy acres of salt marsh were created in Lavaca Bay, Texas, as a result of a cooperative natural resource damages settlement with NOAA, co-trustees, and Alcoa, using the latest science from the NOAA Galveston Laboratory. As part of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, this new marsh adds to the foraging area of endangered whooping cranes.

Marine protected areas, such as Elkhorn Slough in California, are an important tool for managing the nation's natural and cultural marine resources, and are a key component of an ecosystem approach to management.

These images represent three distinct visual sensing techniques. The top picture represents a true-color image, the middle an infrared image, and the bottom an elevation image. The images were taken in March 2008 over Hatteras Island, North Carolina.

Staff from NOAA's Office of Response & Restoration conduct a shoreline shoreline assessment in Dec. 2004, following the M/V Selendang Ayu oil spill.

Nonpoint source pollution, or polluted runoff, is the greatest threat to coastal waters in the United State. Through the Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program, the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management works with states to take action to reduce and prevent polluted runoff, making our coastal waters cleaner for everyone to enjoy.

Staghorn coral, which is currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, observed in Carlos Rosaria Reef near Culebra, Puerto Rico.

The National Coastal Zone Management Program works with coastal states to conserve habitat in the nation's coastal zone, including estuaries, beaches, dunes, and wetlands such as the one pictured here.

Separated from the rest of the island by high cliffs, the beach at Kanapou Bay, Hawaii, collects debris from throughout the Pacific. Kanapou Bay is located on the small island of Kaho'olawe offshore of Maui.

Using Geographic Information System tools, scientists and researchers can zoom into to an image like this to reveal fine details about the location, health, and variety of submerged aquatic vegetation in a given area. This image of Redfish Bay, Texas near Corpus Christi--part of the new Texas Coastal Bend map--shows seagrass (green), oyster reefs (pink), sand bottom (yellow), mangroves (magenta), and salt marsh (light blue).

For decades, hazardous substances released through storm drains from area industries contaminated Commencement Bay and its waterways and sediments. In October 1991, NOAA and its co-trustees began a damage assessment and restoration planning process to restore injured resources such as wetlands and salmon habitat in this Washington State area.

This photo shows an aerial view of Waldenberg Park and skimmers following a massive oil spill in 2007. The Cosco Busan, a container ship, dumped 58,000 gallons of oil after striking the San Francisco Bay bridge in Calif. Oil streamers are a result from the lifting of the damaged barge.

Monthly grass shrimp population monitoring being conducted at a former Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site at Shipyard Creek, Charleston, South Carolina. Grass shrimp are used as a sentinel of salt-marsh ecosystem health.

A crane loads derelict fishing gear in the form of rope and line collected by local fishermen into a designated bin to be taken to a processing plant and turned into energy for homes in New England as part of the Fishing for Energy Project.

Scientists from the Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research begin necropsy of two pygmy killer whales. Samples were collected from these two rarely seen animals for biotoxin analysis, contaminant analysis, and histopathology to determine the causes of death.

On June 2, 2008, hundreds of NOAA employees and partners participated in the 5th annual NOAA Restoration Day in two separate events -- one in Maryland and the other in Virginia. This event has grown every year as NOAA employees in Maryland and Virginia work to restore habitat at two important sites in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

A biologist from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary photographs the damage done to a coral reef from a boat that grounded on the reef. An elkhorn coral branch broken in the incident appears in the foreground.

A scientist from the Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research (CCEHBR) conducts a bottlenose dolphin necropsy demonstration for Coastal Carolina University (Conway, South Carolina) students. CCEHBR has provided necropsy demonstrations to the Coastal Carolina University Marine Mammal class since 1996 to provide students information on anatomy and the causes of natural and human-induced mortality.

At the request of Congress, the Office of Response and Restoration investigated environmental contaminants in and around the National Reserve Fleet (NRF) in Suisun Bay, California. The request was an attempt to circumvent a political stalemate between the United States Maritime Administration and the State of California concerning the ultimate disposition of ships in the NRF. Potential environmental concerns include heavy metals and antifouling agents in paint that is peeling off of the vessels, as well as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) and other hazardous materials that may have been released. In fiscal year 2008, NOAA evaluated existing data from the area to determine gaps and developed a data collection strategy.