U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.

dot gov icon Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

https icon Secure websites use HTTPS

A small lock or https:// means you’ve safely connected to a .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

icon of student

For Students

Dive in to our tutorials on subjects ranging from corals to tides to geodesy.

For Educators | For Kids

coral polyps
A football-field sized barge carrying nearly 3,400 super-sacks of marine debris from remote and rugged beaches from Alaska and British Columbia docked at the Waste Management facility in Seattle, Washington
a view of the ocean at sunset
a view of Earth gyres in graphic form
a view of the Earth from space
an estuary from the air
an aerial view of an estuary showing runoff in the ocean