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The NOAA Office of Response and Restoration (ORR) is a center of expertise in preparing for, evaluating, and responding to threats to coastal environments, including oil and chemical spills, releases from hazardous waste sites, and marine debris. ORR comprises four divisions: Emergency Response, Assessment and Restoration, Marine Debris, and the Disaster Preparedness Program. Collectively, ORR provides comprehensive solutions to marine pollution.
Explore an ocean's worth of information related to NOAA's efforts to protect and restore the nation's waters from pollution. There are experiments and activities for elementary school students and life-long learners alike.
Education resources about oil spills are distributed across many websites and program offices at NOAA and partner websites. This portal is designed to help you access these resources from one location.
NOAA Explainers provide in-depth information about a wide range of topics, including oil spills. The oil spills explainer describes how oil spills happen, how oil gets cleaned up, response tools and technologies, what happens after the cleanup, and special information about oil spill science in the Arctic.
NOAA scientists, aided by citizen scientists, have been photographing a boulder in Prince William Sound for 33 years. Why? The rock was coated in oil in 1989 when the Exxon Valdez supertanker ran aground, dumping more than ten million gallons of crude oil into the Sound. Today, the boulder is known as Mearns Rock, nicknamed after Dr. Alan Mearns, a scientist from NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration. Learn more about Mearns Rock and monitoring after oil spills at this page.
Check out frequently asked questions and answers about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
In April 2020, NOAA marked 10 years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Explore the features on this page to learn more about the ways NOAA is restoring the Gulf and the progress made 10 years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
This page provides a comprehensive set of resources describing the assessment and restoration of damage to the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. You can explore interactive maps of restoration projects, learn more about the assessment process, and get the most up-to-date information on Gulf restoration efforts.
In 2006, Congress authorized the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) as the U.S. Federal government’s lead for addressing marine debris. The MDP achieves its mission through six main pillars: Prevention, Removal, Research, Monitoring and Detection, Response, and Coordination.
Discover more about different types of marine debris, where it comes from, and how it impacts wildlife, habitats, and people. Get answers about garbage patches, and learn how you can make a difference to help solve the marine debris problem - whether you live on the coast, or hundreds of miles away!
Check out the NOAA Marine Debris Program's resources to help stewards of all ages learn more about the problem of marine debris.
Learn how you can help solve the marine debris problem anywhere - whether you’re at home, at school, on the shore, or on the water.
You can host your own community cleanup anytime, no matter where you live. Check out this blog post to learn more about how to start your own cleanup.
Education resources about marine debris and harmful algal blooms are distributed across many websites and program offices at NOAA and partner websites. This portal is designed to help you access these resources from one location.
Learn about one of the causes of harmful algal blooms (HABs) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including sources and solutions, effects, and actions you can take to reduce pollution.
HABs are not just a problem for coastal areas: HABs affect all 50 U.S. states. Learn more about HABs, including causes, effects, and what you can do about the issue.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) resources on HABs focus on common symptoms of illness caused by HABs, as well as ways to avoid getting sick.
NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) is a focal point for NOAA’s coastal ocean science efforts. They help NOAA meet its coastal stewardship and management responsibilities, and provide coastal managers with the scientific information necessary to decide how best to protect environmental resources and public health, preserve valued habitats, and improve the way communities interact with coastal ecosystems. HABs is one of their primary science focus areas.
Using images from satellites to determine changes in physical, biological, and/or chemical aspects of the Earth’s environments is called remote sensing. Scientists in the NCCOS Remote Sensing Team use remote sensing to detect and monitor HABs. From this web page you can access information, data and imagery of HABs and NOAA HAB programs across the country .
This resource provides an excellent and brief overview of HABs, their effects on the environment, the programs that NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS) conducts to determine what causes HABs, and how they can be predicted and prevented. There are also many links to NOS programs dealing with HAB detection and monitoring.
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