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The NOAA Ocean Podcast

Connect with ocean experts and explore topics from corals to coastal science with our audio podcast.


Listen to episodes of the new NOAA Ocean podcast here—and subscribe to us in your favorite podcatcher so you never miss an episode. Just search for "NOAA Ocean."

A person in a white hard hat and fluorescent orange jacket stands near the edge of a ship with Alaskan snow-covered land in the distance.
Coastal Conversation: Harmful algal bloom forecasting in Alaska

Harmful algal blooms occur when an overgrowth of algae produces toxins in a body of water, affecting fish, shellfish, marine mammals, birds, and even people. Ecological forecasting is an important tool for protection from these blooms. Join this coastal conversation with Steve Kibler, an oceanographer with the National Ocean Service, and Kasey Jo Wright, an environmental technician with the Kodiak Area Native Association, as they discuss harmful algal bloom forecasting in Alaska and its effects on shellfish harvesting within Indigenous communities.

A red life ring hangs on a post at the beach with large rocks embedded in the sand. The words “Blue IQ” are across the image.
Boost Your Blue IQ

Attention beachgoers! Don’t let ocean and shoreline hazards keep you from enjoying your time at the beach this summer; instead, boost your “Blue IQ” through this episode. Listen to ocean and coastal safety expert Bruckner Chase discuss common beach hazards and best practices to keep you and your loved ones safe in the surf.

Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon April 21, 2010. Image credit: NOAA.
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: 15 Years of Advancing Science

Fifteen years ago, NOAA played a critical role in the initial response, assessment, and development of a restoration plan following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill — the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. In this episode, we’re joined by experts Doug Helton and Lisa DiPinto from the National Ocean Service’s Office of Response and Restoration to discuss the earliest moments of the response, and the progress made over the past 15 years to advance oil spill science and technologies.

A GPS antenna and receiver determine an accurate position and elevation for a geodetic control mark on the top of Mt. Blue Sky, Colorado
Moving Mountains

Since 2007, NOAA’s National Ocean Service has been working to update the National Spatial Reference System. This huge project will modernize the system for measuring the horizontal positions and vertical elevations of the United States and its territories. During the course of this work, NOAA scientists realized that the heights of Colorado’s famous “Fourteeners” — or mountains with peak elevations of at least 14,000 feet — had been overestimated. In this episode, we learn why this occurred, how this impacts the status of these mountains, and what benefits this project will have for the nation. Our featured expert is Derek van Westrum, physicist with NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey.

Fishing nets on shallow coral reefs around islands and atolls.
Marine Debris - Talking Trash

Marine debris is a large and global problem. Plastics, metals, rubber, fishing gear, and other lost and discarded items enter our ocean, Great Lakes, waterways, and coastal areas every day. This challenging problem can cause negative impacts to wildlife, the environment, and the economy. In this episode, we chat with our expert, Sophie Maginnes, communication specialist with NOAA’s Marine Debris Program.

All Episodes

Looking for a recent podcast? Start here.

  1. Coastal Conversation: Harmful algal bloom forecasting in Alaska
    21 Aug 2025
  2. Boost Your Blue IQ
    25 Jun 2025
  3. Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: 15 Years of Advancing Science
    24 Apr 2025
  4. Moving Mountains
    30 Oct 2024
  5. Marine Debris - Talking Trash
    25 Sep 2024
  6. High Tide Flooding
    13 Aug 2024
  7. Sanctuary Spotlight: Olympic Coast
    22 Jul 2024
  8. Artificial Reefs
    25 Jun 2024
  9. Hurricane Preparedness and Response
    29 May 2024
  10. Behind the Scenes at NGS
    04 Mar 2024
  11. Say Cheese: Wetland Wildlife Inventory
    15 Feb 2024
  12. Coral Bleaching
    5 Dec 2023
  13. Meteotsunamis
    9 Nov 2023
  14. Weird Facts About Oil and Oil Spills
    29 Sep 2023
  15. The Florida Keys: Dive into History
    07 Sep 2023
  16. Digging into the Science of Sand
    31 Jul 2023
  17. Rip Currents: Preparedness and Prevention
    28 Jun 2023
  18. Gliders: Versatile Vehicles for Underwater Observation
    31 May 2023
  19. USACE: Foundational Research on Rebalancing with Blue Carbon
    27 Apr 2023
  20. Seagrass: Ecosystem Services Provider
    30 Mar 2023
  21. Recording Oral Histories
    27 Oct 2022
  22. Capturing Snapshots of the U.S. Population
    20 Sep 2022
  23. Understanding Disease Impacts to Long-Spined Sea Urchins
    28 July 202
  24. Surveying in the Great Lakes
    26 May 2022
  25. Engineering with Nature: USACE, NOAA, and the Value of Partnership
    31 Mar 2022
  26. Water Level Stations and their Role in Tsunami Detection
    31 Mar 2022
  27. 2022 Sea Level Rise Technical Report
    15 Feb 2022
  28. The Future Ocean Podcast
    16 Dec 2021
  29. Restoration: Replacing What Was Lost
    09 Nov 2021
  30. Marine Protected Areas: Conserving America’s Ocean and Coasts
    02 Sep 2021
  31. Connecting the Dots with Modeling (Part Two)
    20 May 2021
  32. Connecting the Dots with Modeling (Part One)
    20 May 2021
  33. NOAA Custom Chart Tool
    15 Apr 2021
  34. A Laser is Worth a Thousand Words
    25 Mar 2021
  35. Explore Your Ocean with NOAA Ocean Today
    04 Mar 2021
  36. Shipwrecks, Science, and Stewardship at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary
    14 Jan 2021
  37. Protecting Culebra's Coral Reefs
    08 Dec 2020
  38. Precision Marine Navigation
    29 Oct 2020
  39. The Microplastic-Mussel Connection: Part Two
    30 Sep 2020
  40. The Microplastic-Mussel Connection: Part One
    30 Sep 2020
  41. From Diving to Data: Close-up with Coral Research
    27 Aug 2020
  42. Breaking Down Barriers: Natural Infrastructure
    30 Jul 2020
  43. Turning the Tide: D-Day from an Oceanographer's Perspective
    24 Jun 2020
  44. Marine Life Counts: The U.S. Marine Biodiversity Observation Network
    28 May 2020
  45. Education Resources
    24 Apr 2020
  46. Understanding Gravity
    19 Mar 2020
  47. Bringing Wetlands to Market
    20 Feb 2020
  48. The Nurdle Patrol: Citizen Scientists Fight Pollution, One Pellet at a Time
    23 Jan 2020
  49. After a Hurricane Hits: NOAA’s Emergency Response Aerial Imagery
    17 Dec 2019
  50. The Nautical Origins of 10 Popular Phrases
    23 Oct 2019
  51. NOAA's Disaster Preparedness Program
    07 Aug 2019
  52. Meteotsunamis: State of the Science
    11 Jul 2019
  53. Ocean Gliders: How NOAA uses autonomous technology to help predict hurricane intensity
    30 May 2019
  54. Navigating the Sea is Safer, More Efficient With Digital Charts
    25 Apr 2019
  55. Making it Count
    21 Mar 2019
  56. Lionfish Invasion
    28 Feb 2019
  57. Fa’a Samoa: The Samoan Way (Part Two)
    04 Dec 2018
  58. Fa’a Samoa: The Samoan Way (Part One)
    04 Dec 2018
  59. All About HABS: Uncovering the Mystery of Harmful Algal Blooms
    14 Nov 2018
  60. Remote Control
    24 Oct 2018
  61. Ocean Noise
    29 Aug 2018
  62. Breaking Down Barriers: Natural Infrastructure
    28 Jun 2018
  63. National Ocean Service's Role in Hurricane Prep, Response, and Recovery
    24 May 2018
  64. Motion in the Ocean: Tides and Currents
    26 Apr 2018
  65. Garbage Patches: How Gyres Take Our Trash Out to Sea
    22 Mar 2018
  66. Dealing with Dead Zones: Hypoxia in the Ocean
    22 Feb 2018
  67. Geodesy: The Invisible Backbone of Navigation
    18 Jan 2018
  68. Marine Debris in Alaska
    16 Nov 2017
  69. Reef Resilience
    23 Aug 2017
  70. Ocean Current Surveys 101
    27 Jul 2017
  71. Historical Maps and Charts
    21 Jul 2017
  72. Celebrating 100 Years of NOAA Corps
    25 May 2017
  73. Marine Animal Telemetry
    11 May 2017
  74. Restoration at Industrial Waste Sites
    04 May 2017
  75. Volunteering with our National Marine Sanctuaries
    17 Apr 2017
  76. GPS on Bench Marks
    23 Mar 2017
  77. Picking the Right Spot: Offshore Wind Energy
    01 Mar 2017
  78. Marine Life Counts: The U.S. Marine Biodiversity Observation Network
    19 Jan 2017
  79. Listen up: What you need to know about ocean noise.
    08 Dec 2016
  80. Bringing Wetlands to Market: the Power of Blue Carbon in a Changing Climate
    04 Aug 2016
  81. Connecting the Dots Between Corals and Humans
    24 Mar 2016
  82. Alaska: Marine Debris in the Wilderness
    28 Jan 2016
  83. Vertical Mapping and Atomic Clocks
    24 Sep 2015
  84. Exploring the Unknown in the Caribbean
    01 Apr 2015
  85. Shipwreck Detectives in California
    15 Jan 2015
  86. Arctic Shield
    01 Oct 2014
  87. Great Pacific Garbage Patch
    26 Jun 2014
  88. Coastal Blue Carbon
    08 May 2014
  89. The Exxon Valdez, 25 Years Later
    21 Mar 2014
  90. Connecting the Dots: Corals and Humans
    15 Sep 2016
  91. Ocean Economy
    18 Aug 2016
  92. Harmful Algal Bloom Forecasting
    05 May 2016
  93. Remembering the Titanic
    15 Apr 2016
  94. Shipwreck Detective
    17 Feb 2016
  95. How Invasive Species Are Introduced
    21 Jan 2016
  96. Marine Debris Movement
    24 Nov 2015
  97. A Healthy Eelgrass Meadow is Restored
    29 Oct 2015
  98. Coral Bleaching
    17 Sep 2015
  99. Hypoxia
    18 Jun 2015
  100. NOAA PORTS
    14 May 2015
  101. Tsunamis
    26 Mar 2015
  102. Four Corners
    19 Mar 2015
  103. Coastal Blue Carbon
    12 Feb 2015
  104. Invasive Lionfish
    06 Feb 2014
  105. Restoring Natural Resources
    16 Jan 2014
  106. Reef Resilience
    22 Sep 2016
  107. Microplastics
    30 Jun 2016
  108. Living Shorelines
    07 Apr 2016
  109. Exploring Hawaii's Coral Reefs
    03 Dec 2015
  110. Nuisance Flooding
    22 Oct 2015
  111. Hurricane Katrina: 10 Years Later
    27 Aug 2015
  112. Ocean Economy
    25 Jun 2015
  113. GPS on Bench Marks
    16 Apr 2015
  114. Invasive Species
    26 Feb 2015
  115. Coral Bleaching
    01 Dec 2014
  116. Tides and Currents
    18 Mar 2014
  117. The Intracoastal Waterway
    20 Feb 2014
  118. Planning Ocean Uses
    30 Jan 2014
NOAA Ocean podcast icon

From corals to coastal science, connect with ocean experts to explore questions about the ocean environment.

We also offer episode archives and transcripts for Making Waves and Diving Deeper, two podcasts which preceded the NOAA Ocean Podcast:

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