The Strategic Plan focuses on five sectors that NOAA will advance through agency-wide initiatives: marine transportation, ocean exploration, seafood competitiveness, tourism and recreation, and coastal resilience.
In July 2021, PORTS celebrates 30 years of providing commercial vessel operators with accurate and reliable real-time environmental conditions to enhance the safety and efficiency of maritime commerce.
Discover out of this world creatures and phenomena in the Earth’s deep ocean. Visit underwater volcanoes and thermal vents where temperatures range from extremely hot (400° C) to icy cold (1°C).
A hotter planet makes conditions for fires more likely and a warmer ocean can fuel stronger storms—including hurricanes. To better understand the ocean, weather, and climate connection, join NOAA ...
This webinar includes updates on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the latest on microplastics from the NOAA Marine Debris Program with special guests Christy Kehoe and Dr. Sherry Lippiatt.
The archive of this live interaction will connect you with information on what national marine sanctuaries are and bring you below the surface to virtually interact with the sea life...
Watch cool videos, visit the beach live, and learn everything you need to know to make your next trip to the shore your best and safest with Ocean Today host Symone Barkley...
Ocean Today provided a 30 minute tour of the free videos and resources available from NOAA’s Ocean Today Program all about deep ocean exploration. This webcast was for educators,teachers and parents.
Ocean Today provided a 30 minute tour of the free videos and resources available from NOAA’s Ocean Today Program all about deep ocean exploration. This webcast was for educators,teachers and parents.
Ocean today provided a 30 minute tour of the free videos and resources available from NOAA’s Ocean Today program. In this presentation we explored the Ocean Today Coral Comeback? Collection...
Demand for seafood is increasing around the world, and the United States is no exception. Providing enough fish for a growing seafood demand requires a little innovation.
In the U.S. we import around ninety percent of our seafood, which means that most of the fish and shellfish on your plate is coming from a different country.
These beaches may be one of California’s favorite places to play, but they can also be dangerous. Whether you live here or just visit, we all need to start by respecting the ocean.
Along these remote cliffs and beaches where sneaker waves, beach debris and extreme tides combine with freezing water, you must stay situationally aware and never take your eyes off the water.
If you want to keep your ocean and beach time fun and safe you need to be aware of dangerous waves and that starts by respecting the power of the ocean.
If you wish to be part of the solution to marine debris and are ready to do more than talk trash, watch our new TRASH COUNTS video featuring a citizen science project.
During World War II, American sonar researchers encountered a mystery - an echo from what seemed like the ocean bottom, but at depths where no bottom should be.
I would argue that exploring the Earth's oceans is probably the last grand challenge we have on it's the only place on the planet that really has been never seen by the human eye or even a robotic cam ...
Imagine all of this underwater. In a major tsunami, it could happen. In this part of Washington State, it’s happened before, hundreds of years ago. Sometime in the future, it will likely happen again.
Could this be what your home looks like after the next hurricane strikes? Many people thought a hurricane like Katrina would never really happen. If you had to evacuate, where would your family go?
Ancestors of horseshoe crabs date back over 450 million years! So the horseshoe crab is oftentimes called the dinosaur of the ocean. Because it’s been around since before the dinosaurs. The dinosaur ...
As a kid, my family was the one that would go to every single public program for the National Parks. So at 9 years old I became a junior volunteer at Assateague Island National Seashore.
Coral reefs are some of the most precious habitat in the ocean - which has earned them the nickname 'rainforests of the sea.' They're a complicated ecosystem where thousands of species are supported ...
There’s an ocean creature that is part animal, part plant, and part stone. They can be as small as two millimeters wide, but enough of them can get together to be seen from space! They’re corals.
There are many species of coral in the ocean, and they come in astonishing shapes, colors, and sizes. Some corals are soft, but the ones that build reefs are collectively called hard, or stony corals.
We are in a critical situation with our reefs, and if we fail to act, if we get paralyzed by the enormity of the problem, the majority of the world's reefs will be gone by 2050.
These beautiful coral reefs are in serious trouble. They are being damaged or destroyed by pollution, disease, climate change, and a large number of ship groundings.
White abalone are functionally extinct in the ocean so their only hope for recovery is a captive breeding program currently being supported by NOAA Fisheries in California.
If all of the ice in the Arctic Circle were to melt, life for Arctic animals and for people all over the world would be dramatically different – and not in a good way.
Every year you start out with zero. Zero miles flown, zero data collected. This year IceBridge started out with another big zero - there were no aircraft available for the mission,
So much of history has really been tightly kept in a little box that archaeology is now cracking open. I started in archaeology when I was fourteen. And I figured, “What could I do?
Animals of the ice need sea ice to survive. Across the polar food web, sea ice loss and warming seas mean massive changes for them. Sea ice loss will also cause ripple effects that people will feel ...
Polar bears, penguins, seals, fish, krill and birds, they all live on or under the ice. Today, because of a warming planet, their lives are changing and for many species, life is getting harder as the ...
All of us at Ocean Today love the ocean. And when you love something you want to protect it. Today, unfortunately the ocean is being filled with trash.
In 2018, a team of scientists traveled to the peninsula to study minke whales, ultimately seeking to better understand the impact of climate change in this polar region.
Wildlife viewing is a popular recreation activity, but it is important to know how to interact with ocean wildlife so that you can make the right decisions. Irresponsible human behavior can disturb animals, destroy important habitats, and even result in injury to animals and people.
Coral reefs are one of Earth’s most productive ecosystems — both in terms of biology and cold, hard cash. Healthy coral reef ecosystems do everything from supporting millions of jobs to protecting lives and valuable coastal infrastructure, like hotels and roads, from storms and waves. In fact, each year coral reefs pump more than $3.4 billion into the U.S. economy And that’s a conservative estimate!
Healthy coral reefs support commercial and subsistence fisheries as well as jobs and businesses through tourism and recreation. Approximately half of all federally managed fisheries depend on coral reefs and related habitats for a portion of their life cycles. The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates the commercial value of U.S. fisheries from coral reefs is over $100 million.
Aquaculture is breeding, raising, and harvesting fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants. Basically, it’s farming in water. U.S. aquaculture is an environmentally responsible source of food and commercial products, helps to create healthier habitats, and is used to rebuild stocks of threatened or endangered species.
Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water usually found where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries are home to unique plant and animal communities that have adapted to brackish water—a mixture of fresh water draining from the land and salty seawater.
Sonar, short for Sound Navigation and Ranging, is helpful for exploring and mapping the ocean because sound waves travel farther in the water than do radar and light waves. NOAA scientists primarily use sonar to develop nautical charts, locate underwater hazards to navigation, search for and map objects on the seafloor such as shipwrecks, and map the seafloor itself. There are two types of sonar—active and passive.
Rip currents are powerful, narrow channels of fast-moving water that are prevalent along the East, Gulf, and West coasts of the U.S., as well as along the shores of the Great Lakes. Moving at speeds of up to eight feet per second, rip currents can move faster than an Olympic swimmer.
Invasive species can harm both the natural resources in an ecosystem as well as threaten human use of these resources. An invasive species can be introduced to a new area via the ballast water of oceangoing ships, intentional and accidental releases of aquaculture species, aquarium specimens or bait, and other means.
There are many different kinds of wetlands and many ways to categorize them. NOAA classifies wetlands into five general types: marine (ocean), estuarine (estuary), riverine (river), lacustrine (lake), and palustrine (marsh). Common names for wetlands include marshes, estuaries, mangroves, mudflats, mires, ponds, fens, swamps, deltas, coral reefs, billabongs, lagoons, shallow seas, bogs, lakes, and floodplains, to name just a few!
A tropical cyclone is a rotating low-pressure weather system that has organized thunderstorms but no fronts (a boundary separating two air masses of different densities). Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained surface winds of less than 39 miles per hour (mph) are called tropical depressions. Those with maximum sustained winds of 39 mph or higher are called tropical storms.
Symone Johnson - Shark Researcher and Knauss Fellow, NOAA narrates the first Full Moon series introduction. The ocean covers two-thirds of our planet but we know more about Mars than the deep seas.
There is good news for people that want to protect the oceans. And that is marine protected areas, but in particular, in the United States, it’s National Marine Sanctuaries.
When I first started as a maritime archaeologist, you would go out in a boat, you would take a look at a spot on the land and another spot, and if they lined up right, you’d figure you were more or less over a shipwreck that you plotted, you’d jump into the water, you’d swim down, and there it would be. And you might share that with the other diver that was with you.
One of the things that we’ve learned when we look at shipwrecks in particular but other parts of archaeology is when something is preserved, when it’s set aside, it’s almost like money that you put in the bank. But it’s money that you can’t make another deposit to. Once you start taking it out, it’s gone forever. That’s why as archaeologists, we’re very careful to look and not touch, more often than not. In the time I’ve been an archaeologist, I’ve seen the technology change so much that if I could go back and say, “Hold on! Don’t dig that ship up now! Let’s wait thirty years or forty years because we’ll learn twice as much!” I would go back and have that conversation with myself and others.
I’ve seen ancient ships from a time when the Mediterranean was an expanding area of different cultures from ancient Egypt to the Phoenicians, to the rise of the Greeks and the Romans.
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey explains the role of topobathy LIDAR products in NOAA’s mapping and charting program. The video shows how these products provide a critical dataset for coastal resilience, coastal intelligence, and place-based conservation. Federal, state and local decision-makers, coastal zone managers, community planners as well as general and scientific users of mapping products will find this 4-minute video helpful for understanding the benefits of coastal elevation data produced by NGS.
This video from NOAA's National Geodetic Survey is aimed at surveyors and GIS professionals who use geodetic-quality GNSS equipment to determine positions for land planning, coastal monitoring and other purposes, this video covers best practices for reducing errors in the areas of: 1. location and environment, 2. equipment setup and 3. observation times and accuracy checks.
This video from NOAA's National Geodetic Survey is aimed at community planners, emergency managers, and other coastal zone decision-makers. This video will explain how using geospatial information already available through NOAA, combined with strategic local investments in infrastructure can provide communities with the data needed to confidently plan for future sea-level changes.
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey explains the difference between the U.S. survey foot (sFT) and the international survey foot (iFT) and the importance of this distinction when working with map projections. It will be helpful to surveyors, planners and anyone who needs to convert map coordinates from meters to feet.
This video from NOAA's National Geodetic Survey is aimed at surveying professionals, planners, policy-makers and others who use mapping products. The video emphasizes that survey measurements need to be precise as well as verified as accurate by relating measurements to a known reference system such as the National Spatial Reference System in the United States.
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey looks at current plans for developing more accurate horizontal and vertical datums, (referred to respectively as geometric and geopotential datums), the expected benefits and impacts, and the importance of preparing now to adopt these new datums.
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey examines the use of the current primary geodetic datums used in the US, NAD 83 and NAVD 88, the challenges in maintaining these datums, and the inconsistencies that arise when they are used together with the latest satellite-based mapping technologies.
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey explores the history of geodetic datums in the United States, and how they were established at a national level to assure consistency across mapping applications.
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey explains the basic concepts behind geodetic datums, where they are used, and why it is important to know about and use the correct datums.
Volunteers from NOAA, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, South Carolina Audubon, and others transformed part of an old Navy dock into an unlikely nesting hotspot for the least tern. As of August 7, 2016, least terns have created seven nests (and hatched eleven chicks!) on the pier behind NOAA's Office for Coastal Management.
In some areas, the maps used for navigation on the ocean, called nautical charts, still show information acquired in the 1800s, so there is a LOT of work to do!
Boaters rely on NOAA's nautical charts for depth measurements so they don't accidentally ground on sandbars or other underwater obstructions. See how NOAA updates nautical charts with high tech tools—including new experimental ocean "robots" that are small enough to survey the nation's shallowest coastal areas.
We visit a research station perched at the end of a long pier in Duck, North Carolina, to get a close-up look at the microwave radar water level sensor—a revolutionary step forward in how NOAA measures water levels around the nation.
Sonar, short for Sound Navigation and Ranging, is helpful for exploring and mapping the ocean because sound waves travel farther in the water than do radar and light waves.
Sonar, short for Sound Navigation and Ranging, is helpful for exploring and mapping the ocean because sound waves travel farther in the water than do radar and light waves.
You know about ocean tides, but how much do you know about ocean currents? Watch our three-minute video podcast to learn what puts the motion in the ocean.
A large group of invasive lionfish near St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, filmed during a Caribbean coral reef mapping expedition in April, 2015. During the 2015 Caribbean mapping expedition, 135 lionfish were spotted during a total of 26 dives. Lionfish were spotted as deep as 768 feet.
On March 28, 2015, NOAA Ship Nancy Foster deployed an autonomous glider off the eastern coast of St. Croix. Diving down to depths of 656 feet, the glider moved westward along the southern edge of the shelf break. On the fifth day, shallow waters slowed progress, and the glider remained off the southwest coast. The glider will continue logging data until its retrieval later this month.
An ocean glider is an autonomous underwater vehicle used to collect ocean data. Scientists are now experimenting with using gliders to locate populations of spawning fish. The glider shown in this video is outfitted with an acoustic receiver to “listen” for vocalizations—grunting sounds—made by some fish as they mass together to spawn in the U.S. Caribbean.
You may think every drop of rain falling from the sky, or each glass of water you drink, is brand new, but it has always been here, and is a part of the water cycle.
This pre-recorded webinar provides fun activities that you can organize after watching the TRASH TALK film! It's a perfect any-time event for museums, zoos, aquariums, learning centers and schools.
Garbage patches are large areas of marine debris concentration that are formed by rotating ocean currents called gyres. A garbage patch is made up of tiny plastic pieces called “microplastics”.
Would you want to swim at a beach littered with trash? Of course not. And the animals who live in the ocean don't either - the difference is they don't have a choice.
Have you ever been to the beach and noticed litter, like plastic bottles or foam take-out containers on the sand? Or maybe you’ve been to a river or bay where there’s a car tire or bags in the water.
As summer turns to Fall in the Arctic, the ice cover will shrink to its smallest extent for the year. This day is an important day because the measurement taken will be used to analyze the state of th ...
The 2015 Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone or Dead Zone measures 6,474 square miles - about the size of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined. This is a huge blow to the already fragile Gulf ecosystem and ...
Aloha and good morning, everyone. We’re looking at places that no one has looked before. And this is part of NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.
This is Hermit's Cove and we are here at Coastal Cleanup Day, which is once a year. Volunteers come to places like this and pick up all the trash that are along the shoreline.
This scary fella is a Giant Moray Eel. It likes to hide among reefs and rocks. It can grow as long as 13 feet. Did you know it has a second set of jaws in its throat?
This is a Manta Ray. They are the largest ray in the ocean, and are actually closely related to sharks. Those flaps on its front are called cephalic lobes.
Hi, Im Chris Reddy, and Im an environmental chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and I study oil spills. This is Wild Harbor salt marsh in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Hi, I'm Pat Halpin, and I am an ecologist, and I study whales, and we have been tagging whales in Antarctica, to look at their behavior and their feeding patterns under the ice.
I'm Candy Feller. I work for the Smithsonian and I study mangroves in Belize. We are at Cattie Bow Cay; this is the Smithsonian Institution's marina field station.
In the last 25 years, 92 large whales have been freed from life threatening entanglements in fishing gear. Such entanglements are threatening the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale.
They are sometimes seen as threatening funnel clouds descending from stormy skies. Others can be nearly invisible, like a ghostly spiral of wind skimming the sea surface.
Powerful winds aren't the only deadly force during a hurricane. The greatest threat to life actually comes from the water - in the form of storm surge.
Scientists have discovered that a hydrozoan named Turritopsis nutricula is biologically immortal. But how is this possible? The key is in its life cycle.
Imagine going to work everyday in the ocean, to study the plants and animals that call it home. Scientists from Canada, Mexico, and the United States are benefitting from marine protected areas.
My name's Andy Bowen, I'm a research specialist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the project manager for the development of the Nereus vehicle.
This creature was found 2300 feet deep in the ocean. It's a Sea spider, and ones living this at this depth can grow quite large, spanning almost 3 feet wide.
This creature was found 1800 feet deep in the ocean. It's called a Basket star. Basket stars are able to grow their limbs back if they are broken or chopped off by predators.
This creature was found 1600 feet deep in the ocean. It's an Anglerfish, distinguished by the rod protruding from its head that it uses to attract prey.
This creature was found 6900 feet deep in the ocean. It's a Deepsea Lizardfish, also called a Bathysaurus Ferox. It is the world's deepest living superpredator; anything it meets, it eats.
Laura Bankey: Today we are at Dam Neck Annex, part of Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Virginia, restoring sand dune habitat along the Atlantic coast.
These beautiful coral reefs are in serious trouble. They are being damaged or destroyed by pollution, disease, climate change, and a large number of ship groundings.
Every day we are surrounded by noises, from cars and planes, construction sites, and factories. While for most of us it is an annoyance, in some cases it can be harmful.
Sometimes, while diving, you hear them before you see them. Then, their enormous outlines come into view. These gentle giants are goliath grouper, the largest of the groupers in the Atlantic basin.
Orcinis Orca. They're commonly known as the Killer whale because of their aggressive nature. But the Orca isn't actually a whale: it's in the dolphin family.
The Killer whale in, three of a kind. In oceans all over the world, Orcas are swimming. In the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest, a matrilinial pod of resident Orcas is following the salmon run.
Henry Stommel, an eminent oceanographer from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, envisioned the day that there would be "a thousand swimming robots" in the sea.
Kelp forests can be seen along much of the west coast of North America. Kelp are actually large brown algae that live in cool, relatively shallow waters close to the shore.
In the waters off of Martha's Vineyard, the Office of Naval Research is using unmanned and robotic systems to investigate how sediments on the ocean floor are moved around by currents and waves.
When you're in a coastal area, it's important to keep alert for messages from local officials, such as lifeguards, police, The US Tsunami Warning Centers and NOAA All Hazards Radio.
The Gray whale in Baja Holiday! It's June! Time to plan the winter holiday… How about two – three months in Baja Mexico! Gray whales have been making this annual trip for centuries!
An endangered species, the adult sea otter is the smallest of the marine mammals. It's a member of the weasel family, and the only marine mammal that does not have blubber to keep it warm.
The Marine Animal Rescue Program was started in 1993 at the National Aquarium, and is responsible for responding to marine mammal and sea turtle strandings in Maryland.
The North Atlantic right whale got its name from whalers. Because these whales travel slowly and spend a lot of time at the surface, they were easy targets.
What is it like to work on a NOAA ship? Come aboard the NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson where collecting data for NOAA nautical charts requires science and technology...but most importantly, passionate, ad ...
Marine protected areas offer a perfect adventure. They are places to explore and enjoy nature in and around the waters of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Every year, North America's Marine Protected Areas contribute millions of dollars to the economy. Much of the sustainably caught seafood you see in grocery stores and eat in restaurants comes from these areas.
For nearly 200 years the US Coast Guard has been tasked with preserving our country's marine resources. That means tending to the oceans by protecting it from the castoffs of our human lives.
In 2012 analysis on Arctic sea ice conditions painted a grim picture. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the summer sea ice minimum extent dropped to its smallest size in recorded history.
The ocean floor just off the eastern United States is deeply carved with hidden canyons, teaming with exotic and breathtaking species of plants and animals.
When you're out boating, sailing, or even kayaking, you may be closer than you think to the largest animals on Earth. So, here's what you need to know to respect their space and keep them safe.
Watching whales in their natural habitat can be a breathtaking experience. This activity has become increasingly popular, now drawing over 13 million people a year.
At first glance, a nautical chart may look overwhelming. But once you learn what the various lines, numbers, and symbols mean, reading these charts becomes a lot easier.
The Arctic circle is home to the largest bear in the world: the polar bear. You may be surprised to learn that the polar bear is actually considered a marine mammal.
As Arctic ice continues to melt, it will cause ripple effects across the planet. When the polar regions warm, even just a degree, it disturbs atmospheric and oceanic patterns.
The Arctic region is hauntingly beautiful. It's a vast expanse of sea ice floating on water. Sea ice is actually frozen ocean water. It forms, grows, and melts in the ocean.
A number of very special places dot the coastline of North America. These places are part of a growing network of Marine Protected Areas - like parks on land - but in the ocean.
Orange and red flashes in the pitch black. Lava oozes from the cracks, and rolls across the ocean floor. Earthquakes rumble and roar as tectonic plates grate against each other.
It’s March 8, 1862 and an epic battle of the Civil War is underway in the waters off Hampton Roads, Virginia. The Confederate CSS Virginia faces off against its northern opponent, the USS Monitor.
As summer turns to Fall in the Arctic, the ice cover will shrink to its smallest extent for the year. After a record setting low in 2012, the 2013 summer sea ice extent rebounded – but only slightly.
On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez grounded on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, rupturing the hull and spilling oil into the pristine waters of Alaska.
Ocean exploration is all about making new discoveries. But sometimes the most fascinating findings are when things are rediscovered. The USS Monitor was a civil war ironclad warship that sank in 1862.
In the U.S., fishing is a national pastime. Nearly 12 million people call themselves saltwater anglers. And marine fishing is more than a hobby – this sport contributes $56 billion a year to the U.S. economy.
Did you know that North Atlantic Right Whales don't have teeth? They are baleen whales, which means they have comb-like plates in their mouths that filter food from the water.
December 26, 2004. What began as an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean ended as the most deadly tsunami in recorded history, with nearly 240,000 lives lost.
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