NOS

Why study the Pacific? The Pacific is the largest and deepest ocean basin on Earth. Many of the islands in its waters – including Guam and American Samoa – sit within or near the Ring of Fire, an area of the…

The Gravity for the Redefinition of the American Vertical Datum, or GRAV-D, crew with the plane affectionately named "Miss Piggy." Alaska has the longest…

National Ocean Service: Positioning America for the Future Coastal watershed counties were home to 163.8 million people in 2010, approximately 52 percent of the United States population. This number is expected to increase by…

29 June, 2022 We know less about the ocean floor than we do about the surface of the moon and Mars. But by the end of the decade we may know the general outline of our undersea contours and crevasses, thanks to an…

This report includes summaries of selected scientific projects undertaken by the program offices of NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS) during Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21). All of these projects were submitted by each…

The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project is designed to demonstrate a grid-connected, 12-megawatt offshore wind test facility about 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. Credit: Stephen Boutwell/BOEM…

Surfers walking at sunset on Second Beach, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Credit: NOAA This month, NOS celebrates the 50th anniversary of four major pieces of…

1970: NOAA is created NOAA, the parent agency of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, was created in 1970 (shown above is the DOC Secretary approving its…

Get to know the International Coral Reef Initiative — an international partnership to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems around the world. ICRI unites the global coral community and raises awareness of the need to…

Understanding, restoring, and protecting natural and nature-based systems that store carbon will be one of the essential elements of a climate change mitigation strategy. Jenny Davis (NCCOS) inspects a peat core from…

The global conveyor belt, shown in part here, circulates cool subsurface water and warm surface water throughout the world. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is part of this complex system…

Mordecai Island, New Jersey, protects the Back Bay areas of Long Beach Island. In 2015, part of the salt marsh island was restored with dredged material and planted with native vegetation. (Photo credit:…

Users of NOS’s coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes models and information have a wide variety of needs for predictive information about our ocean and coasts. Meeting these needs demands a collection of models that…

As container ships continue to grow in size and ports grow more congested by the year, NOAA plays an increasingly critical role in U.S. marine…

Scientists estimate that 50-80% of the oxygen production on Earth comes from the ocean. The majority of this production is from oceanic plankton — drifting plants, algae, and some bacteria that can photosynthesize. One particular…

Suppose you are buying a new home that is located near a river that routinely floods. During the buying process, you learn that you are required to have flood insurance. A step in the process of obtaining this insurance is to…

Advances in both visual displays and information sharing technology mean we can more rapidly let other agencies and the public know what we know. With a major oil spill or other disaster, responders,…

NOAA’s Weather-Ready Nation initiative is about building community resilience in the face of increasing vulnerability to extreme weather and water events. The National Ocean Service plays an important role in advancing these efforts.…

Our 2014 Annual Report is now online. Enjoy! Continue Reading

VIDEO: How do coral reefs benefit the economy? Here's an overview in under two minutes. Transcript Healthy coral reefs support commercial and subsistence fisheries as well as jobs and businesses…

Benthic habitat map for Pacific Island Territories The term benthic refers to anything associated with or occurring on the bottom of a…

The mid-ocean ridge is visible in this satellite captured, bathymetric data of the western Atlantic Ocean Basin. The mid-ocean range stretches around the globe like the seam of a baseball.…

Coral reefs are home to millions of species. Hidden beneath the ocean waters, coral reefs teem with life. Fish, corals, lobsters,…

Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, occur when colonies of algae—simple ocean plants that live in the sea—grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals and birds. The human…

Satellite image of Lake Erie showing a mild harmful algal blom in the southwestern portion of the lake. Harmful algal blooms (HABs)…

A nautical chart is one of the most fundamental tools available to the mariner. It's a graphic portrayal of the marine environment showing the nature and form of the coast, the general configuration of the sea bottom, including water…

Tubeworms that grow near the boundary where hot vent fluid mixes with cold seawater on the ocean floor are an example of extremophiles that broaden our perspective on where to look for life.…

ROV Jason gets a close view of magma explosions and lava flows on West Mata volcano. Volcanic eruptions occur only in certain places…

I'd like to take a moment to celebrate the outstanding accomplishments across our programs in FY 2016. More than 40 examples of our success appear in the newly released Fiscal Year 2016 Year in Review. In this post, I preview a few of…

At the core of the Coastal Zone Management Act are two programs: the National Coastal Zone Management Program and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). The NERRS is a…

Extremophiles are microorganisms with the ability to thrive in extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents.

A venting black smoker emits jets of particle-laden fluids. The particles are predominantly very fine-grained sulfide minerals formed when the hot hydrothermal fluids mix…

I'm really impressed by the recent publications that NOS program offices and their partners have contributed to or produced. I'd like to share a few examples. Continue Reading

Tide predictions are available for locations on the U.S. coastline, most of the islands in the Caribbean, and many islands in the Pacific Ocean. The image above shows tide predictions for…

The exact origin of the phrase 'Seven Seas' is uncertain, although there are references in ancient literature that date back thousands of years. …

Seas are found on the margins of the ocean and are partially enclosed by land. Here, you can see that the Bering Sea is part of the Pacific Ocean. …

The breadth of the National Ocean Service's response to Hurricane Harvey is far-reaching. To date: The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) issued Storm QuickLook postings every six hours since…

The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) issued Storm Quicklook postings throughout the duration of Hurricane Irma. The product provides a synopsis of near real-time oceanographic and meteorological…

The Gulf Stream Current — the main conveyor of heat from south to north in the Atlantic — swirls surface waters in this infrared image from the Suomi NPP satellite on April 16, 2013,…

When it comes to eating, the ocean provides much more than just seafood. Many of the foods and products found in your local grocery store contain ingredients from the ocean.

<!----> 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…

The past week has been challenging for many of us dealing with Hurricane Florence. From pre-storm preparations to evacuations to damage assessments, we have weathered this major event and have accounted for all of our…

At least 15 percent of the ocean is covered by sea ice some part of the year. Ocean water freezes just like freshwater, but at lower…

Last week, NOS was once again called to service as Hurricane Michael ravaged the Florida Panhandle and portions of Georgia and Virginia. I’m relieved to report that all of our personnel in the affected areas are safe and…

VIDEO: Biological debris that falls from higher in the water column is also known as marine snow. Some flakes fall for weeks before finally reaching the ocean floor. …

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.

Several thousand marine scientists are busy at work in the United States dealing with a diversity of important issues — from climate change, declining fisheries, and eroding coastlines, to…

There are about 80 different species of mangrove trees. All of these trees grow in areas with low-oxygen soil, where slow-moving waters allow fine sediments to accumulate. Mangrove forests only grow at tropical and subtropical…

Coral polyps form a living mat over a calcium carbonate skeleton. Stony corals (or scleractinians) are the corals primarily…

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Warmer or colder than average ocean temperatures in one part of…