Category: Ocean Awareness

During the 2025 Deep-sea Habitats of the Cook Islands expedition on Exploration Vessel Nautilus the team surveyed various seascapes to better understand seabed environments, and natural and mineral resources in the region. In this image, polymetallic nodules rest on sediment accumulated in a depression between rounded pillows and extended lobate lava flows, which are evidence of ancient volcanoes. (Image credit: Courtesy of Ocean Exploration Trust)

NOAA Scientists and Partners to Map Deep Waters, Seabed in the Cook Islands

6/6/2026 - By noaa.gov, noaa.gov. This summer, NOAA Ocean Exploration will conduct an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to map, explore and characterize deep waters off the coast of the Cook Islands. The effort is in partnership with the Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority. Using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), mapping technologies and onsite… SEE MORE

The Container Ship That’s Also an Ocean Science Lab

5/29/2026 - By Amy E. Nevala, whoi.edu. Some of the most valuable ocean data in the Atlantic isn't being collected by a research vessel — it's riding aboard a container ship. The M/V Oleander, which makes twice-weekly cargo runs between Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, and Hamilton, Bermuda, has carried scientific instruments since… SEE MORE

Three Ocean Robots Exploring Active Underwater Volcanoes

5/18/2026 - By Amelia Macapia, whoi.edu. The ocean floor is home to thousands of volcanoes — many of them active — and understanding what's happening down there requires machines that can go where humans can't. A new feature from WHOI's Oceanus magazine profiles three robotic vehicles that are transforming what scientists know… SEE MORE

Bluefin Tuna underwater Image Credits: Shutterstock, Shutterstock, Adnan Buyuk

Western Atlantic Provides Refuge for Bluefin Tuna

5/1/2026 - By fisheries.noaa.gov, fisheries.noaa.gov. A 30-year study shows that conservation measures in the western Atlantic have created a vital haven, contributing to the recovery of bluefin tuna. An international team of scientists deployed electronic tags on bluefin tunas across three decades to investigate stock movement between the eastern and western Atlantic.… SEE MORE

Image of geological samples from the seafloor that were collected via box core on April 14, 2026, in U.S. waters off American Samoa. (Image credit: USGS)

NOAA Releases First Images of Nodules from Waters Near American Samoa

4/24/2026 - By noaa.gov, noaa.gov. New images and samples were collected during 2026 efforts to map and characterize the seafloor in federal waters off American Samoa NOAA released today the first images of geologic seafloor samples from a hydrographic survey project to map and characterize more than 30,000 square nautical miles of federal waters in the… SEE MORE

Gray Whale Population Decline Along the West Coast Raises Alarm for Coastal Communities

4/22/2026 - By Norris Comer, best4boats. Three dead gray whales discovered in Washington state waters in a single week in early April have renewed concerns about a troubling decline in the East Pacific gray whale population. For boaters, whale watchers, and coastal communities along the West Coast, these deaths are part of… SEE MORE

WHOI Scientists Use Drifters to Track Hidden Currents in Cape Cod Bay

4/15/2026 - By MARGARET GREGORY, whoi.edu. For anyone who fishes, boats, or harvests shellfish in Cape Cod Bay, the water beneath the surface is doing more than it appears. A team from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is deploying GPS-tracked drifters and running ocean models to map how currents move water, nutrients, and… SEE MORE

The NOAA Ship Rainier conducts a seabed mapping exercise in the Pacific in 2022. (Image credit: NOAA)

NOAA Ship to Map Potential Critical Mineral Deposits in U.S. waters of Pacific Ocean

4/13/2026 - By noaa.gov, noaa.gov. In early April, the NOAA Ship Rainier will begin to map and characterize more than 8,000 square nautical miles of federal waters off Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. This project is part of the Department of Commerce's implementation of the U.S. Offshore Critical… SEE MORE

(Photo by Taylor Crockford, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

WHOI Study Reveals the Hidden Molecules That Drive the Ocean’s Carbon Cycle

4/4/2026 - By whoi.edu, whoi.edu. The surface waters that boaters, anglers, and coastal communities depend on are teeming with invisible chemical exchanges that help regulate Earth's climate. A new study led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Columbia University has identified the specific molecules that marine phytoplankton release into seawater — compounds… SEE MORE

A NOAA researcher swims in front of the massive coral in the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. Credit: NOAA Fisheries.

Colossal Coral in the Mariana Islands is Largest of its Kind

3/31/2026 - By oceanservice.noaa.gov, oceanservice.noaa.gov. Researchers measure 14,500-square-foot coral structure in an underwater volcano. In a time when coral bleaching, disease, and habitat loss are increasingly common, a hidden giant defies the odds. A majestic cathedral-like structure — built by colonies of Porites rus, a species of stony coral — rises from a… SEE MORE