How has the ocean made life on land possible?
Phytoplankton - the foundation of the oceanic food chain. Image courtesy of the NOAA MESA Project.
Humans and almost all other animals depend on oxygen in the atmosphere or water to respire—that is,...
Can volcanic eruptions occur underwater?
Volcanoes are common occurrences along the boundaries of Earth’s tectonic plates. These boundaries allow super-heated molten rock called magma, along with ash and gases, to rise through Earth’s crust and emerge on the surface,...
How does the ocean affect climate and weather on land?
Illustration of major ocean currents throughout the globe. Ocean currents act as conveyer belts of warm and cold water, sending heat toward the polar regions and helping tropical areas cool off.
The world’s...
How does the ocean affect hurricanes?
Hurricane Sandy as seen from NOAA's GOES-13 satellite on October 28, 2012. Image courtesy of NOAA/NASA. In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, we use the term "hurricane" to describe severe storms with...
What are seamounts?
The New England seamounts make up the longest seamount chain in the North Atlantic, forming a southeast trending chain of underwater peaks running from Bear Seamount for another 700 miles to Nashville Seamount....
What causes ocean currents?
Currents are cohesive streams of seawater that circulate through the ocean. Some are short-lived and small, while others are vast flows that take centuries to complete a circuit of the globe. There are...
What are gas hydrates?
An aggregation of methane ice worms inhabiting a white methane hydrate seen in the Gulf of Mexico, 2102. Studies suggest that these worms eat chemoautotrophic bacteria that are living off of chemicals in...
How have animals living only in marine caves adapted?
Ostracods are small, bivalve crustaceans that can inhabit underwater caves. The ostracod genus Spelaeoecia is known only from marine caves and occurs in Bermuda, the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and Yucatan (Mexico). Image courtesy of...
Why is the USS Monitor famous?
A diver swims above the bow of the USS Monitor.
Did You Know?
During a five-month mission in 2001 involving a partnership between NOAA and the U.S. Navy, more than more than 250...
What excavation tools do marine archaeologists use?
A team of research divers positions the end of a dredge hose for excavation of a site off Florida’s Gulf Coast during the Submerged New World 2012 expedition.
Did You Know?
Technologies, such...
