News

At NOAA Ocean Exploration, a core part of our mission is engaging the next generation of ocean explorers through internships. Each cohort of interns brings unique perspectives and new ideas that advance our office’s operations in meaningful ways. These students come from diverse backgrounds such as communications, marine biology, engineering, geology, mapping, and more, but they share an enthusiasm for learning about our ocean world. As we celebrate National Intern Day this July 25, get to know some of our 2024 interns below!

The upcoming expedition is part of a multi-year collaborative effort to restore deep-sea habitats in the Gulf of Mexico that were injured by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

A major new study on the distribution and origin of methane seeps on the U.S. Atlantic margin — the seafloor between the coast and the deep ocean — expands the inventory of methane seeps (also called cold seeps) between the South Atlantic Bight and Georges Bank and explores the processes that contribute to their formation.

In a new journal article, Christopher L. Mah describes two species and a genus of sea star previously unknown to science. Mah, a research associate with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and frequent participant in NOAA Ocean Exploration’s live-streamed remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives, named the sea stars in honor of two women in the ocean exploration field: marine biologist Rhian Waller and NOAA Ocean Exploration’s own Kelley Suhre.

On April 2, NOAA Ocean Exploration announced the Ocean Exploration Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Funding Opportunity to fund interdisciplinary and innovative ocean exploration-related projects. An estimated $3 million will be awarded under the themes of Ocean Exploration and Maritime Heritage.

Amanda Finn, a physical scientist with NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, is sailing on an 11-day voyage on Research Vessel Investigator, operated by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency. Her participation in the expedition is part of a partnership between NOAA, CSIRO, and Geoscience Australia to cooperate in ocean exploration and mapping, formalized by the signing of Memorandum of Understanding in 2022.

Throughout the 2024 spring semester, students in Annette Spivy's senior capstone research class at the University of Maryland, College Park will work with Sarah Groves and Ango Hsu of NOAA Ocean Exploration's Science and Technology division to standardize and analyze nine years of North Atlantic marine debris data collected via NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer.

As part of our community-driven exploration model, NOAA Ocean Exploration invites you to submit exploration recommendations for mapping and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operations for mapping and remotely operated vehicle operations on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer.

NOAA Ocean Exploration’s Benthic Deepwater Animal Identification Guide has become a popular and trusted ocean science community resource and is used (and contributed to) by ocean scientists around the world to help identify animals seen during deep-ocean exploration.

Covering 6.4 million acres, an area larger than Vermont, an underwater seascape of cold-water coral mounds offshore the southeast United States coast has been deemed the largest deep-sea coral reef habitat discovered to date, according to a paper recently published in the scientific journal Geomatics.

Unidentified Golden Specimen Captures Public Imagination

For the United States and Japan, the waters around Midway Atoll are an important place in our shared history. It was in these waters where the two nations met in the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Nearly 3,400 sailors and airmen lost their lives during the battle between the United States and Japan, which also resulted in the loss of seven large ships and hundreds of aircraft. Much of the battle occurred at sea, where these ships and many of the aircraft remain to this day and serve as testaments to the men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their countries.

On September 17, 2023, the Alaska Sealife Center, Chugach Regional Resources Commission’s Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks Seward Marine Center, and NOAA Ocean Exploration will host the first annual 2023 Seward Marine Science Symposium.

NOAA Ocean Exploration selected nine projects for financial support through its Ocean Exploration Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) Funding Opportunity totaling over $5 million.