News

Just over a year ago, using ROV Deep Discoverer and the telepresence capabilities of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, researchers essentially 'stumbled' upon a rare and incredible scene filled with deep-sea predators.

In a newly published paper, scientists have identified and named a new genus and species of sponge: Advhena magnifica. This new sponge was sampled and seen during missions in the Pacific on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. Read on to learn more about the discovery of this magnificent alien.

While deep-ocean exploration is responsible for ground-breaking discoveries, it is also unmasking the true scale of our impacts in the deep ocean. Marine debris is a growing problem and a new study has shown that even unexplored, remote, and protected areas of the central and western Pacific deep ocean are not immune from our touch.

In 2005, the United Nations adopted a resolution to recognize June 21 as World Hydrography Day, calling attention to the vital information that hydrography provides. But what is hydrography?

The federal government recently announced the release of strategies and recommendations to fully map, explore, and characterize the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Sea stars play an important role in deep-sea ecosystems, especially as predators of sponges and corals (mostly octocorals).

The NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, through the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP), has awarded a three-year grant to the University of New Hampshire, Saildrone, Inc. of Alameda, California, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute to develop ocean exploration applications for a new unmanned wind-powered sailboat-like vehicle capable of long-duration missions to collect vital ocean mapping information.

As part of the Fiscal Year 2018 Federal Funding Opportunity, the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research selected 10 projects to receive financial support. The supported projects are described below.

In one of the largest U.S. exploration efforts ever conducted, NOAA and partners organized and implemented a three-year, Pacific-wide field campaign entitled CAPSTONE: Campaign to Address Pacific monument Science, Technology, and Ocean NEeds.

Happy World Oceans Day! This year, we’re joining our friends at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Earth Observatory, Schmidt Ocean Institute, and Ocean Exploration Trust in taking a look at the connections between our ocean on Earth as well as oceans elsewhere in our solar system.

On May 10th, 2019, the Bureau of Ocean Management launched its publicly accessible Virtual Archaeology Museum. The platform showcases interactive 3D models of shipwrecks created using imagery collected during OER-led missions on the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer.

NOAA has selected the University of Rhode Island to host NOAA’s new Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute (OECI), in partnership with the University of New Hampshire, the University of Southern Mississippi, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the not-for-profit Ocean Exploration Trust.

As part of the Fiscal Year 2018 Federal Funding Opportunity, the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research selected 10 projects to receive financial support. The supported projects are described below.