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Ocean Portal by The Smithsonian Institution

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BLOG POST Tagging and Tracking Animals Underwater How do we know where ocean animals swim day and night? Scientists are getting snapshots into the daily lives of whales, sharks, and even fish by tagging the animals to track their movements....MORE STORIES


	ARTICLE MORE STORIES Scientists Use Bioacoustics to Protect Marine Mammals In the late 1990's, researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHO...
	VIDEO MORE VIDEOS Ship Under a Bridge Ocean conditions change every hour of every day. Tides, currents, and winds are...
	VIDEO MORE VIDEOS Submersible Collects Deep-Sea Corals Come along as scientist Dr. Brendan Roark narrates a submersible dive to collect...

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					From Sea Sponge to HIV Medicine Mar 26, 2013 - 9:40AMTectitethya crypta (formerly known as Cryptotheca crypta) is a large, shallow-water sponge found in the Caribbean. It was first studied for medical purposes in the 1950s when few scientists or doctors thought to look for...

A Bryozoan's Medical Endosymbiont

Mar 14, 2013 - 10:40AM

The spiral-tufted bryozoan (Bugula neritina) is being studied for a...

Giant Squid Caught Live On Screen

Jan 25, 2013 - 11:21AM

In 2012, the long-elusive giant squid was finally filmed live in its natural...

SPOTLIGHT


Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) The TOPP program brought together scientists from seven countries to explore the lives of large mid-water animals such as...

Collecting Gold Coral from the Deep Sea Jun 7 2011 - 11:07am The robotic arm of a Pisces submersible collects a gold coral colony (Gerardia sp.) during a research cruise in the Hawaiian Islands.	Crittercam Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am Smithsonian squid expert Dr. Clyde Roper collaborated with National Geographic to attach this Crittercam to the head of a sperm whale, hoping to get footage of the whale’s favorite prey—giant squid. At left is the Crittercam’s inventor, Greg Marshall, of National Geographic. At right is British...
Science in a Time of Crisis: Searching for the Plume May 10 2011 - 3:28pm Part 4 of a 6-part series describing Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's efforts to understand the scope and impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "Searching for the Plume" describes a research cruised aboard the R/V Endeavor on which WHOI scientists found and mapped...	Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) Aug 22 2012 - 1:57pm The TOPP program brought together scientists from seven countries to explore the lives of large mid-water animals such as sea turtles, birds, whales, tuna, sharks, seals and even squids. Animals that live throughout the open ocean are often hard to track, and because of this difficulty, we know...
From Submarines to Robots: Exploring the Deep Ocean Dec 8 2009 - 3:19pm Filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer James Cameron on March 25, 2012, became the first human to complete a solo submarine dive to Challenger Deep, an undersea valley in the Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean known as the deepest surveyed spot on the planet. Cameron piloted the one-person...	Submersible Launch Jun 7 2011 - 10:00am The Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory’s Pisces V submersible is lowered for a dive to study deep-sea corals. Learn more about research into deep-sea corals in the multimedia feature "Coral Gardens of the Deep Sea."
Students and the Scarlet Knight Dec 8 2010 - 7:04pm Students from Baiona, Spain surround the Scarlet Knight in front of the television cameras.	Deep-Sea Camera Jun 7 2011 - 10:16am Lights attached to this modern deep-sea camera system enable scientists to capture detailed images of deep-sea coral reefs and their inhabitants in otherwise dark water.
Buoy Collects Data on the Open Ocean Mar 25 2010 - 11:32am Sponsored by the United Nations, the Global Ocean Observing System is committed to sharing observations about the ocean to all nations. Some of the data they collect comes from buoys like the one shown here. The buoys help scientists investigate a host of environmental questions and issues,...	Exploring the Ocean with Robots and Submarines Dec 8 2009 - 3:11pm To explore the deep ocean, scientists rely on numerous pieces of high-tech equipment. This photo gallery showcases some of the remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), submersibles, and other devices that have been used. Read about the Scarlet Knight, the first underwater robotic vehicle to cross an...
Growing Bacteria from Corals Jun 7 2011 - 1:11pm Searching for useful chemicals, marine scientists grow bacteria associated with deep-sea coral on nutrient agar to identify the bacteria and test their metabolic and biochemical capabilities. Some may be sources of potential medicines. Learn more about how ocean scientists study deep-sea corals in...	Measuring Ice Core Temperatures Jan 4 2011 - 5:15pm Marine biologist Mette Kaufman measures the temperature of a recently-drilled ice core. Variations in temperature at different points of the ice core provide information about the living conditions of the various organisms that live in the Arctic ice.
Launching an ROV Jan 6 2011 - 4:40pm The Arctic is one of the most remote and uncharted areas of the world. With all the amazing discoveries hidden in the ice and water, Arctic exploration is truly a new scientific frontier.	FLIP Stands Tall Jul 2 2012 - 3:05pm Scripps Institution of Oceanography's FLoating Instrument Platform, or FLIP, conducts sea trials off San Diego in May 2009.
TOPP cartoon of Omoo Jan 26 2010 - 11:45am Omoo, a Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias), carries a satellite tag that sends information daily about her movements across the Pacific. Follow her migration real-time. More about the great white shark can be found in our Great White Shark featured story.	Horseshoe Crab in Massachusetts Nov 22 2010 - 11:11pm A small horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) rests on seaweed in Stage Harbor, Massachusetts. Atlantic horseshoe crabs can be found along the coast of North America from the Yucatán Peninsula to Maine. Read more about how the copper-based blue blood of horseshoe crabs has helped the medical industry...