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The Ocean is important to all life, including yours. Join us.

Welcome to the Ocean Portal – a unique, interactive online experience that inspires awareness, understanding, and stewardship of the world’s Ocean, developed by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and more than 20 collaborating organizations.

You are among the first wave of visitors to the Portal, an experience which we hope will empower you to shape and share your personal Ocean experiences, knowledge, and perspectives.

The input you provide through feedback modules and comment boxes will help us to shape future Ocean Portal content and functionality. Like the Ocean, which is made of millions of marine species, your comments, questions, and clicks will help to bring the Portal closer to the vastness and variety of the Ocean itself.

Collaborator Contributions

2011 Student Summit on the Ocean & Coasts Webcast, Part 5: Jean-Michel Cousteau

Recorded on Feb. 15, 2011, award-winning ocean filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau addresses students and educators at the Third Student Summit on the Ocean and Coasts. Cousteau, president of the Ocean Futures Society, discusses climate change, marine debris, and free diving with great white sharks. Cousteau's lecture was streamed live from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

2011 Student Summit on the Ocean & Coasts Webcast, Part 4

Recorded Feb. 15, 2011, this video from the Third Student Summit on the Ocean and Coasts includes presentations that were given by delegations from the Mystic Aquarium (01:00), Gulf Coast Research Laboratory & Marine Education Center (17:00), Seattle Aquarium (30:15) and the Waikiki Aquarium (44:30).

2011 Student Summit on the Ocean & Coasts Webcast, Part 3

Recorded Feb. 15, 2011, this video from the Third Student Summit on the Ocean and Coasts includes presentations that were given by delegations from the Monterey Bay Aquarium (2:30), Oregon Coast Aquarium (16:40), Texas State Aquarium (30:10), Georgia Aquarium (44:00), South Carolina Aquarium (59:00) and the Alaska SeaLife Center (68:50).

2011 Student Summit on the Ocean & Coasts Webcast, Part 2

Recorded Feb. 15, 2011, this video from the Third Student Summit on the Ocean and Coasts includes public awareness and education presentations that were presented by delegations from the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher (2:20), Shedd Aquarium (17:30), Veracruz Aquarium (30:15) and the Aquarium of the Pacific (43:50).

2011 Student Summit on the Ocean & Coasts Webcast, Part 1

Recorded Feb. 15, 2011, this video from the Third Student Summit on the Ocean and Coasts includes a tribal song written and sung by Suquamish Tribal member Bearon Old Coyote; a welcome to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History by Director Dr. Cristian Samper; a lecture about the "Interconnection Among the Ocean, Coasts, Great Lakes & Climate" by the Smithsonian's Sant Chair of Marine Science, Dr. Nancy Knowlton.

Hydrothermal Vent Creatures

Travel to a world of perpetual night--the deep ocean hydrothermal vents near the Galapagos Rift where life thrives around superheated water spewing from deep inside the Earth. Discovered only in 1977, hydrothermal vents are home to dozens of previously unknown species.

Making Aquaculture Sustainable

Watch as Dr. Dallas Alston and a team of researchers study the effects of aquaculture at a fish farm near Puerto Rico. With careful planning and good daily practices, aquaculture can be part of a sustainable seafood strategy that helps feed people while protecting the environment.

Smithsonian Paleobiologist Brian Huber

Brian Huber studies fossil organisms known as “forams” to learn about climate change in this video snippet from the Smithsonian Marine Collections video.

The Trouvadore: A Story of Deliverance

Join marine archeologists as they trace the history of the Trouvadore, a slave ship bound for Cuba that wrecked in the Turks and Caicos Islands in 1841, and the ship’s passengers unusual path to freedom.

Scientists Explore the Ocean in Alvin

Take a tour of the Alvin, a three-person submersible that allows scientists to explore the depths of the ocean. This is an excerpt from the full Deep Ocean Explorers video. More about deep ocean exploration can be found in our Deep Ocean Exploration featured story.