Planet Ocean | Smithsonian Ocean

Sun rays shine on an ocean coast with a steep rocky coast.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones Overview

Ever wonder about how hurricanes form? How about the difference between a cyclone and a typhoon? This overview dives into everything to know.

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Featured Content

On average, Arctic sea ice has decreased by four percent per decade since the late 1970s.

Overview

Sea Level Rise

A shell placed in seawater with increased acidity slowly dissolves over 45 days.

Overview

Ocean Acidification

a deep sea jellyfish

Overview

The Deep Sea

A real-time monitoring system helps to forecast and track tsunamis before they reach shore, giving people a chance to move to higher ground.

Video

Tracking Tsunamis

Planet Ocean Articles

Red and white riftia worms living in a deep-sea vent.

Audio

Riftia Worms: One Species at a Time

the front of an ice breaker

Video

Sea Ice in its Ever-Changing Forms

An algal bloom, also known as a red tide, has converted the ocean's surf to a red color

Article

Scientists Work to Predict and Prevent Algae Blooms

A real-time monitoring system helps to forecast and track tsunamis before they reach shore, giving people a chance to move to higher ground.

Video

Tracking Tsunamis

Waves breaking on the shore

Overview

Currents, Waves, and Tides

Small foram shells in seafloor sediment.

Article

Little Critters that tell a BIG Story: Benthic Foraminifera and the Gulf Oil Spill

ice cover simulation

Video

Receding Ice Cover

Positioned in front of a natural oil seep, this video camera is capturing images of the black oil bubbling up from beneath the sea floor. A light mounted to the frame helps see what is happening in the dark on the sea floor.

Article

How Oil Feeds the Deep Sea

On average, Arctic sea ice has decreased by four percent per decade since the late 1970s.

Overview

Sea Level Rise

The Encyclopedia of Life brings us another installment of the podcast, One Species at a Time. In this podcast, host Ari Daniel Shapiro relates two close calls with polar bears. Listen as Heather Cray recalls how, dumped by a storm on a small Arct

Audio

Polar Bears: One Species at a Time

An Argo float transmits data

Video

Taking the Ocean’s Temperature

One-meter-tall plastic drifters are released into the Gulf of Mexico in 2012. Over 300 of these drifters were released and their location information was sent to researchers every five minutes through GPS satellite.

Article

CARTHE Drifters: Where does oil go when it is spilled?