Search | Smithsonian Ocean

Search

Showing results for

The view from Fira, Santorini's capital city on the Aegean Sea, includes an active volcanic island formed by the same volcano that formed the Santorini islands.

Photo

Santorini Island View from Fira

May 2015

"This shot was taken during a dusk dive in Southern Leyte in the Philippines. I ended the dive with an amazing sunset," wrote Paul Cowell of his winning image.

Photo

Surfacing into a Sunset

May 2015

Plastic does not biodegrade; it photodegrades, which means that sunlight breaks it down into smaller and smaller pieces. These bits of plastic and plankton were collected during a 3:00 am manta net tow, and are just a sample of the plankton-like plastic pi

Photo

Plastic Bits from the Gyre

July 2015

Dr. Maya Yamato and colleague John Ososky dissect the head of a deceased stranded fin whale in the Chesapeake Bay to examine soft tissue associated with the ears. In 2015, Yamato’s team of researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural H

Photo

Learning From A Stranded Fin Whale

March 2015

Corals Get Covered: The Gulf oil spill was different from many big oil spills in history because oil spewed from a well in the deep sea instead of leaking onto the ocean's surface. GoMRI scientists have found that oil remains in the deep to this day—and

Photo

Corals Get Covered

February 2015

Eat Your Methane Wheaties: Along with oil, natural gases such as methane spewed out of the deep-sea well during Deepwater Horizon. Researchers had no idea what would happen to this methane: would it bubble to the surface, dissolve in seawater and drift awa

Photo

Eat Your Methane Wheaties

February 2015

Drifters, Dye, and Drones: How can you follow 3.19 million barrels of spilled oil? Researchers with GoMRI's CARTHE project have set out drifters—big and small—that relay their GPS locations every five minutes. These data can help scientists understand

Photo

Drifters, Dye, and Drones

February 2015

An underwater blizzard of oil, marine microbes, "sea snot", and algae.

Photo

A Dirty Blizzard In the Gulf of Mexico

January 2015

Marsh Erosion Sped Up: One of the worst places for oil to end up after a spill is in marshes, where it can kill grass and cause erosion. But how much damage does it do, how far inland does it reach, and how long does the damage last? Pictured here is oiled

Photo

Marsh Erosion After An Oil Spill

January 2015

Dispersant in the Deep: Dispersants, soap-like chemicals that cause oil to mix with water more easily, have been used with success to remove oil after a spill on the ocean's surface. But Deepwater Horizon wasn't a surface spill; instead, oil spewed into th

Photo

Oil Spewing From Macondo Well

January 2015

A raindrop falls into a surface oil slick treated with chemical dispersant.

Photo

A Rain Drop On An Oil Slick

January 2015

An unidentified earplug from the National Museum of Natural History collection.

Photo

Whale Earwax

January 2016