Ocean science news, explainers, and statistics covering marine environments, currents, climate, coasts, seafloor research, and the changing global ocean.
Modern ships can determine their position with satellites and display it on electronic charts. They carry radar and depth sounders, supported by radios that earlier mariners could not imagine. Yet working lighthouses still mark harbor entrances and isolated hazards at headlands around the world. Their role has changed from being a vessel’s principal guide to…
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A nautical chart and an ordinary map both describe places, but they are built for different decisions. A road map helps a traveler choose among established routes. A nautical chart gives a mariner the locations of hazards and navigation aids alongside the measured depths needed to choose a safe route across water where no lane…
A broad patch of the western North Atlantic has become famous for ships and aircraft said to vanish under mysterious circumstances. The name Bermuda Triangle gives the impression of a precisely defined danger zone, but no official boundary encloses it. NOAA’s Bermuda Triangle account concludes that disappearances do not occur there more often than in…
A satellite image can show the color of shallow coastal water, but managers need to know what lies beneath it. A benthic habitat map classifies the seafloor into useful ecological units such as coral reef, seagrass, sand or rocky bottom. NOAA’s benthic mapping overview explains that the word benthic refers to the bottom of a…
