Oceanography

Pancake ice is fun and rare in some places, but it might be speeding up the warming of the ocean in the Arctic.

By Jesslyn Shields

It covers more than 30 percent of the planet, and is home to all kinds of sea creatures. What other facts make the Pacific Ocean so amazing?

By Mark Mancini

Anyone who's been to the ocean has probably seen the foamy white stuff that clings to the sand after a wave breaks and recedes, but what the heck causes that bubbly foam and is it dangerous?

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

NOAA's Argo program distributes floating observatories across the globe. Why? They collect data about the world's oceans that is critical to understanding the planet.

By Jennifer Walker-Journey

If it looks like a party is on, maybe they'll come back. Playing the sounds of a noisy, healthy coral reef can attract important fish species to devastated reef habitats.

By Jesslyn Shields

EXXpedition founder Emily Penn will captain the 300, all-female crew in its first Round the World sailing voyage.

By Patty Rasmussen

Cross seas may looks super cool. But you never want to get caught up in the grid-patterned waves they generate.

By John Perritano

Sealab was a U.S. Navy program that allowed undersea divers to go deeper and stay underwater longer. So why did it disappear?

By Jesslyn Shields

The super-cool phenomenon of tidal bores happens in only a few places on the globe, and it takes a very specific set of conditions to occur.

By Mark Mancini

Around 90 percent of an iceberg is under the water, but changing weight distribution caused by melting can make it flip.

By Stell Simonton

All that seashell collecting you've been doing actually hurts the environment.

By Mark Mancini

Harmful algal blooms wreak havoc in oceans around the world and occur nearly every summer along the coastline of Florida.

By Patrick J. Kiger

He might be the most important scientist you've never heard of, but the ocean current that bears his name helped shape the development of evolutionary theory.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Blue whales are the largest mammal ever known to exist on Earth. So what makes these creatures so huge?

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

Ocean water is not actually blue, but appears in different shades for many reasons.

By Amanda Onion

Water covers about 71 percent of Earth's surface, but do you know the difference between an ocean and a sea? And which ocean is the smallest?

By Amanda Onion

Ever wondered what's the difference between a river, a stream, a brook and a tributary?

By Amanda Onion

A new study showed an alarming imbalance in the male-to-female ratio in green sea turtles hatching at the Great Barrier Reef. Scientists believe climate change is to blame.

By Nathan Chandler

Although we've known it exists for decades, nobody knows exactly why there's a humming noise at the bottom of the ocean. But we're one step closer now that scientists have been able to record the sound underwater.

By Mark Mancini

Environmental researchers found that large river systems with lots of surrounding residents are the sources of plastic debris in the oceans.

By Mark Mancini

Scientist and oceanographer Charles Moore confirmed the existence of a second huge plastic garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean.

By John Perritano

Scientists are tracking the massive iceberg A-68, which recently calved from Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf, to see where it drifts and whether it breaks up.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Measuring sea level has changed almost as much as the tides during the 200 or so years scientists have been tracking it. Find out how it's tracked today.

By John Perritano

The Denmark Strait cataract dwarfs every other waterfall in the world, but you can't see it because it's deep under the Atlantic Ocean.

By Jesslyn Shields

Climate change may be melting glaciers, but it's also reducing the oxygen of the world's oceans. Without oxygen, many marine organisms may no longer be able to survive.

By John Perritano