The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an American scientific agency with roots that reach back to 1807. Its mission is to “understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts, to share that knowledge and information with others, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.” Over the years, NOAA has amassed a sizable library of photographs of our natural world, some of which I've selected here. To explore more NOAA photos, be sure to browse their albums on Flickr.
Images of the Ocean Blue: Photographs From NOAA
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Read moreFor several years, Bob Pitman, a marine ecologist at NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center, has been conducting research with NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service with the aim of discovering whether there may be a new species of killer whale in the waters of Antarctica. Genetics, aerial photogrammetry, and satellite telemetry are being used to explore the possibility. Here, NOAA marine ecologist Lisa Ballance is shown in the southern Ross Sea, Antarctica, at a site where NOAA satellite-tagged one of the local forms of killer whales. This calf may be a new species of killer whale living in the ice in that region. #
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Read moreJuvenile green sea turtle underneath the Midway Island Pier in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. #
Greg McFall / NOAA -
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Read moreDelta submersible seen on surface in waters off Santa Cruz Island, California, in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. #
Robert Schwemmer, CINMS, NOAA -
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Read moreA goosefish perched on the bottom of the ocean off Indonesia. #
NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010, NOAA / OER -
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Read moreEyewall of Hurricane Katrina, south of Louisiana landfall, over the Gulf of Mexico on August 28, 2005. #
Lieutenant Mike Silah, NOAA Corps, NOAA AOC -
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Read moreDeer out for a swim, sometime in 2011. #
Weston Renoud / NOAA -
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Read moreA swimming pinkish-orange translucent holothurian, with intestinal tract visible, on July 27, 2010. Material in the gut is similar to seafloor dung piles seen widely over the world’s ocean sea floor. #
NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010 -
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Read moreA blue-footed booby, on the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, on September 24, 2010. #
Lieutenant Elizabeth Crapo, NOAA Corps -
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Read moreA bathysaurus in Veatch Canyon, in the Atlantic Ocean, south of Cape Cod. These fish use their lower jaw to scoop in the sand. #
NOAA OKEANOS Explorer Program , 2013 Northeast U. S. Canyons Expedition -
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Read moreThis otter investigated Kevin Stierhoff prior to a dive in the kelp forest at Point Lobos State Reserve, California, in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, on September 30, 2005. #
Lieutenant John Crofts, NOAA Corps -
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Read moreA marine iguana on the Galapagos Islands, on September 27, 2010. #
Lieutenant Elizabeth Crapo, NOAA Corps -
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Read moreThe NOAA Ship PISCES launches in Mississippi in December of 2007. #
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Read moreA dumbo octopus in a unique swimming posture. This dumbo octopus displayed a body posture that has never before been observed in cirrate octopods. #
NOAA OKEANOS EXPLORER Program, Gulf of Mexico 2014 Expedition -
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Read moreCidaris sp., a common sea urchin member of the deep coral community, usually referred to as a pencil urchin. #
Dr. Steve Ross, UNC-W. NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration -
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Read moreA stingray at sunrise on a sandbar on Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. #
Lois Hatcher / NOAA -
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Read moreTranslucent triplefin (Enneanectes sp.) on a great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa). #
NOAA CCMA Biogeography Team -
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Read moreHeavily iced fire gear aboard the NOAA ship Miller Freeman. #
Crew and Officers of NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN -
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Read moreThis giant isopod is a representative of one of approximately nine species of large isopods (crustaceans related to shrimps and crabs) in the genus Bathynomus. They are thought to be abundant in cold, deep waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Bob Carney, a professor of oceanography at Louisiana State University, caught this specimen in one of his deep-water fish traps. #
Expedition to the Deep Slope 2006, NOAA-OE / NOAA Ocean Explorer / Image courtesy of Expedition to the Deep Slope 2006, NOAA-OE -
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Read moreMammatocumulus clouds over the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2004. #
Cadet Brandon Olson, U.S. Air Force Academy / NOAA -
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Read moreA brave octopus fights off an alien intruder on May 31, 2006. This stunning octopod, Benthoctopus sp., seemed quite interested in ALVIN's port manipulator arm. Those inside the sub were surprised by the octopod's inquisitive behavior. #
Bruce Strickrott, Expedition to the Deep Slope / NOAA / OER -
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Read moreSeagulls land on the mouth of a humpback whale near Massachusetts, in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. #
Dr. Elliott Hazen NMFS / SWFSC / ERD -
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Read moreA sea turtle, killed by fishing net in the Bay of Bengal, India. #
Sourav Mahmud / NOAA -
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Read moreIcebergs in the Southern Ocean. #
Lieutenant Elizabeth Crapo, NOAA Corps -
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Read moreA waterspout off the Florida Keys photographed from an aircraft on September 10, 1969, in the Florida Keys. #
Dr. Joseph Golden, NOAA / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce. -
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Read moreMother manatee and calf swimming out of Palm Beach Inlet in Florida on January 21, 2014. #
Sam Farkas / NOAA OAR Photo Contest 2014 -
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Read moreA polar bear on sea ice, in the Beaufort Sea in Alaska. #
Collection of Dr. Pablo Clemente-Colon, NOAA National Ice Center -
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Read moreDr. Brian Stacy, NOAA veterinarian, prepares to clean an oiled Kemp's Ridley turtle. Veterinarians and scientists from NOAA, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, and other partners working under the Unified Command are capturing heavily-oiled young turtles 20 to 40 miles offshore as part of ongoing animal rescue and rehabilitation efforts. #
NOAA and Georgia Department of Natural Resources -
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Read moreA very large hermit crab makes a queen triton shell home in Hawaii, at Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. #
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Read moreDolphins, photographed on November 18, 2010. #
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Read moreSkimming oil off the southeast coast. #
Collection of Doug Helton, NOAA / NOS / ORR -
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Read moreA deep-sea chimaera. Chimaeras are most closely related to sharks, although their evolutionary lineage branched off from sharks nearly 400 million years ago, and they have remained an isolated group ever since. Like sharks, chimaeras are cartilaginous and have no real bones. The lateral lines running across this chimaera are mechano-receptors that detect pressure waves (just like ears). The dotted-looking lines on the frontal portion of the face (near the mouth) are ampullae de lorenzini, which detect perturbations in electrical fields generated by living organisms. #
NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010 / NOAA Ocean Explorer / Image courtesy of INDEX 2010: “Indonesia-USA Deep-Sea Exploration of the Sangihe Talaud Region” -
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Read moreA magnificent profusion of life as a humpback whale dives amid thousands of seabirds. The NOAA ship Oscar Dyson is in the distance, off Unalaska Island, Alaska, on September 7, 2005. #
Dr. Phillip Clapham, NMFS / AKFSC / NMML -
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Read moreLieutenant Commander Marc Pickett and Lieutenant Mark Sarmek wrestle to free an entangled Hawaiian monk seal at French Frigate Shoals in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands during a marine debris survey and removal cruise in January of 1997. They were successful. #
Ray Boland, NOAA / NMFS / PIFD / ESOD -
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Read moreA sargassumfish (Histrio histrio), found in the Gulf of Mexico. #
SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA / NMFS / SEFSC -
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Read moreA large male northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostis) with characteristic proboscis dwarfs a shore bird in California’s Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. #
Robert Schwemmer, CINMS, NOAA -
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Read moreA squat lobster, Gastroptychus cf. spinifer, residing on a black coral bush. #
NOAA OKEANOS EXPLORER Program, Gulf of Mexico 2014 Expedition -
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Read moreA mollusk (Order Nudibranchia) swims on the flank of Davidson Seamount, California, on May 22, 2002 at a depth of 1,498 meters. #
NOAA / Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute -
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Read moreA Steller sea lion voices displeasure in this 2013 photo. #
Crew and Officers of NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER
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