The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a US scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploration, and managing fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the US exclusive economic zone. The agency is part of the United States Department of Commerce and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Oceanography, also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology.
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is the center for oceanography and Earth science at the University of California, San Diego. Its main campus is located in La Jolla, with additional facilities in Point Loma.
Evan B. Forde is an American oceanographer at the Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He was the first African-American scientist to perform research in a submersible. Forde is widely considered an expert on the formation of submarine canyons and his recent research uses satellite sensors to analyze atmospheric conditions related to hurricane formation.
The Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), a federal research laboratory, is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), located in Miami in the United States. AOML's research spans tropical cyclone and hurricanes, coastal ecosystems, oceans and human health, climate studies, global carbon systems, and ocean observations. It is one of seven NOAA Research Laboratories (RLs).
NOAA Ship Rainier is a survey vessel in commission with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Her primary mission is to chart all aspects of the ocean and sea floor, primarily in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. The ship is home-ported at the NOAA Marine Operations Center–Pacific in Newport, Oregon.
NOAAS Ronald H. Brown is a Thomas G. Thompson-class blue-water research vessel of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, she is NOAA's only Global-Class research ship.
USNS Vindicator (T-AGOS-3) was a United States Navy Stalwart-class modified tactical auxiliary general ocean surveillance ship that was in service from 1984 to 1993. Vindicator then served in the United States Coast Guard from 1994 to 2001 as the medium endurance cutter USCGC Vindicator (WMEC-3). From 2004 to 2020, she was in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fleet as the oceanographic research ship NOAAS Hiʻialakai.
USNS Relentless (T-AGOS-18) was a Stalwart-class modified tactical auxiliary general ocean surveillance ship in service in the United States Navy from 1990 to 1993. Since 1998, she has been in commission in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fleet as the fisheries research ship NOAAS Gordon Gunter.
The Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) was a United States Federal executive agency created in 1965 as part of a reorganization of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission was to unify and oversee the meteorological, climatological, hydrographic, and geodetic operations of the United States. It operated until 1970, when it was replaced by the new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NOAA Ship Nancy Foster is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel. The ship is named for Dr. Nancy Foster, who was the director of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s Office of Protected Resources from 1986 until 1993, and the director of the National Ocean Service from 1997 until her death in 2000.
NOAAS Thomas Jefferson is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hydrographic survey vessel in service since 2003. The ship was built for the United States Navy as USNS Littlehales (T-AGS-52) serving as one of two new coastal hydrographic survey vessels from 1992 until transfer to NOAA in 2003 when it was named after Founding Father and third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson.
NOAAS Discoverer may refer to the following ships of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):
NOAAS Henry B. Bigelow is a fisheries research vessel operated by the United States' National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). She is the second in a class of five fisheries research vessels. She is named after Henry Bryant Bigelow (1879-1967), the American oceanographer, zoologist, and marine biologist who founded the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
NOAAS Reuben Lasker is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fishery research vessel. The ship's namesake, Reuben Lasker, was a fisheries biologist who served with the Southwest Fisheries Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, and taught at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Bell Masayuki Shimada was an American fisheries scientist. He is noted for his study during the 1950s of tuna stocks in the tropical Pacific Ocean and its important effect on the development of the post-World War II tuna fishery on the United States West Coast.
Roberta Marinelli is an oceanographer and Professor in the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. From 2016 to 2022, she was Dean of this college.
Saildrone, Inc. is a United States company based in Alameda, California, that designs, manufacturers, and operates a fleet of unmanned/uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs), or ocean drones, known as "saildrones". The company was founded by engineer Richard Jenkins in 2012.
NOAAS Oceanographer, originally USC&GS Oceanographer, was an American Oceanographer-class oceanographic research vessel in service in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1966 to 1970 and in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1970 to 1996. She was the second Coast and Geodetic Survey ship and first NOAA ship to bear the name Oceanographer. She served as flagship of both the Coast and Geodetic Survey and NOAA fleets.
NOAAS Discoverer is an American oceanographic research vessel scheduled to enter commissioned service in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 2026. She is under construction, with completion anticipated in 2026. She is the second NOAA ship to bear the name Discoverer.
United States
