The National Marine Sanctuary Program identifies, designates and manages areas of the marine environment of special national significance due to their conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, research, educational, or aesthetic qualities. Access information and pictures of marine sanctuaries all over the U.S. and its territories. Discover ways to get involved with the sanctuary program, ... Full description.

Classroom activities based on how scientists study active volcanoes on the deep ocean floor. Activities include: locating an earthquake epicenter, recording geological and biological information during an ocean floor traverse, creating cross-section profiles of the ocean floor, and graphing seafloor data. Resources include videos and teacher guides. Full description.

Through linked programs of stewardship, education, and research, the NERRS enhances informed management and scientific understanding of the nation's estuarine and coastal habitats. Includes information on monitoring (water quality, weather, nutrients, etc.), restoration, invasive species, fellowships, and much more. With reserves all over coastal U.S., educators and scientists can access an abundance ... Full description.

Research program investigating impacts of submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal venting on the global ocean. Research focuses on acoustic monitoring of earthquake and volcano activity, vent chemistry, and vent fluid transport. Research sites located in northeastern Pacific, western Pacific, eastern Pacific and northern Atlantic and include Mariana Arc, Axial Volcano, Gorda Ridge, and East Pacific Rise. ... Full description.

Search the 2-minute gridded global relief data and images to get ocean and land areas, 30-second gridded land topography, or archived 5-minute gridded global relief data for your area of choice. Read the geographic selection information for directions on how to select an area. Full description.

Access to over 160 lesson plans developed by scientists and educators during NOAA's 2001-2004 Ocean Explorer field seasons. Search by grade level, geographical region, subject, specific expedition, or keyword. Lessons correspond with a NOAA exploration, can be supplemented with daily mission logs, images and video. They include: Learning Objectives, Background Information, Evaluations, Extensions, ... Full description.

Defines geodesy and introduces the National Geodetic Survey. View a tutorial on the history, elements and modern methods of geodesy. Applications of mapping are illustrated: determining land boundaries and shorelines; improving transportation and navigation safety. Lesson plans include tutorials, data for classroom mapping activities, resource links and teacher guides. A NSTA SciLinks selected site. ... Full description.

Examine the relationships between volcanic events and the chemistry and biology of hydrothermal vents on the undersea volcano Axial: daily expedition logs, curriculum materials that seek to solve an underwater mystery, photographs and fly-through video. Site also features highly-interactive dives to the seafloor (requires free Shockwave plugin). Full description.

Excellent images of ocean topography, continental margins, crustal age, Great Lakes bathymetry, plus images of available posters and slide sets. Downloadable animations also available. Links to other NOAA resources. Full description.

Project Oceanica's goal is to integrate education with oceanographic research and exploration, and to develop educational resources and programs available to college and high school students, as well as to K-12 educators. Site is a comprehensive collection of Project Oceanica programs and resources. Features expedition and research information, photo and video galleries, field guides, shark and billfishes ... Full description.