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Atlantic Ocean

The Boston Light still shines brightly at night in Boston Harbor.

Cool Finds

The Oldest Lighthouse in the United States Just Celebrated 300 Years of Service

The Boston Light still welcomes sailors to Boston Harbor

The monument protects an array of endemic, threatened and endangered species, including the sperm whale.

Obama Declares the First Atlantic Ocean National Marine Monument

With the announcement of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, Obama solidifies his legacy as an ocean guardian

Cool Finds

Rare Great White Shark Nursery Discovered Off the Coast of New York

Researchers find North Atlantic great whites spend their first 20 years in the waters off Montauk, Long Island

How to Visit the Florida Keys Like a NASA Aquanaut

To prepare for space, astronauts spend some time under the sea

Two canal workers pose in the cut

Cool Finds

Commemorate the Panama Canal’s Expansion With These Photos From Its Construction

The Panama Canal is opening a third lane to accommodate new mega cargo ships, a feat almost—but not quite—as impressive as building the original

Dawn at the dock at Piscataway, with the many mast stays outlined by the morning light.

Nine Days of a Sailor-Scholar’s Life Aboard the Canoe Circumnavigating the Globe

A Smithsonian expert learns the hard-knock lessons of when to be quiet and how to take a poop

America's beaches are filled with treasures for beachcombers.

Five of the Best Beaches for Beachcombing in the U.S.

On the hunt for seashells and other buried treasure? Here’s where to look

Boulder brain coral is usually common in Florida's coral reefs.

New Research

Between Bleaching and Boats, Florida’s Coral Reefs Are Struggling to Survive

The reefs are crumbling in acidifying waters and buried from dredging, according to new reports

Art Meets Science

What’s Over the Horizon? These New Maps Will Show You

Andy Woodruff’s line of sight maps show what you’re facing from any coastline in the world

A right whale spotted off the coast of New Brunswick, Canada in 2011.

Trending Today

Hundreds of Right Whales Are Returning to Cape Cod

Decades have passed since the endangered species regularly frequented Cape Cod Bay

A thick wetsuit is mandatory garb for surfers braving the ice-cold ocean.

For New England’s Snow Surfers, Surf’s Up Even When Temps Are Down

Catch a very cold wave at the New England Mid-Winter Surfing Championships

Trending Today

America’s in the Midst of a Lobster Boom

With the lobster catch up sixfold in the last 30 years, can we eat without worry?

The Cape Hatteras Light of North Carolina, on the Atlantic Ocean.

The Lonely, Lifesaving Job of Lighthouse Keepers, Revealed at the National Lighthouse Museum

A new museum in Staten Island tells the stories of men and women who ran lighthouses throughout America’s history and shows off some unique antiques

Cool Finds

Could the Sounds of Cod Having Sex Save a Species (and an Economy)?

Spying on “spawning haystacks” is helping fishermen make more money and biologists preserve a floundering fish population

The rugged northwest coast of the island of Tristan. Winds and waves are so rough that many of past inhabitants were shipwrecked sailors who drifted ashore.

Redesigning the World’s Most Remote Human Settlement

Why architects are hosting a competition to help inhabitants keep living there—and how you can visit

Skiing toward the breaking waves on a slush-covered beach.

Anthropocene

How “Slurpee” Waves Formed Along a Nantucket Beach

New England’s record cold created the perfect conditions for waves of slush, offering an unusual opportunity to ski on the beach

A cross section of a polymetalic deep sea nodule of manganese and cobalt discovered on a previous expedition.

Cool Finds

An Underwater Field of Weird Metal Balls Is a Key to Both Past And Future

A huge deposit of manganese nodules beneath the Atlantic might be a potential source of highly prized rare earth metals

An albino bottlenose dolphin, like this one but without its melanin, was spotted off the coast of Florida in December.

Cool Finds

An Albino Dolphin Was Spotted Off the Coast of Florida

It is only the 15th albino dolphin sighting recorded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The world's first large scale offshore wind farm in Denmark. The 80 turbine installation was completed in December 2002.

Trending Today

America’s Offshore Wind Production Is About to Go Big

A new federal land lease will open the door to a surge in offshore wind development

A blue shark near the Azores islands.

Shark Week

Bizarre Blue Shark Nursery Found in the North Atlantic

Rather than emerging in protected coves, baby blue sharks spend their first years in a big patch of open ocean

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