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Pacific Ocean

The chart is less a literal representation of the sea, but more an abstract illustration of the ways that ocean swells interact with land.

The Innovative Spirit - OLD

How Sticks and Shell Charts Became a Sophisticated System for Navigation

Sailors navigating with sextant, compass and maps found in the Marshall Islands that curved sticks and cowry shells were far more sophisticated

The world's six known punked out snail species, which have mohawk-like spikes, acidic-dyed psychedelic colors and hardcore shells that are falling apart.

New Research

New Deep-Sea Snails Are Nature’s Own Punk Rockers

The spikes on one hardcore species inspired scientists to name it after Joe Strummer of the Clash, who was also an ardent environmentalist

Windswept trees seem to loom over a beach on the remote island of Tarawa in Kiribati. Scientists have found that coral reefs near Tarawa record changes in Pacific trade winds.

Corals Show How Pacific Trade Winds Guide Global Temperatures

The world has been in a global warming hiatus, but that will change when the winds once again weaken

Olympian and airman Louis Zamperini crouches in his starting position on a B-18 bomber.

Document Deep Dive

“Unbroken“‘s Louis Zamperini Crashed Into the Pacific on May 27, 1943. Here is the Missing Air Crew Report

The National Archives holds a record with details of the downing of the former Olympian’s B-24 bomber that left him lost at sea for 47 days

Cool Finds

At 26,700 Feet, This Is the Deepest-Swimming Fish Known

Researchers found a new fish in the depths of the Mariana Trench

Cool Finds

The Black Sea Devil, a Rare Deep-Sea Anglerfish, Filmed for the First Time

Fewer than half a dozen anglerfish have ever been recorded swimming in their undersea habitat

Sunflower sea stars are just one of 20 species affected.

New Research

Meet the Tiny Killer Causing Millions of Sea Stars to Waste Away

The deadly sea star wasting disease, which turns live animals into slimy goop, is caused by a previously unknown virus

Lava flow from the Kilauea volcano.

Trending Today

Lava Is Poised to Consume Some Homes in Hawaii

Lava is creeping across the Big Island’s Puna district at a rate of about 10 to 15 yards per hour

The remains of S.S. Frank H. Buck peek above the surface during low tide off San Francisco's Lands End.

Cool Finds

The Waters Around San Francisco Conceal a Graveyard of Historic Ships

Hundreds of wrecks, potentially, await discovery and exploration

Master navigator Mau Piailug teaches navigation to his son and grandson with the help of a star compass.

How the Voyage of the Kon-Tiki Misled the World About Navigating the Pacific

Smithsonian geographer Doug Herman explains the traditional science of traversing the ocean seas

Two hurricanes, Iselle and Julio, that could hit Hawaii this weekend (seen here in a satellite image captured August 4) may have been influenced by an El Niño developing in the Pacific.

New Research

Ancient Clam Shells Show That What Drives El Niño Is Still Unclear

Earth’s path around the Sun may play a role, but other factors are still unknown

Trending Today

President Obama Could Create the World’s Largest Marine Sanctuary

The protected zone would make a large area in the Pacific Ocean off limits to fishing and other environmentally harmful human activities

An experiment with corals taken from the warm waters of the U.S. National Park of American Samoa showed that at least one species can quickly adapt to rising heat.

New Research

This Coral Has Shown It Can Weather Warmer Waters

Corals are not expected to do well with climate change. But the ability to adapt to warmer oceans could give them more time

Problem solved?

New Research

There Are Too Many Pink Salmon in the Pacific

Pink salmon populations are booming, at the expense of other species

Nootka Island Lighthouse

Canada

In British Columbia, There Are Amazing Waves No One’s Ever Surfed Before

Nootka Island is a surfer’s paradise for enthusiasts who don’t mind water temperatures hovering around 50 degrees Fahrenheit

The Tsunami House, on the northern end of Washington's Camano Island, is designed to withstand the impact of high-velocity wave walls with heights of up to eight feet.

This House is Built to Withstand the Force of a Tsunami

A clever idea to let water flow through a home may allow residents in Puget Sound to escape the fate that locals centuries ago could not

The Kuroshio, or "Black Current," is the Pacific Ocean's answer to the Atlantic's Gulf Stream.

Borne on a Black Current

For thousands of years, the Pacific Ocean’s strong currents have swept shipwrecked Japanese sailors onto American shores

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