Pacific Ocean

A North Atlantic right whale off the coast of Cape Cod in 2015

North Atlantic Right Whales Now Listed as 'Critically Endangered'

Just about 400 of the whales survive in the wild, and they continue to die at an alarming rate

An aerial photo of Nishinoshima erupting on June 29.

Volcanic Island's Explosive Growth Creates New Land

The Japanese island of Nishinoshima has added 500 feet to its coastline in less than a month

Sunrise at the Tongariki site on Easter Island

Native Americans and Polynesians Met Around 1200 A.D.

Genetic analysis of their modern descendants shows that people from the Pacific Islands and South America interacted long before Europeans arrived

Steller sea lions sitting on rocks on the shore of Campbell River in British Columbia, Canada.

Headless Sea Lions Are Washing Up in British Columbia

Biologists and local beachgoers who have encountered the decapitated marine mammals suggest humans may be to blame

During atomic bomb testing at Bikini Atoll, military equipment was placed onboard the USS Nevada to help assess the damage doled out by the nuclear blasts. This is one of four tanks that survived a 23-kiloton surface blast and a 20-kiloton underwater blast.

Researchers Locate Wreck of Battleship That Survived Pearl Harbor and Nuclear Bomb Tests

The USS Nevada was scuttled in 1948 after decades of service

A deep-sea starfish attached to what is called a polymetallic nodule. These nodules are being targeted by the burgeoning deep-sea mining industry for their mixture of valuable metals including manganese, cobalt, copper and nickel.

Deep-Sea Mining’s Environmental Toll Could Last Decades

A study of microbial communities at the site of a 1989 deep-sea mining test suggests the fragile ecosystem may take half a century to fully recover

A rock samples collected during a 2010 drilling expedition in the South Pacific that found microbes in the sea floor.

Microbes Living in Deep Sea Rocks Spawn More Hope for Life on Mars

Starved of resources, these hardy bacteria still eke out a living, suggesting life forms could survive in the harsh habitats on other planets

A coral-covered propeller of a U.S. SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber stands on the sea floor in Truk Lagoon.

Three U.S. Planes Lost During World War II Found in Pacific Lagoon

Project Recover, a nonprofit dedicated to locating MIA service members, identified the planes' location

To escape loud noises, sperm whales have been known to swim to the surface too quickly and give themselves the bends.

Whales Struggled to Find Food After New Zealand’s 2016 Earthquake

Sperm whales are at the top of the food chain, and the effects of undersea landslides rippled up

Grey seals will clap their forelimbs together underwater, generating a sharp sound that communicates to others around them.

In a First, Scientists Film Wild Grey Seals Clapping to Show Their Strength

The behavior is believed to scare off competitors while wooing potential mates

Thousands of brooding octopuses were discovered in 2018 on the ocean floor off the coast of California.

Eighteen Things We've Learned About the Oceans in the Last Decade

In the past 10 years, the world's oceans have faced new challenges, revealed new wonders, and provided a roadmap for future conservation

An endangered White's seahorse.

Undersea 'Hotels' Deployed to Help Sydney's Endangered Seahorses

Captive breeding and microhabitats may help restore White's seahorse whose population plummeted 90 percent in the last decade

Oceanographers Map Legacy of Nuclear Tests at Bikini Atoll

Sonar scans reveal undersea craters from atomic testing conducted between 1946 and 1958

A two-month-old filefish collected in the survey surrounded by plastic bits.

Newly Identified Fish Nurseries Are Choked With Plastic

Larval fish congregate in surface slicks, which contain plankton—and 126 times more plastic than surrounding waters

The team discovered a whale fall while exploring Davidson Seamount off central California’s coast.

Watch Marine Life Feast on a Complete Whale Skeleton on the Ocean Floor

It’s spooky season on the seafloor, too

A humpback whale, not involved in the study, shows off its pecs.

Watch Humpback Whales Scoop Fish Into Their Mouths Using Their Fins

With the help of a drone and other new technologies, researchers were able to study the whales from a bird’s-eye view

Three green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas, on a coral reef, Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Coral Reefs Face the Dual Threats of Ocean Acidification and Erosion

As coral tissues die off, the exposed calcified skeleton becomes vulnerable to organisms that eat away at the dying reefs

Victor Vescovo piloting his sub, Limiting Factor.

American Becomes First to Visit the Five Deepest Spots in World's Oceans

Victor Vescovo recently concluded his Five Deeps Expedition, piloting a custom-built submarine to the deepest trenches on Earth

A geoduck shell found scatted among other shells discarded by the Tseshaht peoples 500 to 1000 years ago suggests that the community had been harvesting and eating geoduck for centuries.

This Centuries-Old Geoduck Shell May Rewrite the Rules About Who Can Harvest the Fancy Clam

A remnant from a meal long gone, the find in British Columbia could give the region's indigenous communities an important legal claim

The surf break at Waikiki Beach, where the modern form of the sport began.

Learn to Surf on the Break Where It All Began

Waikiki Beach on O'ahu is the home of surfing—and you can take lessons there too

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