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Office Of Ocean Exploration News

12 May 2021

VIDEO: Up Close and Personal with Ocean Explorer Robert Ballard

In 2019, Nautilus plied the Pacific waters off the island of Nikumaroro, searching for any sign of Amelia Earhart's lost plane. In the cool, dark control room, we kept a 24-hour vigil. (Gabriel Scarlett/National Geographic Image Collection)

Ocean explorer and scientist Dr. Robert D. Ballard opens up on his personal life and his world-famous ocean discoveries like never before in his new book, ā€œInto the Deep.ā€ Best known as ā€˜the man who found the Titanic,ā€™ Marine Technology Reporter had the opportunity to interview Ballard on the contents of the book, a book released yesterday with a follow-up National Geographic television special scheduled for June 14, 2021, taking a deep dive into his dyslexia, the importance of his family throughout his careerā€¦

05 Sep 2017

Two Shipwrecks Found in Lake Huron

NOAA maritime archaeologists and partners have located and identified two previously undiscovered historic shipwrecks in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The shipwrecks are the wooden steamer Ohio (1873-1894) and the steel-hulled steamer Choctaw (1892-1915). In May 2017, a sanctuary-led expedition used high-resolution sonars to map the bottom of Lake Huron, during which they located the two ships. At the time, researchers were confident they had discovered the 202-foot Ohio and the 266-foot Choctaw. The team recently confirmed the vesselsā€™ identities using underwater robots to collect photos and video of the shipwrecks. The sanctuary is planning future expeditions to better understand, manage and interpret Ohio and Choctaw.

22 Aug 2016

Researchers to Visit ā€˜Battle of the Atlanticā€™ Wreckage

Sonar image of the German submarine U-576. (Credit: NOAA & SRI International)

Researchers from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its partners are set to visit what remains of two shipsā€”a German U-boat and a Nicaraguan freighter ā€“ which sank off Cape Hatteras during World War IIā€™s ā€œBattle of the Atlantic,ā€ which pitted the U-boats of the German navy against combined Canadian, British, and American forces defending Allied merchant ships. By July 1942, the United States had been in World War II for less than a year, but the fight was coming to the nationā€™s shores.

19 Feb 2016

Excellence in Partnering Award for "Atlantic Canyons" Team

The National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) will present the 2015 Excellence in Partnering Award to 17 organizations involved in the Atlantic Canyons study during Ocean Sciences 2016 in New Orleans. The ceremony will take place on Tuesday,  February 23, from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. (CST) at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Room 223. This multi-year effort leveraged the resources of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 12 universities and research institutions, and two companies, to explore Baltimore and Norfolk Canyons about 60 miles offshore of Maryland and Virginia.

17 Apr 2015

'Amazingly Intact' WWII-era Aircraft Carrier Surveyed

Features on a photo of USS Independence CVL 22 are captured in a 3D low-resolution sonar image of the shipwreck in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The Coda Octopus Echoscope 3D sonar, integrated on the Boeing AUV Echo Ranger, imaged the shipwreck during the first maritime archaeological survey. The sonar image with oranges color tones (lower) shows an outline of a possible airplane in the forward aircraft elevator hatch opening. (Credit: NOAA, Boeing, and Coda Octopus)

NOAA, working with private industry partners and the U.S. Navy, has confirmed the location and condition of the USS Independence, the lead ship of its class of light aircraft carriers that were critical during the American naval offensive in the Pacific during World War II. Resting in 2,600 feet of water off California's Farallon Islands, the carrier is "amazingly intact," said NOAA scientists, with its hull and flight deck clearly visible, and what appears to be a plane in the carrier's hangar bay.

08 Apr 2015

NOAA to Explore Depths of Caribbean Sea

Okeanos Explorer's dual-body ROV system is loaded from the aftdeck of the ship into the water before conducting an exploration dive. (Credit: NOAA)

Public can watch seafloor discoveries live online April 9-30. Beginning April 9, scientists aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer will begin a series of 20 dives to investigate previously unseen depths of the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean ā€“ and the public can follow along online. During dives that are expected to go as deep as 3.7 miles, a sophisticated unmanned submarine, called a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, will broadcast live video from the seafloor, allowing anyone with Internet access to watch the expedition as it unfolds.

15 May 2013

New NOAA ROV On Ocean Trials

'Okeanos Explorer': Photo credit NOAA

The 6,000-meter-rated remotely operated vehicle (ROV) system will be tested from 'Okeanos Explorer' in the 2013 field season. Dave Lovalvo, project manager for the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Researchā€™s Deep Submergence Group and his team has built and will be testing the ROV during the 2013 field season. The vehicle will be operated from the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, America's only U.S. government ship that is dedicated to the sole purpose of exploring the worldā€™s oceans.

16 May 2012

Historic Shipwreck Discovered in Northern GOM

During a recent Gulf of Mexico expedition, NOAA, BOEM and partners discovered an historic wooden-hulled vessel which is believed to have sunk as long as 200 years ago. Scientists on board the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer used underwater robots with lights and high definition cameras to view remnants of the ship laden with anchors, navigational instruments, glass bottles, ceramic plates, cannons, and boxes of muskets. Equipped with telepresence technology, Okeanos Explorer reached audiences around the world who participated in the expedition through live streaming Internet video. As members of the public ashore watched live video from the ocean bottomā€¦

30 Jul 2009

Pribilof Canyon in Bering Sea Mapped

A new high resolution seafloor survey of Pribilof Canyon in the eastern Bering Sea reveals dramatic details of this undersea canyon, and provides information for improved fisheries conservation and management; in particular, provide identification of areas that are potentially hazardous for loss of commercial fishing gear. Previously, only incomplete lower-resolution data were available to describe the morphology of this world-class feature. Pribilof Canyon is one of a family of huge canyons that play a central role in supporting the rich ecosystem of the Bering Sea.

16 Sep 2003

NOAA Partners to Return to 19th Century Steamship Portland

returned on Sept. vessel's past and plan for its future. August 2002 within NOAA's Gerry E. Sanctuary (SBNMS) off the coast of Massachusetts. and its immediate surroundings. the wreck site. and maintain the archaeological integrity of the wreck site. superstructure and propulsion apparatus. clues into the exact cause of the steamer's sinking, which remains a mystery. down during a ferocious storm on Nov. 27, 1898. the impact of the disaster on the region. scientist. nation's history. serving as the expedition's floating base of operations. century-old wrecks. said Ivar Babb, NURC director. the initial surveys of the Portland. The Science Channel, a service of Discovery Networks U.S. NURC-UConn for archival and further analysis. January 2004. executive producer, The Science Channel.

08 Sep 2006

Expedition to Explore Submerged Wreck of Airship

On September 17, 2006 researchers from NOAAā€™s National Marine Sanctuary program and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute will embark on an expedition off the Big Sur coast to conduct an archaeological investigation at the submerged wreck site of the rigid airship USS Macon, the nationā€™s largest and last U.S. built rigid lighter-than-air craft. The 785-ft. USS Macon, an U.S. Navy "dirigible," and its four Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk aircraft were lost on February 12, 1935 during severe weather offshore of Point Sur, Calif., on a routine flight from the Channel Islands to its home base at Moffett airfield. The wreckage of the USS Macon provide an opportunity to study the relatively undisturbed archaeological remnants of a unique period of U.S. aviation history.

09 Feb 2006

NOAA Approves Grant to Aid Search for John Paul Jones' Flagship

The Naval Historical Centerā€™s (NHC) search for Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones' ship Bonhomme Richard received further support in early February, when it was recommended for funding through the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration's competitive grant process. The NHC and Ocean Technology Foundation (OTF) plan to launch a search for Bonhomme Richard off the coast of England in July. "You cannot find an underwater archaeological site more important to the U.S. Navy than that of John Paul Jones' Bonhomme Richard," said Dr. Robert Neyland, head of the NHC's Underwater Archaeology Branch. "Locating and identifying the remains of this great ship would validate Jones' accomplishments, do great service for U.S.