NOAA Ocean Podcast

Healthy coastal habitat is not only important for seafood and recreation, it also plays an important role in reducing climate change. In this podcast, we talk with NOAA environmental scientist Ariana Sutton-Grier about Coastal Blue Carbon.

A NOAA "shipwreck detective" talks about a two-year study to locate and document shipwrecks in Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and the surrounding area.

In this episode, we explore ocean acidification and coral bleaching with two NOAA experts. Learn about the stresses our reefs face--and what's being done about it. Episode permanent link and show notes

As sea ice continues to shrink in the Arctic, we’re likely to see more shipping, more oil exploration, more tourism, and more fishing. And all of this activity means that in the future, we’ll probably going have to deal with an oil spill in this remote region. So how do we prepare for that? The Coast Guard cutter Healy, a 420-foot-long icebreaker, is now heading north in answer to this question. The mission: an annual exercise called Arctic Shield led by the U.S. Coast Guard’s Research and Development Center. Onboard the Healy, scientists are gearing up to deal with a simulated oil spill in the icy Arctic. To tell us all about Arctic Shield and NOAA’s role in this expedition, we talk to Zachary Winters-Staszak, a spatial data specialist on the mission from the National Ocean Service’s Response and Restoration office.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of many areas in the ocean where marine debris naturally concentrates because of ocean currents. In this episode, an expert from the NOAA Marine Debris Program explains what a garbage patch is and isn't, what we know and don't know, and what we can do about this ocean-sized problem.

Coastal Blue Carbon. Heard of it? A NOAA environmental scientist explains how certain small coastal areas play an outsized role in reducing climate change.

Prior to the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Exxon Valdez was the largest spill to ever occur in U.S. coastal waters. In this episode, we talk with NOAA marine biologist Gary Shigenaka to find out how marine life is faring today in Prince William Sound, Alaska. We also look at lessons we might learn from this environmental disaster in light of growing oil exploration and shipping traffic in the Arctic.

Tides and currents data...we all want it, but what goes into collecting and making this data available for us to use. Go behind the scenes in this latest Diving Deeper episode with NOAA oceanographer Pat Burke from the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services.

What is the Intracoastal Waterway? In this podcast, join Captain Shep Smith and Dawn Forsythe as we learn about this approximately 3,000 mile route that supports commercial and recreational boating along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Lionfish are beautiful creatures, but are having a negative impact on coastal ecosystems. Get answers to a few common lionfish questions in this excerpt of a Diving Deeper podcast interview with NOAA lionfish expert James Morris.