NOAA Ocean Podcast

Natural infrastructure provides effective solutions for minimizing coastal flooding, erosion, and runoff, but it has other benefits as well. In this episode, Kim Penn from NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management explains the environmental, economic, and recreational benefits of natural infrastructure.

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June 1 is the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. Are you prepared? To help, learn the many ways the National Ocean Service responds to hurricanes, as well as easy steps you can take to be ready for whatever the season brings.

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Understanding how the ocean moves is no easy task. In this episode, we hear from a NOAA oceanographer who studies the physics of how the ocean moves to better understand and predict how tides and currents shape our coastal environment.

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How the gyres that circulate our ocean waters also accumulate plastics. Find out what a garbage patch is and isn't, and what we can do about this ocean-sized problem.

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When water runs off of farmland and urban centers and flows into our streams and rivers, it is often chock-full of fertilizers and other nutrients. These massive loads of nutrients eventually end up in our coastal ocean, fueling a chain of events that can lead to hypoxic "dead zones" — areas along the sea floor where oxygen is so low it can no longer sustain marine life. In this episode, we're joined by NOAA scientist Alan Lewitus to explore why dead zones form, how the problem of hypoxia is growing worse, and what we're doing about it.

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Geodesy is a science that covers the Earth itself. It's the reason we know where we are, and how we can make maps of where we are and where we want to go. In this episode, learn how this science with an unfamiliar name shapes much of what we do every day.

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In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, our latest podcast highlights NOAA efforts in partnership with native communities in Alaska to restore and protect precious ocean resources. In this episode, we learn just how challenging the issue of marine debris can be in the vast wilderness of Alaska, how the NOAA Marine Debris program is working to solve this problem, and how the key to beating this issue is in the innovation and ingenuity of the community working to address it.

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It's time for a NOAA Ocean Podcast "Science Moment," where we sample the best segments from our past full-length podcasts. In this episode, learn about how coral reefs respond to stressful events like coral bleaching.

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Do you know the difference between a tide, a current, and a tidal current? Why (and how) do we study the motion of the ocean?

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It's time for a NOAA Ocean Podcast "Science Moment," where we sample the best segments from our past full-length podcasts. In this episode, learn about NOAA's historical map and chart collection of more than 35,000 scanned images.

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