NOAA Sea to Sky: Education resource database

This resource collection from NOAA Education explores sea turtles and conservation. Sea turtles breathe air, like all reptiles, and have streamlined bodies with large flippers. They are well adapted to life in the ocean and inhabit tropical and subtropical ocean waters around the world. Of the seven species of sea turtles, six are found in U.S. waters; these include the green, hawksbill, Kemp's ridley, leatherback, loggerhead, and olive ridley.

This resource collection from NOAA Education dives into marine mammals, which are found in marine ecosystems around the globe. They are a diverse group of mammals with unique physical adaptations that allow them to thrive in the marine environment with extreme temperatures, depths, pressure, and darkness.

This collection from NOAA Education explores coral reefs, some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Coral polyps, the animals primarily responsible for building reefs, can take many forms: large reef building colonies, graceful flowing fans, and even small, solitary organisms. Thousands of species of corals have been discovered; some live in warm, shallow, tropical seas and others in the cold, dark depths of the ocean.

This resource collection from NOAA Education explores seafood and the systems in place to manage them. Seafood plays an essential role in feeding the world’s growing population. Healthy fish populations lead to healthy oceans and it's our responsibility to be a part of the solution. The resilience of our marine ecosystems and coastal communities depend on sustainable fisheries.

This resource collection from NOAA Education dives into what food webs are. Food webs describe who eats whom in an ecological community. Made of interconnected food chains, food webs help us understand how changes to ecosystems — say, removing a top predator or adding nutrients — affect many different species, both directly and indirectly.

This resource collection from NOAA Education explores what oil is, where it comes from, how oil spills can happen, and what NOAA does in response to these events. Oil is an ancient fossil fuel that we use to heat our homes, generate electricity, and power large sectors of our economy. But when oil accidentally spills into the ocean, it can cause big problems. Oil spills can harm sea creatures, ruin a day at the beach, and make seafood unsafe to eat. It takes sound science to clean up the oil, measure the impacts of pollution, and help the ocean recover.

This resource collection from NOAA Education explores where pollution comes from, how it impacts humans and other living things, and what NOAA does to help combat this issue. Each year, billions of pounds of trash and other pollutants enter the ocean. Where does this pollution come from? Where does it go? Some of the debris ends up on our beaches, washed in with the waves and tides. Some debris sinks, some is eaten by marine animals that mistake it for food, and some accumulates in ocean gyres. Other forms of pollution that impact the health of the ocean come from sources like oil spills or from accumulation of many dispersed sources, such as fertilizer from our yards.

This resource collection from NOAA Education explores the chemistry behind ocean acidification and how this impacts living things animals, algae, and ecosystems. In the 200-plus years since the industrial revolution began, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere has increased due to human actions. During this time, the pH of surface ocean waters has fallen by 0.1 pH units. This might not sound like much, but the pH scale is logarithmic, so this change represents approximately a 30 percent increase in acidity.