NOAA Sea to Sky: Education resource database

Follow along with NOAA Teachers at Sea as they participate in NOAA research voyages. Teachers and educators spend several weeks on a NOAA Ship and are part of the research crew while on board! Past blogs go back to 2003. Some blog posts are in Spanish.

Dive into tutorials on corals, estuaries, global positioning, pollution, ocean currents, and tides. Learn the basics about these topics and how they are a part of NOAA's work.

Specially equipped NOAA aircraft play an integral role in hurricane forecasting. Data collected during hurricanes by these high-flying meteorological stations help forecasters make accurate predictions during a hurricane and help hurricane researchers achieve a better understanding of storm processes, improving their forecast models. Get started learning about the NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft and pilots!

The term jet stream is used increasingly in both weather forecasts and news reports of extreme events, from cold spells and flooding to heatwaves and droughts. But what is the jet stream, and why do we care about it so much?

Unlike the land’s four seasons, in our ocean the "seasons of the sea" are three: winter storm, upwelling, and oceanic.

Celebrate the season of spring with NOAA! From new graphics to educational resources, spring into science with us and check out our content.

How can scientists learn about climate from these beautiful and essential underwater ecosystems? Many coral reefs have been around for millions of years, yet they are extremely sensitive to changes in climate conditions. Corals are affected by ocean warming (sometimes bleaching when temperatures rise or fall), by pollution and runoff, and by changes in the pH of seawater, which decreases as more carbon dioxide enters the ocean—a trend known as ocean acidification.

Kelp forests are an important ecosystem that support a variety of species and grow predominantly along the Eastern Pacific Coast, from Alaska and Canada to the waters of Baja, California. Kelp forests can be found in four of our national marine sanctuaries along the West Coast of the United States. This collection has compiled wide-ranging resources from lesson plans, webinars, web stories, virtual reality videos, and more. You are invited to learn more about the importance of Kelp Forest Ecosystems, NOAA’s efforts to manage and conserve them, the species that call these forests home, and the threats kelp face.

The ocean absorbs the extra carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels, like coal, oil, and natural gas, and that changes the chemistry of the ocean. We call this “ocean acidification.” The change in chemistry is reducing the amount of calcium carbonate in the ocean. Just as humans need calcium to build their bones, sea creatures need calcium carbonate to build strong skeletons and shells. Ocean acidification changes the chemistry of the ocean and causes “osteoporosis of the sea,” which prevents animals at the bottom of the food chain from building and maintaining the protective shells they need to survive.

This old saying actually has a scientific explanation. It relates to moving high and low surface-pressure weather systems, and the way that the colors in sunlight are scattered differently by dirty and clean atmospheres. This is the explanation of how these phenomena combine to color our sunrises and sunsets.