Media Gallery: Slideshow

  • Raven Spirit: A Native American Canoe's Journey
    Oct 7 2009 - 4:08pm
    Under a watchful raven’s eye, this handmade Tlingit canoe became a symbol of the ocean and of Alaska’s Native peoples. Over the course of a year, Douglas Chilton skillfully chipped away at a cedar...
  • Robotic Glider Evades Fishing Nets

    Robotic Ocean Explorer
    Dec 8 2010 - 1:08pm
    This is the world’s first unmanned, underwater robot—or “glider”—to cross an ocean basin, the pioneering Scarlet Knight. The robotic glider, also known as RU27, can dive to depths of 200 meters (660...

  • Rudist Reefs
    Dec 4 2009 - 3:25pm
    About 100 million years ago, during the heyday of the dinosaurs, reefs were built by mollusks called rudist clams. They looked very different from today's coral reefs.

  • Seamounts, A Deep-Sea Habitat
    Dec 4 2009 - 3:41pm
    Thousands of seamounts—most of them undersea volcanoes—tower above the muddy seafloor. They provide something hard to come by in the deep ocean: a solid surface to cling to. This photo gallery shows...

  • Shark Ancestors
    Dec 17 2009 - 6:55pm
    Long before great white sharks appeared, much larger ancestors roamed the ocean. This giant ancient shark -- the Giant Megatooth (Carcharodon megalodon) -- was probably big enough to eat a whale.
  • Map of Smithsonian science research field stations

    Smithsonian Research Stations
    Dec 2 2009 - 3:42pm
    These Smithsonian field stations enable scientists worldwide to conduct long-term studies on mangrove ecosystems from a range of latitudes.

  • Studying Deep-Sea Corals
    Jun 9 2011 - 9:23am
    What happens to deep-sea coral samples after they are collected? In this image gallery, see some of the ways ocean scientists sort, measure, photograph, and study them. Learn more in the...
  • Students study the effect of climate change on crabs.

    Teens Take Action on the Ocean & Climate
    Feb 8 2011 - 5:37pm
    What can students do to help the ocean? It turns out, a lot! These students from across the United States and Mexico are developing action plans on ocean and climate-related issues in their local...

  • The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Two Years Later
    Apr 20 2012 - 1:22pm
    On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the oil-drilling rig Deepwater Horizon caused the largest marine oil spill in US history, gushing nearly 5 million barrels of crude oil over the course of three...
  • The People's Reef--Part of the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

    The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef
    Oct 14 2010 - 5:10pm
    The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, created by Margaret and Christine Wertheim of the Institute For Figuring, weaves together strands of art, science, mathematics, and conservation. This beautiful...

  • The Ocean Throughout Geologic Time, An Image Gallery
    Sep 20 2011 - 3:30pm
    Evidence shows that life probably began in the ocean at least 3.5 billion years ago. Photosynthesis began more than 2.5 billion years ago—the Great Oxidation Event. But it took hundreds of millions...
  • A healthy coral reef in Indonesia

    Two Views of Coral Reefs: Thriving and Threatened
    Dec 15 2009 - 12:19pm
    Coral reefs are beautiful, vibrant ecosystems that house roughly one quarter of all marine species and provide billions of dollars in products and services to humans each year. But they are also...