During the month of June, join us as we share videos, images, and ocean facts to celebrate the beauty and importance of our ocean and coasts.

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Beginning May 28, 2015, NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) will be performing a current survey throughout Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca over the next three years. The observations collected during this survey will enable NOAA to provide tidal current predictions to commercial and recreational mariners that depend on this information for safe navigation.

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Collaboration between ecologists and climate researchers has generated fascinating new insight into how seabirds are affected by climate change....

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A common diatom grows faster in the presence of bacteria that release a growth hormone known to benefit plants on land. The authors of a new report showed that these bacteria exchange material with the diatoms while in turn producing auxin, a well-known hormone made by microbes living around the roots of land plants....

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The global climate is on the verge of broad-scale change that could last for a number of decades a new study implies. The change to the new set of climatic conditions is associated with a cooling of the Atlantic, and is likely to bring drier summers in Britain and Ireland, accelerated sea-level rise along the northeast coast of the United States, and drought in the developing countries of the Sahel region....

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A new light has been shed on the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet. It shows for the first time that ice rises (pinning points that keep the floating parts of ice sheets in place) are formed during the transition between glacial and interglacial periods, which significantly slows down the response of the ice sheet to climate change....

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Seagrass ecosystems could play a key role in combating climate change, researchers have discovered. The marine flowering plant also helps sustain abundant sea life and protects shorelines around the world from coastal erosion. Yet with seagrass habitats suffering rapid global decline and despite the plant's huge potential; there are currently no functioning seagrass restoration or conservation projects. Due to their shallow coastal habitat the aquatic plant is particularly prone to human disturbance - globally 24 per cent of seagrass species are now classified as threatened or near threatened....

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Mass coral bleaching, which can lead to coral mortality, is predicted to occur far more frequently over the coming decades, due to the stress exerted by higher seawater temperatures. Geoengineering of the climate may be the only way to save coral reefs from mass bleaching, according to new research....

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Parasitic worms can pose a serious threat to the Dungeness crab, a commercially important fishery species found along the west coast of North America. The worms are thought to have caused or contributed to the crash of the crab fishery of central California during the last half century. New research shows that infected crabs can rid themselves of parasites by moving into the less salty water of estuaries. Low salinity kills the worms creating a parasite refuge for the crabs....

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A research team has developed a tool that allows a 3D journey in ten sites of geological and palaeontological interest in the Guadalquivir basin (Huelva, Spain). In the virtual tour, developed with Google Earth, you can visit and explore treasures of this area, such as records of the opening of the Atlantic Ocean, using tablets and smartphones....

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