Ocean Exploration Facts
The ocean exploration facts in this section provide short answers to common or intriguing ocean questions. The questions are organized in a series of categories; click on a category to learn more about these topics.
For many ocean exploration facts, content has been repurposed from essays posted elsewhere on the website; to access the original content, click on links available on individual ocean fact pages.
Deep ocean trenches, volcanoes, island arcs, submarine mountain ranges, and fault lines are examples of features that can form along plate tectonic boundaries.
“ROV” stands for remotely operated vehicle; ROVs are unoccupied, highly maneuverable underwater machines operated by someone at the water surface.
CTD stands for conductivity, temperature, and depth, and refers to a package of electronic instruments that measure these properties.
A marine protected area is a defined region designated and managed for the long-term conservation of marine resources, ecosystems services, or cultural heritage.
Sea spiders are not actually spiders.
Exploration is key to increasing our understanding of the ocean, so we can more effectively manage, conserve, regulate, and use ocean resources that are vital to our economy and to all of our lives.
The Arctic Ocean, with a total area of about 14 million square kilometers (5.4 million square miles), is the world’s smallest ocean basin.
The 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' is the popular name for an area in the North Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and California, containing a high concentration of marine debris.
Studying shipwrecks can help us understand the past, connect us to our cultural heritage, and teach us lessons on how the environment and human error can impact each other.
The “Ring of Fire” is a string of underwater volcanoes and earthquake sites around the edges of the Pacific Ocean.
Marine snow is mostly biological debris that originates from the top layers of the ocean and drifts to the seafloor, providing a primary source of energy for animals in the deep ocean.
Marine organisms produce over half of the oxygen that land animals currently need to breathe.