While at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage, a team of NOAA data seekers report on helpful new sources of information to feed into the online mapping tool Arctic ERMA.

Learn more about the data going into one of NOAA's innovative environmental response tools.

The Hudson River Natural Resource Trustees, including NOAA, released a report today outlining the magnitude of toxic chemical pollution in New York's Hudson River.

Learn more about the toxic and extensive PCB contamination of the Hudson River ecosystem and read the report.

President Obama signed legislation reauthorizing the NOAA Marine Debris Program and its mission to address the harmful impacts of marine debris on the United States.

In doing so, this gave the program a new authority to deal with unusually large influxes of marine debris which may follow tsunamis or hurricanes.

The mobile drilling unit Kulluk, Shell Oil's floating drill rig, has run aground off the coast of Kodiak Island, Alaska, after encountering severe weather while being towed from Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

NOAA is supporting the U.S. Coast Guard in its efforts to assess the environmental threats from the grounded rig.

Find out more.

During a disaster, being able to keep track of the information flowing in about damages and operations can make a huge difference.

Here, we give you some from-the-ground perspectives about how essential this can be during a response like the one to Hurricane Sandy.

After decades of nuclear production, years of cleanup, and chronic contamination, the time has come to begin restoring the land and natural resources of Hanford, Wash.

Submit your comments on our plan to quantify harm to natural resources at the Hanford Nuclear Site.

In early November, several Office of Response and Restoration staff returned to the Arctic to discuss oil spill response and restoration issues with the residents of the North Slope Borough.

Find out what they learned at this workshop in Barrow, Alaska.

Take a dive into maritime and literary history with NOAA!

What does American author John Steinbeck have to do with a rickety old boat sunk in Washington's Puget Sound?

An oil spill responder finds out first hand. Learn more.

An extensive study partly funded by NOAA has found that nearly half of the people living near Washington, D.C.'s Anacostia River are unaware of the dangers of eating its fish.

The results are prompting a reexamination of how to communicate these important public health risks to a diverse, multilingual, and urban community.

Learn more and read the report.

NOAA has partnered with the University of New Hampshire to award grants, totaling $500,000, to study the effects of chemical dispersants on the marine environment.

Learn more about the selected studies.

Volunteers. The Internet. Remote sensing.

Learn more about how we have been using all three to deal with the environmental aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The disastrous Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969 helped spur the modern environmental movement and a slew of related legislation in the U.S.

One of the lesser-known laws resulting from this spill's devastation was one which created a groundbreaking kind of protected area in the ocean called a "national marine sanctuary."

OCTOBER 15, 2012 -- NOAA dedicated a new facility for centralizing disaster coordination and response activities for federal, state, and local responders along the Gulf coast.

The Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center, based in Mobile, Ala., was designed to expand both NOAA's regional presence and the federal capacity to plan for and respond to all types of emergencies, both environmental and man-made, in the Gulf region.

OCTOBER 6, 2012 -- On the heels of Hawaii's first confirmed report of Japan tsunami debris, NOAA and our partners are already examining the second confirmed item: a barnacled skiff which a fisherman found off the Hawaii coast—and which he wants to keep.

Learn more about the latest reports of marine debris connected to the 2011 Japan tsunami which has begun arriving in Hawaii.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 -- First responders now have a new place to find the critical information they need to deal with chemical disasters: their smartphone.

NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration recently launched a mobile website version of CAMEO Chemicals.

Find out more about this essential resource for emergency responders.

The best of intentions drove new lobster trap designs which would avoid entangling marine mammals.

However, an unintended side effect turns these traps into marine debris.

Fortunately, the Fishing for Energy partnership offers some solutions toward cleaning up this sticky issue.

Office of Response and Restoration staff continues to support the U.S. Coast Guard's assessment and response efforts following the landfall of Hurricane Isaac.

Our office has two Scientific Support Coordinators and two information management specialists on scene in Louisiana.

With the passage of Tropical Storm Isaac, response crews have resumed cutting apart the freighter M/V Jireh, a vessel grounded on coral reefs at Mona Island, Puerto Rico, in June 2012.

Part of these response operations includes removing and reattaching corals to protect them from further damage during the removal process.

On a remote island near Vancouver Island, Canada, a small boat inscribed with Japanese characters washed up and has been connected to the 2011 Japan tsunami.

Nevertheless, this confirmation comes at a time when seasonal weather patterns are keeping the total amount of debris washing up off the Pacific Northwest coast relatively low.

At Willamette Falls, Northwest tribal members are harvesting Pacific lamprey by hand, as their ancestors have been for generations.

Just downstream, however, lies a century of industrial contamination at the Portland Harbor Superfund site, possibly threatening the future of lamprey in the area.

Learn more about NOAA's efforts to restore critical lamprey habitat near Portland, Ore.

Ever since the first few items—an unmanned fishing boat, a childhood soccer ball—from the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami began turning up in North America, people have been asking what they should do if they find something themselves.

As it turns out, it depends on where you are and what you find.

Learn more about resources to help you deal with various types of marine debris.

The uncertain, rapidly changing conditions of the Arctic Ocean call for emergency responders to take extra precautions in preparing for the possibility of a remote oil spill.

As a result, NOAA and our partners have launched Arctic ERMA^®, an online mapping tool for visualizing key environmental response data in this unique region.

Over the last several years, the infamous "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" has become quite a phenomenon.

But if we know where this large concentration of marine debris is located, why can't we clean it up? And how much would it cost?

In 2006, a fuel system failure sent 18,000 gallons of diesel gushing into a creek in Washington's Cascade Mountains.

To make amends, NOAA successfully helped restore a mile of key salmon habitat on the nearby Greenwater River.

Returning salmon already seem to approve.

The challenges with all marine debris, including debris from the 2011 Japan tsunami, are that it is difficult to trace it back to its origin with certainty, it poses environmental and safety risks, and it can impact commerce and recreation.

Find out how the different types of marine debris are handled on the West Coast.

On June 21, 2012, a small freighter, the M/V Jireh, ran aground a coral reef near an uninhabited island off Puerto Rico.

NOAA and partners are working now to remove oil aboard the ship and survey damage to the coral reefs.

The U.S. shoreline stretches 95,471 miles. However, these shores vary greatly in type, in how people use them, and in which species of birds, fish, and wildlife inhabit them.

These differences affect how sensitive the shorelines are to spilled oil and other environmental hazards.

Learn more about how NOAA works to produce Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps to identify coastal locations, wildlife, and human use resources that may be especially vulnerable to an oil spill.

NOAA's Mussel Watch Program has been monitoring water pollution levels and seafood safety via mussels for more than two decades.

Learn about how this valuable program nearly disappeared from Washington's waters and how creative partnerships and citizen scientists helped to revive it.

World Ocean Day is a global celebration honoring the ocean that gives us so much and links us across the globe.

Hear a timeless message for young scientists from NOAA environmental scientist Dr. Amy Merten as she describes the unexpected path bringing her to study environmental problems from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Circle.

You've probably heard of (and used) Google Maps or MapQuest, free online mapping tools that may have saved you from driving around lost for hours.

But you likely haven't heard of a similar tool, MARPLOT, which has definitely saved more than a few people's lives.

Learn more about this NOAA software tool and how it's used during tornadoes and a variety of other situations.

For the past year, NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard have been studying the possible threats that new offshore oil drilling activity near the Florida Straits and the Bahamas pose to Florida and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Find out how we're preparing for potential oil spills in the Caribbean.

Two years after the nation's largest oil spill, an estimated $60 million in early restoration projects soon will begin along the Gulf Coast.

Learn more about how NOAA and our state and federal partners are working to heal environmental injuries following the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill.

In 1947, the S.S. Grandcamp sat docked in Texas City, being loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer. 

After a small fire broke out, this and a nearby ship exploded, resulting in the largest industrial disaster of its time in the U.S.

Fifty-six years later across from the same dock, a barge carrying sulfuric acid capsized, and NOAA responders stepped in to help avoid what could have been a horrific repeat of history.

Concerns persist that the diverse array of floating materials from the 2011 Japan tsunami could wash up on U.S. and Canadian shorelines.

A recently updated NOAA model sheds light on where this debris may have traveled and where the majority of it likely still remains at this time.

Read more about NOAA's efforts to collect data on this debris and prepare for possible impacts on our coasts.

Bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, are showing signs of severe ill health, according to NOAA marine mammal biologists and their local, state, federal, and other research partners.

Barataria Bay, located in the northern Gulf of Mexico, received heavy and prolonged exposure to oil during the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill.

Read more about the state of dolphins in the Gulf.

The changing Arctic climate is increasing opportunities for maritime transportation, tourism, and oil and gas exploration.

As the world increasingly turns its attention north, our office is working with industry, international governments, universities, and non-governmental organizations to understand and prepare for the possibility of future oil spills in the Arctic.

In addition to the cleanup of the 2004 Athos I oil spill, numerous improvements are in the works for the environment -- and the economy -- of the Delaware River watershed.

Take a closer look at how we're helping bring these benefits to Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

This office plays a pivotal role in ensuring that negative effects to natural resources -- and our use of them -- are addressed, both during and after an oil spill.

We have recovered nearly $600 million for restoration of habitats that wildlife, fish, and people depend upon. An investment in coastal restoration can significantly boost coastal economies.

Here are two examples of our work after oil spills on the Mississippi and Delaware Rivers.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are partnering to enhance the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA) for the Arctic region by summer 2012. This effort will help address numerous challenges in the Arctic where increasing ship traffic and proposed energy development are increasing the risk of oil spills and chemical releases.

We want your comments on early restoration projects proposed for the Gulf of Mexico following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill. These efforts help get the area's natural resources back to normal faster.

BP has provided an unprecedented $1 billion for early restoration in the Gulf. This represents an initial step toward fulfilling its obligation to fund the complete restoration of natural resources impacted by the 2010 oil spill.

Debris from the tsunami that devastated Japan in March could reach the United States as early as this winter, according to predictions by NOAA scientists.

However, they warn there is still a large amount of uncertainty over exactly what is still floating, where it's located, where it will go, and when it will arrive.

Responders now have a challenging, if not impossible situation on their hands: How do you deal with debris that could now impact U.S. shores, but is difficult to find?

NOAA scientist Amy Merten and her team are one of four finalists for the Samuel J. Heyman Partnership for Public Service to America Medal for Homeland Security. They were nominated for their efforts in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to refine and expand the capability of an innovative tool providing responders and decision makers with quick access to spill data in a secure and user-friendly format.

Since launching in 2008, Fishing for Energy, a successful private-public partnership coordinated by NOAA's Marine Debris Program, has reeled in approximately 1.1 million pounds of old fishing gear.

Fishermen have played a key role in directly retrieving a portion of this amount from the ocean.