NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a United States federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Its mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment and to conserve and manage the nation's coastal and marine resources. For the maritime community NOAA produces nautical charts and hydrographic surveys, provides weather and tropical storm forecasts, operates a fleet of research and survey ships, and manages fisheries, marine sanctuaries and spill response.

What they offer

• Ship fleet: research and survey vessels managed by the Marine Operations Center, with Marine Operations Center-Pacific in Seattle and Marine Operations Center-Atlantic in Norfolk, Virginia, crewed by civilians and NOAA Corps officers.
• Charting and mapping: the Office of Coast Survey charts U.S. coastal waters and locates navigation hazards; the National Geodetic Survey and partners support lidar, multibeam bathymetry and benthic habitat mapping.
• Weather and satellites: National Weather Service forecasts, including tropical storm forecasts from the National Hurricane Center, supported by polar-orbiting and geostationary environmental satellites.
• Fisheries: NOAA Fisheries science laboratories and management measures such as catch and allocation limits.
• Sanctuaries and maritime heritage: 13 national marine sanctuaries and two marine national monuments, including locating and protecting shipwrecks.
• Response and restoration: oil and hazardous material spill response and assessment of sunken wrecks that may leak oil.

Markets served

Mariners and vessel operators, ports and coastal communities, the fishing industry, ocean scientists, government agencies and the public across U.S. coastal, ocean and Great Lakes waters.

NOAA was founded in 1970 on the recommendation of the Stratton Commission; its Office of Coast Survey traces its origins to 1807. NOAA and its predecessor agencies, the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries, have operated ships since the 1850s to gather data for nautical charts, locate navigation hazards and support fisheries and oceanographic research. The Marine Operations Center that manages the fleet was formally established in 1999.

NOAA's line offices include the National Weather Service, the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Ocean Service, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations.