The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The ALBATROSS dredging. In: "Report on the Construction and Outfit of the United States Fish Commission Steamer ALBATROSS", by Lieutenant-Commander Z. L. Tanner, U. S. N. United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Part XI. Report of the Commissioner for 1883. Plate I, p. 111. Image ID: ship0405.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is the descendant of America's oldest science agencies, the Survey of the Coast formed in 1807, the Weather Service formed in 1870, and the forerunner of today's National Marine Fisheries Service formed in 1871. The foundation built by these great organizations has given rise to an agency whose realm extends from the surface of the sun to the bottom of the sea, whose concern for life in the sea extends from microscopic creatures to the great whales, and whose reach in time extends from thousands of years in the past to decades in the future with global change studies and observations.
More than 10,000 new images including ocean exploration photographs, coral reef photographs, polar regions photographs, Hurricane Katrina images, historical photographs, lightning photography, and images detailing the Treasures of the NOAA Library.