-
Coast Survey
President Thomas Jefferson signs a bill authorizing the United States Coast Survey -
Life in deep sea
Charles Wyville Thomson finds sea life at 14,400 feet, previous theories thought that the sea was lifeless below 1,800 feet. -
First research vessel
The U.S. Fisheries Commission steamer Albatross begins operations as the first ship built to serve as an oceanographic research vessel. -
Magnetic Striping on Ocean Floor
The first marine magnetometer found magnetic striping on the seafloor off the West Coast. The discovery adds a key element to the theory of plate tectonics. -
Underwater Lab
Sealab I, an underwater habitat, is lowered off the coast of California. -
Underwater Robot
The Navy develops the Cable-controlled Underwater Recovery Vehicle (CURV). -
Sealab 2
Sealab 2 is deployed off the coast of Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. It is twice the size of Sealab 1 and is designed to house ten men at a depth of 200 feet for 30 days. -
CZCS
The Coastal Zone Color Scanner showed biological oceanographers the patterns, variability, complexity, and coherence of ocean biology for the first time. -
Sea Surface Maps
TOPEX/Poseidon satellite begins mapping the surface of the sea. -
Seabed 2030
An international scientific team announces a plan that aims to map the entire floor of the Earth's oceans by 2030, using over a dozen tracking ships outfitted with advanced multibeam bathymetry technology.
