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Ocean exploration

Last updated September 10, 2025

Atlantic Ocean Ireland-AtlanticOceanwithAranIsland.jpg — Atlantic Ocean

Ocean exploration, part of oceanography, is the exploration of ocean surfaces. Notable explorations were undertaken by the Greeks, the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Polynesians, Phytheas, the Vikings, Arabs and the Portuguese. Scientific investigations began with early scientists such as James Cook, Charles Darwin, and Edmund Halley. Ocean exploration itself coincided with the developments in shipbuilding, diving, navigation, depth, measurement, exploration, and cartography.

History

Early exploration

4500 BC Around this time, humans began diving into the sea as a source of food gathering, commerce, and possibly even warfare.
4000 BC Egyptians developed sailing vessels, which were probably used only in the eastern Mediterranean near the mouth of the Nile River.
4000 BC - 1000 AD Polynesian colonization of South Pacific Islands.
1800 BC Basic measuring of the depths is done in Egypt.
1500 BC Middle Eastern people explored the Indian Ocean
600 BC Phoenicians developed sea routes around the entire Mediterranean and into the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Going around Africa they reached England by sailing along the western European coast. Although they understood celestial navigation, they probably stayed within sight of land whenever possible.
500-200 BC Greeks developed trade routes in the Mediterranean using the length of the day (corrected for the time of the year) to estimate latitude.
450 BC Herodotus produces a map of the Mediterranean region.
325 BC Pytheas, a Greek astronomer and geographer, sailed north out of the Mediterranean, reaching England and possibly even Iceland and Norway. He also developed the use of sightings on the North Star to determine latitude.
c.240 BC Eratosthenes of Cyrene measures the circumference of Earth with a high precision.^[1]
150 AD Ptolemy produces a map of the Roman world, including lines of latitude and longitude, the continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa and the surrounding oceans.
900-1430 Vikings explore and colonize Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland.
1002 Leif Erikson reaches North America nearly 500 years before Columbus.^[2]
1405-1433 Chinese send seven voyages to extend Chinese influence and impress their neighbor states. These expensive voyages are ended after a short time. See Zheng He (1371–1433).

From Age of Exploration to present

1492-1504 Christopher Columbus reaches America looking for a searoute to the Indies; discovering various lands and islands and establishing a colony on Hispaniola
1498 Vasco da Gama sails around Africa from Portugal reaching India and establishing trade routes
1499-1504 Amerigo Vespucci explores New World
1519-1522 Ferdinand Magellan's ships circumnavigate the world.
1620 Dutch inventor Cornelis Drebbel builds the world's first submarine and makes several trips in the River Thames near London at a depth of about 12 or 15 feet.
1698-1700 Edmund Halley made probably the first primarily scientific voyage to study the variation of the magnetic compass, sailing as far as 52 deg S. in the Atlantic Ocean. On a previous expedition to St. Helena, he made an important contribution to knowledge of the trade winds.
1768-1780 James Cook explores the southern parts of the oceans looking for the southern continent. He was the first to use a marine chronometer to determine longitude.
1785 Benjamin Franklin writes Sundry Marine Observations on improvements to ships and the Gulf Stream.
1831-1836 Charles Darwin sails on the Beagle, exploring the Galapagos and many other areas. It is this work which led him to develop the concepts of natural selection and evolution.
1860 First chart of the Gulf Stream published by the United States Coast Survey.
1872-1876 H.M.S. Challenger travels around the world on a scientific mission taking sediment samples, water samples, soundings, and collecting many biological specimens.
1960 Bathyscaphe Trieste dives to what was believed to be the deepest point in the Mariana Trench. A depth of 10,915 meters was observed.
1969 The Ben Franklin (PX-15) drifts submerged for 30 days in the Gulf Stream.

Human-powered

The renaissance of ocean exploration occurred in the 20th century, when human-powered exploration became increasingly popular. Via this new medium, pioneering has once again become the goal of ocean explorers.^[3]

References

↑ Russo, Lucio (2004). The Forgotten Revolution. Berlin: Springer. pp. 273–277.
↑ Sverdrup, Keith A.; Alyn C. Duxbury; Alison B. Duxbury (2005). An Introduction to the World's Oceans. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 4. ISBN 0-07-252807-9.
↑ "Ocean Rowing Society International launches the first real adventure database". Guinness World Records. 2021-04-07. Retrieved 2021-08-12.

Sources

NOAA, Interactive Timeline of significant and interesting events throughout the 200-year history of NOAA and its predecessor organizations.
SeaSky.org - Ocean Exploration Timeline with Credits & Sources
NOAA - Sounding Pole to Sea Beam
History of Ocean Exploration
USC Earth Sciences, History of Oceanography
skb's virtual cave - Notable oceanographic expeditions

External links

Ocean Explorer - Public outreach site for explorations sponsored by the Office of Ocean Exploration.
NOAA, Ocean Explorer History
NOAA, Ocean Explorer Gallery - A rich collection of images, video, audio and podcast.
NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration
Deep-sea exploration Archived 2009-04-08 at the Wayback Machine

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

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[russo273277-1] Russo, Lucio (2004). The Forgotten Revolution. Berlin: Springer. pp. 273–277.

[Sverdrup-2] Sverdrup, Keith A.; Alyn C. Duxbury; Alison B. Duxbury (2005). An Introduction to the World's Oceans. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 4. ISBN 0-07-252807-9.

[3] "Ocean Rowing Society International launches the first real adventure database". Guinness World Records. 2021-04-07. Retrieved 2021-08-12.

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v t e Physical oceanography
Waves	Airy wave theory Ballantine scale Benjamin–Feir instability Boussinesq approximation Breaking wave Clapotis Cnoidal wave Cross sea Dispersion Edge wave Equatorial waves Gravity wave Green's law Infragravity wave Internal wave Iribarren number Kelvin wave Kinematic wave Longshore drift Luke's variational principle Mild-slope equation Radiation stress Rogue wave Draupner wave Rossby wave Rossby-gravity waves Sea state Seiche Significant wave height Soliton Stokes drift Stokes problem Stokes wave Swell Trochoidal wave Tsunami megatsunami Undertow Ursell number Wave action Wave base Wave height Wave nonlinearity Wave power Wave radar Wave setup Wave shoaling Wave turbulence Wave–current interaction Waves and shallow water one-dimensional Saint-Venant equations shallow water equations Wind fetch Wind setup Wind wave model
Circulation	Atmospheric circulation Baroclinity Boundary current Coriolis force Coriolis–Stokes force Craik–Leibovich vortex force Downwelling Eddy Ekman layer Ekman spiral Ekman transport El Niño–Southern Oscillation General circulation model Geochemical Ocean Sections Study Geostrophic current Global Ocean Data Analysis Project Gulf Stream Humboldt Current Hydrothermal circulation Langmuir circulation Longshore drift Loop Current Modular Ocean Model Ocean current Ocean dynamical thermostat Ocean dynamics Ocean gyre Overflow Princeton Ocean Model Rip current Subsurface ocean current Sverdrup balance Thermohaline circulation shutdown Upwelling Whirlpool Wind generated current World Ocean Circulation Experiment
Tides	Amphidromic point Earth tide Head of tide Internal tide Lunitidal interval Perigean spring tide Rip tide Rule of twelfths Slack tide Theory of tides Tidal bore Tidal force Tidal power Tidal race Tidal range Tidal resonance Tide gauge Tideline
Landforms	Abyssal fan Abyssal plain Atoll Bathymetric chart Carbonate platform Coastal geography Cold seep Continental margin Continental rise Continental shelf Contourite Guyot Hydrography Knoll Ocean bank Oceanic basin Oceanic plateau Oceanic trench Passive margin Seabed Seamount Submarine canyon Submarine volcano
Plate tectonics	Convergent boundary Divergent boundary Fracture zone Hydrothermal vent Marine geology Mid-ocean ridge Mohorovičić discontinuity Oceanic crust Outer trench swell Ridge push Seafloor spreading Slab pull Slab suction Slab window Subduction Transform fault Vine–Matthews–Morley hypothesis Volcanic arc
Ocean zones	Benthic Deep ocean water Deep sea Littoral Mesopelagic Oceanic Pelagic Photic Surf Swash
Sea level	Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis Global Sea Level Observing System North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System Sea-level curve Sea level drop Sea level rise World Geodetic System
Acoustics	Deep scattering layer Ocean acoustic tomography Sofar bomb SOFAR channel Underwater acoustics
Satellites	Jason-1 OSTM/Jason-2 Jason-3
Related	Acidification Argo Benthic lander Color of water DSV Alvin Marginal sea Marine energy Marine pollution Mooring National Oceanographic Data Center Ocean Explorations Observations Reanalysis Ocean surface topography Ocean temperature Ocean thermal energy conversion Oceanography Outline of oceanography Pelagic sediment Sea surface microlayer Sea surface temperature Seawater Science On a Sphere Stratification Thermocline Underwater glider Water column World Ocean Atlas
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