National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA /ˈnoʊ.ə/ NOH-ə) is an American scientific and regulatory agency tasked with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploration, and managing fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the US exclusive economic zone. The agency is part of the United States Department of Commerce and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland.

NOAA traces its history back to multiple agencies, some of which are among the earliest in the federal government:

The most direct predecessor of NOAA was the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA), into which several existing scientific agencies such as the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Weather Bureau, and the uniformed Corps were absorbed in 1965.

NOAA was established within the Department of Commerce via the Reorganization Plan No. 4, and formed on October 3, 1970, after U.S. President Richard Nixon proposed creating a new agency to serve a national need for "better protection of life and property from natural hazards... for a better understanding of the total environment... [and] for exploration and development leading to the intelligent use of our marine resources".

NOAA is a part of the Department of Commerce rather than the Department of Interior, because of a feud between President Nixon and his interior secretary, Wally Hickel, over the Nixon Administration's Vietnam War policy. Nixon did not like Hickel's letter urging Nixon to listen to the Vietnam War demonstrators, and punished Hickel by not putting NOAA in the Interior Department.

In 2007, NOAA celebrated 200 years of service in its role as successor to the U.S. Survey of the Coast.

In 2021, NOAA had 11,833 civilian employees. Its research and operations are further supported by 321 uniformed service members, who made up the NOAA Commissioned Corps.

In 2024, Project 2025 proposed to get rid of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, which would "dismantle" NOAA's research division.