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Research ProgramsThe many research activities of the School advance our knowledge of the oceans and contribute to the understanding of societal concerns. Research programs span small projects involving a faculty member and student, to large coordinated international thematic research efforts. Research InitiativesAstrobiology, the study of life in the Universe, both terrestrial and extraterrestrial, has recently become established as an exciting scientific field. The University of Washington's new graduate program in Astrobiology, one of the first in the world, enables students to obtain the interdepartmental background needed for careers in this field. Faculty and students focus on Earth's extreme microbial environments (hydrothermal vents, polar sea ice, abyssal microbial communities, and subterranean chemo-autotrophic systems). These extreme ecosystems, inhabited by bacteria and archaea, can serve as analogs and models for the development of extraterrestrial life. Researchers also study extraterrestrial sites and develop engineering techniques for missions to search for living or fossil microbes on other solar system bodies. Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory The geophysical fluid dynamics labortory enables the study of real fluids in the laboratory, as models of the fluid ocean and atmosphere. Research topics include: stirring, mixing and transport in fluids; flows on a rotating planet with density stratification and important potential vorticity 'geography'; convection and creation of distant water masses; Rossby wave propagators; sloping ocean boundaries as waveguides and potential vorticity sources. The laboratory serves as an educational center teaching ocean/atmosphere dynamics using "hands-on, brain-on" laboratory projects and demonstrations. NEPTUNE: NorthEast Pacific Time-integrated Undersea Networked Experiments The goal of the NEPTUNE project is to establish a network of underwater observatories within the depths of the northeastern Pacific Ocean. NEPTUNE’s 3000 kilometers of fiber-optic cable will provide power and communications to scientific instruments. For the first time, researchers, as well as shore-based learners of all ages, will participate in detailed studies and experiments on a wide area of seafloor and ocean for decades rather than just hours or days. UW is one of the five NEPTUNE partners and the project office is housed at the School of Oceanography. Pacific Northwest Center for Human Health and Ocean Sciences The University of Washington's Pacific Northwest Center for Human Health and Ocean Studies was created to understand links between ocean processes and human health. Center researchers investigate how environmental conditions trigger blooms of harmful algae in our marine waters, and how these blooms impact public health. Center research is based on the premise that genetic and environmental variability defines the toxicity and dynamics of harmful algal blooms, the retention of toxin by shellfish, and the susceptibility of human populations to toxicological impacts. PCC: Program on Climate Change The Program on Climate Change is a University Initiative Fund project (UIF) that is an interdisciplinary program in climate, climate change and climate impacts that integrates all climate change activities at the University of Washington and attacks scientific questions of climate variability in a coordinated way across the disciplines. The UW Program on Climate Change coordinates research and teaching among colleges, departments, and research units through seminars, summer institutes, graduate student fellowships, undergraduate research, and research seed-grants, all of which focus on global and regional aspects of climate change. PRISM: Puget Sound Regional Synthesis Model The Puget Sound Regional Synthesis Model (PRISM) is designed to advance education and research, and UW partnerships with its community using Puget Sound as a focus. Research into the air, land, water, shore, sea, people and biota is integrated into a Virtual Puget Sound. This serves as a foundation for UW educational programs and for transferring the knowledge and information about Puget Sound to the agencies, governments, schools and citizens of our region. UW Research ProgramsBesides the research activities of individual faculty, many research projects at UW have their own webs:
National Research ProgramsUW oceanographers also are participants in a number of national programs:
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Frequently Asked Questions Copyright 1994-2006, University of Washington, School of Oceanography |
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