Frequently Asked Questions About Oceanography

1. What is Oceanography?

2. Where does Oceanography come from?

3. How is the School of Oceanography organized?

4. Do all oceanographers go out to sea?

5. Does oceanography always happen at sea?

6. How is oceanographic work done?

7. How is oceanography conducted in the Arctic?

8. How is oceanographic data collected nearer to shore?

9. Is there a theoretical side of oceanography?

10. Do oceanographers need computer skills?

11. What can one do with an Oceanography degree?

12. How does one get into an Oceanography career?

13. What are the duties of an oceanographer?

14. Why does Oceanography matter?

References

1. What Is Oceanography?

The oceans are part of the thin, outer shell of the Earth that is the home of all the known life in the Universe. Oceanography is the study of the deep sea and shallow coastal oceans: their biology, chemistry, geology and physics together make oceanography a richly interdisciplinary science.

Oceanographers aim their work at both practical problems and basic scientific discovery:

• The oceans cover 7/10 of the Earth's surface. Together with the atmosphere and the 'fresh-water' sphere they make up 'fluid' Earth.

• Very roughly ½ of the primary production of oxygen from photosynthesis, by all life on Earth, occurs in the sea, and roughly ½ of that occurs in the productive, shallow ocean near land.

• Life in the sea has to cope with the fluid medium, as there is little solid ground to anchor on.

• The coastal and ocean regions are stressed greatly due to increasing human population pressures of fishing, shipping, and recreation.

2. Where does oceanography come from?

Physical oceanographers hark back to the polar explorers of the 19th Century and the physicists who developed the study of flowing fluids. Early biological oceanographers were naturalists cataloguing the life-forms of the sea.

3. How is the School of Oceanography organized?

The School is organized along the studies of the deep sea and shallow coastal regions: their biology (Marine Oceanography), chemistry (Chemical Oceanography), geology (Marine Geology & Geophysics) and physics (Physical Oceanography) together make oceanography a richly interdisciplinary science.

4. Do all oceanographers go out to sea?

We encourage (but do not require) all our students to participate in seagoing field work, even if the main thrust of their research is, say, modelling the ocean with a computer. The University of Washington funds 45 days each year on the R/V Thomas G. Thompson, for student cruises. The sea is the last great wilderness on Earth, and some of the ports of call that you will experience as a student are remarkable, remote and exotic. Sailing the tropical oceans or even the challenge of a cruise to the cold oceans at high latitude, are memorable experiences. Oceanographers also get to see exciting weather and waves, though they are usually able to avoid the 'perfect storm'.

5. Does oceanography always happen at sea?

Not all oceanography is done from ships. Seismology and sub-seabed geophysics are being explored using 'underwater observatories'. Moorings, with steel or Kevlar cable extending from near the ocean surface to its bottom, are laced with instruments that record observations internally, and perhaps relay them to a satellite. And, increasingly, autonomous undersea vehicles (AUVs) propel themselves or drift with currents for years at a time. One of these devices, designed in the School of Oceanography, the Seaglider, glides for many months and kilometers across the sea, making measurements on a 'saw-tooth' shaped path and phoning home via satellite each time it reaches the sea-surface. The satellites themselves can be equipped with remarkable high-technology sensors. They give us global observations where previously oceanographers tried to piece together a picture of the ocean as if it were a mosaic, from many years of ship-borne observations. Satellite oceanography is combined with other observations and with computer modeling of ocean/atmosphere circulation to give a 'best-fit' assimilation of the complete circulation.

6. How is oceanographic work done?

Until the 1970s the normal oceanographic expedition involved very simple measurements: reversing thermometers (beautifully intricate, hand-made) and Nansen bottles lowered on steel cables, and triggered by dropping a weight (the 'messenger') down the wire; plankton tows in simple mesh nets; small coring devices and bottom dredges. There were virtually no electronics involved. Today, we still need to bring back samples of water from the deep ocean for analysis, but many of our measurements are now electronic, and there are many more things we can measure, such as temperature and salinity. New probes are being designed to allow electronic measurement of many chemical and biological variables. The Ocean Observatories Initiative with its Regional Scale Nodes will expand our ability to include seeing what is happening on the ocean floor from the comfort of our classrooms and offices.

7. How is oceanography conducted in the Arctic?

Our Arctic oceanographers also have a novel way of doing research: in ice camps near the North Pole. Icebreakers are sometimes involved, but often it is a matter of boring holes in the ice and using helicopters and ski-equipped airplanes to do 'sections' across the Arctic, or to set moorings and autonomous vehicles into action. The Arctic Ocean is an important part of the climate system, and it is now rapidly changing; it is predicted to lead the world in global warming. Our faculty have been involved in the dramatic discovery of thinning of the ice, and melt-back of the ice edge, which may become a dramatic verification of global warming. Doing research there one is unlikely to get seasick, but one must be wary of polar bears.

8. How is oceanographic data collected nearer to shore?

In the environmentally sensitive coastal ocean and estuaries, we can do "cat-scans" using fast, small boats towing instruments that 'fly' through the water on a carefully controlled course. Meanwhile, acoustic waves are sent down through the water column, and their reflections off small particles in the water give a complete profile of the ocean velocity, from top to bottom.

9. Is there a theoretical side of oceanography?

Theoretical work in oceanography has the flavor of classical physics, and indeed discoveries by ocean/atmosphere scientists have kindled many sub-fields of physics: for example the science of 'chaos', which involves the complex behavior of seemingly simple physical systems, arose largely from a simple model of the atmospheric circulation. The 'soliton', a fundamental, nonlinear wave that propagates undistorted over great distances, was discovered in oceanography and now is found in fiber-optics cables, and many physical systems.

10. Do oceanographers need computer skills?

Computers play an intense role in physical oceanography, giving us simulations of waves and circulation based on Newtonian dynamics. Ocean and atmosphere are coupled together in 'climate models' and 'circulation models'; the computer models become the meeting point for observations, theory and prediction. It should be stressed, however, that unlike meteorologists, we are not so concerned with day-to-day prediction. Understanding of fundamental dynamic processes, mapping of the state of the ocean today, observing and modelling atmosphere/ocean interaction, and assessment of the health of oceanic ecosystems are more pressing goals than predicting the path of an ocean current. At the same time, approximate models of biological communities are being incorporated into computer models, as are the spreading and mixing of chemical tracers and the components of the carbon cycle.

11. What can one do with an Oceanography degree?

Oceanographers are predominantly employed in research, both pure and applied, seeking to produce a new understanding of an ocean system and to explore the potential consequences of human activities on the marine environment. They are involved in sample and data collection, their analyses and interpretation, and preparation and dissemination of the results. Oceanographers work at sea, on land, in laboratories, and at computers.

Most oceanographers are employed in educational and research institutions. Another large percentage is employed by federal government agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, Office of Naval Research, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Coast Guard, and National Marine Fisheries Service. Other employers include state and local governments in coastal areas and independent consulting firms doing research for private companies and government agencies. Additional positions are available in research and development for companies extracting and harvesting the ocean's resources.

12. How does one get into an Oceanography career?

The profession may be entered with a Bachelor's, Master's, or Doctoral degree -- the more advanced the degree, the greater the level of responsibility for initiating, designing, and executing a scientific research project. A degree in oceanography can also serve as a background for a career in teaching, administration, marine affairs, environmental studies, production, inspection, computing, instrumentation development, and statistical analysis. More...

13. What are the duties of an oceanographer?

An oceanographer's duties are diverse, dictated by the chosen profession. Data are most often collected at sea or from inland waters, but are usually processed and analyzed in laboratories and offices, often involving the use of highly-specialized instruments and computers. Oceanographers experience the exhilaration and rigors of new discoveries made at sea, and return to home port for months of data processing, computer programming, analysis, writing, budgeting, planning, and conferring. The work is both rewarding and tedious, fascinating and frustrating. For example, a recent 24-day oceanographic cruise sailed from Panama to look at the relationship of the cycling of carbon and trace metals and biological productivity in the upper ocean. It included two equator crossings and an excursion to the Galapagos Islands. Plankton and chemical samples were collected at four stations. Six oceanographers will work at least nine months on the data processing, chemical analysis, and publication preparation to produce the final results.

14. Why does Oceanography matter?

Mankind is faced with a broad spectrum of environmental challenges. In many ways these underlie the deep unrest felt between underdeveloped and developed countries. Energy supplies, traditionally the environmental issue of greatest concern, are now joined by other, equally pressing, changes. The global supply of fresh water, arable land, fish in the sea, and pleasant (often coastal) climate are no longer unlimited. In an over-populated world, these aspects of life are suddenly 'on the edge'. Under the stress of a climate changing due to human output of greenhouse gases, and with human activity altering ocean habitats in many ways, the fundamentals of ocean biology and physics are changing. More...