What is Oceanography?

The word Oceanography is derived from the Greek words Oceanus and Graphia. Oceanus was the father of the ocean nymphs in Greek Mythology. Graphia refers to the act of recording and describing.

Oceanography is the recording and description of the physical, chemical, geological, and biological characteristics of the ocean. Oceanographers work in one or more of the four disciplines of oceanography: Physics, Chemistry, Geology, or Biology.

Most oceanographers are trained in one science and then apply their knowledge to understand interactions in the ocean. Physical-physics of the ocean-currents, tides. Geological-geology of the oceans-sediments, plate tectonics. Chemical-chemistry of the oceans-salinity chemical reactions. Biological-the biology of the ocean.

Geological Oceanographers study the seafloor, beaches, islands and coastal features and the physical processes that control how they are formed.

Geological Oceanographers study tectonic features on the seafloor.

Drilling Ocean Cores to determine age of the seafloor or petroleum exploration.

Research Vessel equipped with drilling rig

Geological Oceanographers also use remote sensing to see the “big picture” of continental margins and the sea floor.

Image of sediment transport in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays

Computer enhanced satellite image of the seafloor off the East Pacific Rise

Geological Oceanographers also research coastal processes

Chemical Oceanographers study the chemistry of the oceans and how it relates to biological, physical, and geological processes.

Biological Oceanographers study life in the ocean and how living things are affected by the chemical, physical, and geological properties of the ocean.

Phytoplankton are important to the Chemistry of Oceans and the Atmosphere

Zooplankton are an important part of the ocean food web.

Deep sea submersibles are used to study organisms in the deep ocean

Physical Oceanographers study the physics of the ocean: How ocean currents, waves, and tides are controlled by gravity, density and salinity.

Physical Oceanographers also study how the oceans impact the shore

How ocean currents move water in the oceans

Even how ocean currents move lost items

Satellite image of ocean currents

Oceanographers collaborate with scientists in disciplines other than their own in order to understand how the different branches of science fit together in the ocean. Many oceanographers work in more than one field of science.

Linkages between scientific disciplines helps Oceanographers understand the workings of the ocean’s systems. Geophysics - how things on Earth and other planets move and relate to each other. Geochemistry - elemental make-up of the Earth and Oceans Biophysics - how organisms in the Ocean move, and relate. Biogeochemistry – how organisms and sediments interact chemically .