Oceanographers view the earth as a total system–air, sea, land, and life–and provide a perspective on how the ocean affects mankind and how mankind affects the ocean.To the biologist, the ocean offers a storehouse of diverse and unique life forms.

Marine Biologists may examine the cycling of nutrients through the marine food chain, from algae to tuna. They may investigate the physiological adaptations of marine organisms. They may determine how sharks behave, how fishes communicate, and how some marine life live in isolated oases on the hostile deep-ocean floor.

Marine Geologists explore the ocean floor–its mountains, canyons, and valleys. Study of seafloor sediment cores can reveal the history of oceanic circulation and climates over the past 150 million years. The study of the rocky crust beneath the sediments sheds light on the origin of volcanoes and island arcs, as well as the processes of seafloor spreading and continental drift.

Geophysicists ask such questions as why the earth’s magnetic field has reversed itself at least three times in the last million years. These scientists are beginning to understand what causes earthquakes, and can now measure them with great accuracy. They also search places where heat escapes from the crust of the earth for clues to fundamental processes deep in the planet’s interior.

Marine Chemists study how the ocean was formed eons ago, and what determines their composition today. They identify ocean resources that may be beneficial, such as natural products with medicinal properties, and investigate means to protect the oceans from the effects of pollution. Marine chemists also unravel much of the earth’s history by studying ocean sediments, where clues to the past such as variations in the global climate are recorded.

Physical Oceanographers study the circulation of seawater and the exchange of energy and matter across the surface of the ocean. They examine the transport of sand on and off beaches and the processes of coastal erosion. Physical oceanographers also measure deep currents such as those flowing from antarctic waters into the Pacific Ocean.

Atmospheric Scientists and Climate Researchers investigate how the relationship between the ocean, atmosphere, and land affects the world’s climate systems. They find connections between sea-surface temperatures and large-scale weather conditions. They also study the buildup of pollutants in the atmosphere and how they affect clouds, as well as the potential for long-term global climate change.

Biological Oceanographers are concerned with the complex interactions of groups of marine organisms with one another and their environment. They seek to understand how factors such as warm and cold currents affect the availability of food fishes.

Marine Physicists develop means to interact with the oceans, both in terms of operating in the marine environment and in intervening in its immense forces. They design and build many specialized technologies, including remotely operated vehicles, sophisticated seafloor instruments, and innovative remote-sensing systems such as acoustic-imaging devices for exploring the oceans. They continue to engineer and develop equipment that might draw useful energy from ocean waves, and develop mechanisms for controlling sand on beaches.

An Interdisciplinary Approach

It’s easy to understand why, at Scripps, a student of oceanography is considered first a physicist, a chemist, a biologist, a geologist, a mathematician, or a geophysicist who then applies his or her special skills to studying how the global ocean really works.

During their course work at Scripps, students come to realize that working together with other students and with the faculty on an interdisciplinary basis is essential to oceanography, because knowledge of one area is necessary to the solutions of problems in another. At Scripps, a balance is sought between concentrated individual competence and the ability to understand and interact with those having other areas of specialization.

Equipped with their own special background to supplement their knowledge of the broad field of oceanography as a whole, scientists can help give a historical, economic, and practical view of how the ocean affects mankind and how mankind affects the ocean. They are also prepared to view the earth as a total system–water, air, land, and life–an ability crucial to understanding and making progress in the emerging interdisciplinary field of global change