There are endless things to learn in the oceans. Thousands of scientists actively work in ocean science (Oceanography), learning new things all the time.
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BIOLOGISTS study the living things in the oceans, how they find food, and how they deal with each other and with their environment (the rocks, ice, and water they live in). |
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GEOLOGISTS study the ocean’s rocks and how its bottom is shaped into mountains by the Earth’s slow movements. Even the mud, settling year by year on the ocean bottom, leaves layers telling us what the Earth was like thousands of years ago. |
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CHEMISTS study ocean water and all the stuff mixed in its salt. Almost any substance in the world can be found in sea salt, dissolved from rocks on land and in the sea bottom. |
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PHYSICISTS study the movement of water and ice in the oceans, how it forms into currents and affects the air and climate of Earth. |
All the ocean sciences depend on each other. The currents move mud about and dissolve some of it – something Geologists need to know about. The dissolved mud changes the water chemistry, and some is carried upward to the sunlight to become plant nutrients. Each scientist is careful to ask others for help in solving his or her problems. Some of the biggest discoveries start with a chance conversation – but only years of careful work can finish the job.
At ESR, our group of Polar scientists are Physical Oceanographers, studying the ocean’s currents and ocean-ice-cliamte interactions.
Meet some of ESR’s Polar Oceanographers:
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