Each year the School participates in a broad range of oceanographic investigations, ranging from individual research projects to multidisciplinary or multiuniversity projects. Major biological programs are carried out in Puget Sound, in the waters of the continental shelf off Washington and California, and in the North Pacific Ocean. Chemical oceanography includes study of the distribution and fluxes of organic and inorganic chemicals and stable and radioactive isotopes in the water column and sediments on local, regional, and global scales with special emphasis on the ocean carbon cycle. Geological investigations include theoretical studies and field experiments on sediment motion and sedimentary processes. This work ranges from the deep waters of the Scotian Rise in the Atlantic Ocean to Prudhoe Bay, Barents Sea, New Guinea, the Amazon, and the east and west coasts of the United States.
Geophysical research is concerned with the oceanic crust and upper mantle.
Topics include seismic experiments on plate boundaries, crustal formation, hydrothermal processes in the Juan de Fuca-Gorda Ridge System, and studies of the earth's magnetic field. The theoretical and experimental programs include studies of air-sea interaction, surface and internal waves, oceanic fronts, and sea ice. Studies in local waters include sediment transport, mixing processes, subsurface structure, and biological communities in the fjords and inlets of Puget Sound. The School operates its own midscale interactive computer and highly specialized laboratory instruments, such as mass spectrometers, scanning electron microscopes, and seawater sediment transport flumes. Access to other more sophisticated facilities and instruments, as well as super computers, is available on campus.