The interdisciplinary nature of oceanography leads to intra- and interdepartmental approaches to research and instruction. Oceanography is in some sense a misnomer. The word itself tempts one into thinking that oceanography represents a single well-defined discipline, with traditions and methods that stand apart from those of the more classical sciences. In a reality, oceanography consists of the application of the basic disciplines of biology, chemistry, geology, math, and physics to the seas. One might find a chemical oceanographer asking if ocean life is controlled by the limited amounts of metals in seawater, rather than by nutrients.
Geological oceanographers are the earth's real historians.
By studying the structure and composition of the ocean floor, they try to reconstruct ocean and atmospheric conditions in the distant past. Physical oceanographers try to understand water circulation and structure, by observation, laboratory experimentation, and modeling. Each type of oceanography requires training in the classical disciplines in addition to ocean studies, making oceanography a broad and diverse endeavor. All of us are therefore required to cross the boundaries of our own specialties and to graze a bit on the far side of the fence. Such is the nature of oceanography, and part of what makes it fun.