Data are most often collected at sea or from inland waters, but are usually processed and analyzed in laboratories and offices, often involving the use of highly-specialized instruments and computers. Oceanographers experience the exhilaration and rigors of new discoveries made at sea, and return to home port for months of data processing, computer programming, analysis, writing, budgeting, planning, and conferring. The work is both rewarding and tedious, fascinating and frustrating. Reports and scientific papers must be written. Proposals need to be prepared to obtain funding for the next phase of the research.
Instruments require adjustment and redesign.
Funds need to be budgeted and accounted for. The next scientific cruise must be planned and organized. Deadlines are constant. The hours can be long and irregular. An example is a recent 24-day oceanographic cruise which sailed from Panama to look at the relationship of the cycling of carbon and trace metals and biological productivity in the upper ocean.