Chemical Oceanographers Analyses of the ocean's chemical system have gotten much more detailed with advances in scientific equipment, and the quality and number of measurements have increased markedly with the advent of electronics and computerized analytical tools. Rapid analyses of samples at sea allow adjustment to a research plan as needed. Chemical oceanographic techniques can analyze such quantities as salinity and dissolved oxygen content and give a speedy answer as to whether the correct depth is being sampled. Some chemical oceanographers use radioactive elements in their research, both naturally occurring ones and those introduced by atomic weapons testing. Biological Oceanographers Plant and animal life in the ocean encompasses an astounding variety of forms, shapes, and sizes.
Phytoplankton are the base of the food web, using sunlight for photosynthesis.
They are consumed by other organisms, who are in turn eaten by larger ones, etc. Their study subjects range in size from microscopic one-celled organisms to the great whales, the largest animals that have ever lived. Nets are used to capture relatively small organisms. Organisms tend to occur in patches, so isolated samples can give a distorted picture of their distribution and abundance. It's been no simple matter to chart the sea floor.