Oceanographers & Instruments

• Biological Oceanographers study both plants and animals. They can study varieties of animals such as plankton and large animals. To study small animals like plankton they use microscopes. Microscopes help by magnifying the animal several hundred times. It gives the oceanographer the ability to analyze the animal more in depth. 

• Chemical Oceanographers study the chemical composition of the water. To collect water samples they use a Nansen bottle. The Nansen bottle helps scientists to collect water at various depths of the sea. 

• Physical Oceanographers study the winds, waves, tides and currents. They also study the changes and motions of seawater, hurricanes, tsunamis and typhoons. With the use of a current meter oceanographers can successfully measure the water velocity or current in a river. 

• Geological Oceanographers study physical features on the ocean floor. Volcanoes and vents are often studied and analyzed. Sonar is a system using transmitted and reflected underwater sound waves to detect and locate submerged objects to measure the distance to the floor of a body of water. 

• Geophysical Oceanographers study beneath and below the ocean floor. They analyze fossil fuels, oil and gas deposits. Oil rigs, structures with equipment for drilling and servicing an oil well, help oceanographers to obtain oil deposits. 

• Oceanographic Engineers study the development of oceanographic equipment, oil rigs, submersibles, current meters, ROV's, and underwater habitats. FLIP gives the oceanographers a great place to study these aspects in depth. FLIP is designed to study wave height, acoustic signals, water temperature and density, and for the collection of meteorological data.