UC Santa Cruz - Ocean Sciences

Wolf Eel Caught in Mid-Water Trawl Net Near Mendocino Coast

Our Department

We are faculty and students involved in oceanography and other marine sciences with access to a wide variety of research facilities and equipment, including on-campus analytical chemistry, geology and molecular biology laboratories, and computing and imaging facilities. We support collaborative research with partners at the nearby Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, the Naval Postgraduate School, Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station, Moss Landing Laboratory, and others. More...

Ocean Sciences News

March 12, 2018Four kinds of algal toxins found in San Francisco Bay shellfish
February 26, 2018Tracking data reveal the secret lives of marine animals
February 12, 2018Innovative restoration of coral reefs helps protect Caribbean islands

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Photo Journal

McCarthy: A novel probe-corer apparatus with prototypes of a large-volume "barrel sampler" used to obtain samples to test hypotheses about an off-axis crustal biosphere.

Kudela: The study of phytoplankton dynamics in the Eastern Pacific Ocean coastal region and finding new applications for remote sensing technology.

Edwards: Occurrence of hypoxic events in Long Island Sound from 1994 to 2002. [From: NL Goebel, JN Kremer, and CA Edwards. 2006. Primary Production in Long Island Sound. Estuaries and Coasts, 29(2): 232-245.]

Delaney: A new method for extracting neodymium (Nd) from fossil ﬁsh teeth, which was used to identify the ﬁrst high resolution Nd isotope record spanning the ∼40.0 Ma middle Eocene Climatic Optimum [From: HD Scher and ML Delaney. 2010. Breaking the glass ceiling for high resolution Nd isotope records in early Cenozoic paleoceanography. Chemical Geology 269: 329–338]

Bruland: Upwelling over narrow verses broad continental shelves.

Ravelo: The gradual expansion of Northern Hemisphere glaciation about 3.6 million years ago followed a period of prolonged warmth. An analysis of ancient sea surface temperatures fuels the debate surrounding the roles of atmospheric carbon dioxide and global circulation in the cooling. The figures show documented changes in global ice volume as reconstructed from a variety of researchers. [From: AC Ravelo. 2010. Palaeoclimate: Warmth and glaciation. Nature Geoscience 3: 672–674]

Zehr: UCYN-A cyanobacteria is an unusual marine microorganism with a remarkably reduced set of genes. It is uniquely uniquely suited for nitrogen fixation, as it is lacking in the genes for a key component of the photosynthesis, the TCA cycle, and the Calvin cycle. Samples collected from the open ocean indicate that this microbe is periodically abundant in tropical and subtropical waters throughout the world. This organism may be an important part of the overall nitrogen budget of the oceans.

Silver: Toxin-producing Pseudo-nitzschia, once thought to be limited to coastal waters, are also common in the open ocean where the addition of iron from natural or artificial sources can stimulate rapid growth of the harmful algae. (Picture: A clump of Pseudo-nitzschia cells in a sample of ocean water)

Moore: Investigating regional ecosystem dynamics on seasonal and interannual timescales through pairing models of surface chlorophyll concentrations with coastal ocean circulation modeling. (From: J Fiechter and AM Moore. 2009. Interannual spring bloom variability and Ekman pumping in the coastal Gulf of Alaska. J. of Geophys Res: Oceans 114 (C6), DOI: 10.1029/2008JC005140)

General Information

NEW CLASS Spring 2018 OCEA 241 - Dynamics of Marine Ecosystems with Jerome Fiechter
Spring 2018 OCEA 290G - The El Niño-Southern Oscillation with Andy Moore
Spring 2018 OCEA 290A - Classic Papers in Chemical Oceanography with Phoebe Lam
NEW Environmental Sciences Major Fall 2018
Ocean Sciences Student: Kim Bitterwolf Wins Grad Slam 1st Place & People's Choice, UCSC
Main Office: A312 Earth and Marine Sciences Building
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Prospective Students

The Ocean Sciences Department includes faculty and students involved in oceanography and other marine sciences. Students have access to a wide variety of research facilities and equipment, and collaborative study with nearby research agencies and institutions. More...

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