Air
Natural Hazards
Land
Water
People
Hot Links
Games
FAQ
Site Index | Glossary

Oceanographer/Marine Biologist

Oceanographers help us gain a better understanding of how our oceans, and living creatures in them, function as an ecosystem. Oceanography contains a wide range of jobs including engineers, marine biologists, and zoologists (people who study animals). People with skills in these and other areas are involved in oceanography because Earth has more oceans than land, and it is a huge task to understand how the oceans work.

One of the better-known careers in oceanography is marine biology. While oceanographers study oceans as a whole, marine biologists focus on the living creatures in different types of water, not just huge oceans. They also study life in seas, bays, and other large bodies of water.

Oceanographers may also be technicians who specialize in working on equipment used to study the oceans. Oceanography needs technicians who are able to work on boats, electronics, and specialty equipment to make sure that their experiments run smoothly.

Oceanographers also get to travel quite a bit to do research and experiments. Although some oceanographers write technical reports in a lab, others explore the oceans. If you enjoy the water, or marine animals then you should think about a career in oceanography.

Updated: January 22, 2003