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About Us

The Ocean Sciences Department is an inclusive, supportive, and innovative community of people involved in oceanography and other marine sciences. We offer undergraduate and graduate courses in these disciplines. Students have access to a wide variety of research facilities and equipment through faculty sponsors. In addition to research and instructional activities along the California coast, interests of the core faculty and their students include biological, chemical, and physical oceanography; sediment, marine, organic, and trace metal biogeochemistry; marine plankton, phytoplankton ecology, paleoceanography, aquatic microbial ecology, ecological modeling, and remote sensing (satellite oceanography); numeric modeling of coastal and basin-scale dynamics; midwater ecology and climatology, among others.

Facts & figures

#3
Global rank for research influence by citation index (2018)

#3
Best Marine Biology School in California (2022)

20+
Research partners in institutions and facilities along Monterey Bay

Employment opportunities
Graduate Advisor
Postdoctoral Scholar in Biologging and Behavioral Ecology of Marine Mammals
Contact & visitor information
831-459-4730
831-459-4882 Fax
osadmin@ucsc.edu
Earth & Marine Sciences Bldg
A312

Explore Ocean Sciences News

The latest high-impact science in Ocean Sciences

Comb jellies, now proven to be the 'sibling group' to all other animals, can be found in the nearby Monterey Bay. (image credit: Darrin Schultz)

Comb jellies proven to be the sibling group to all other animals

New research proves comb jellies are a unique lineage or “sibling group” whose ancestors diverged before the common ancestor of all other animals

Colleen Reichmuth

Physical and Biological Sciences Division honors three prominent alumni

The Division of Physical and Biological Sciences is honoring three stellar alumni—atmospheric scientist Cora E. Randall, pediatrician Ramon Resa, and marine scientist Colleen Reichmuth—with the 2023 Distinguished Alumni Awards

Phytoplankton use photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds like carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Only a small fraction of this organic matter produced by phytoplankton is transferred (exported) to deeper layers of the ocean, either through sinking particles (a more efficient process) or downward mixing of dissolved carbon (a less efficient process). (Credit: NOAA Fisheries)

One of the planet’s most important carbon sinks is revealing its secrets

Tiny organisms in the Southern Ocean play an outsized role in moderating Earth’s climate