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.
Explore Ocean Sciences News
The latest high-impact science in Ocean Sciences
The California anchovy or northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax) is a species of anchovy found in the Pacific Ocean, ranging from Mexico to British Columbia.
UCSC scientists find microplastics in Monterey Bay water, anchovies, and seabirds
Microparticles recovered from some seabirds exhibited estrogenic activity with potential to disrupt hormone functions
UCSC researchers win NOAA grants to study climate change patterns in California’s marine sanctuaries
Two UC Santa Cruz researchers will be delving deeper into coastal and climate resiliency efforts within California’s marine sanctuaries as part of two recent grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Ocean scientist Christina Ravelo awarded AGU’s Maurice Ewing Medal
The American Geophysical Union’s Ewing Medal is given annually in recognition of significant original contributions to the ocean sciences.