Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory

"We are often asked by friends, 'What do you do?' Our quick answer is, 'we study the ocean'. Which is exactly what we did, and some of us still do, as physical oceanographers primarily at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, AOML (oceanographers often use acronyms or initials to eliminate repeated use of long names) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, and the Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Studies, CIMAS, at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, RSMAS, of the University of Miami. Both AOML and RSMAS are located on Virginia Key, Miami, Florida. 'Not enough information' is always the reply from our friends, many of whom thought we actually worked for the Central Intelligence Agency since we went to sea for long periods of time in white ships with many large antennas, radars, etc. Hoping to provide a more satisfactory reply for our friends and any potential future physical oceanographers, perhaps it is useful if a definition of physical oceanography is offered first. NOAA's National Ocean Service, NOS (oceanservice.noaa.gov), defines physical oceanography as the study of 'the physical conditions and physical processes within the ocean such as waves, currents, eddies, gyres and tides.' Physical oceanographers use many tools to study the ocean, from devices making direct observations of a variety of ocean parameters, to satellites that measure the broad oceans from space, to computer 'models' that simulate the ocean and help us figure out how the complex systems in the sea work. Thus physical oceanographers have a number of specialties in the field. Herein the focus is on collecting direct observations of the ocean, since that has been our specialty over the years"--Prologue. [doi:10.7289/V5/TR-OAR-AOML-49 (http://dx.doi.org/10.7289/V5/TR-OAR-AOML-49)]

http://doi.org/10.7289/V5/TR-OAR-AOML-49

Technical Report

United States

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)