What are the duties of an oceanographer?
An oceanographer’s duties are diverse, dictated by the chosen profession. Data are most often collected at sea or from inland waters, but are usually processed and analyzed in laboratories and offices, often involving the use of highly-specialized instruments and computers. Oceanographers experience the exhilaration and rigors of new discoveries made at sea, and return to home port for months of data processing, computer programming, analysis, writing, budgeting, planning, and conferring. The work is both rewarding and tedious, fascinating and frustrating. For example, a recent 24-day oceanographic cruise sailed from Panama to look at the relationship of the cycling of carbon and trace metals and biological productivity in the upper ocean. It included two equator crossings and an excursion to the Galapagos Islands. Plankton and chemical samples were collected at four stations. Six oceanographers will work at least nine months on the data processing, chemical analysis, and publication p
