Chemical Oceanography encompasses the study of the chemical components of the oceans, their reactions, and their pathways of transformation. We study both organic and inorganic compounds; particulate and dissolved material; and their distributions in the ocean’s water column, sediments, and at the land-ocean and air-sea interface. The pathways that compounds follow affect the global cycling of critical elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and iron which are intimately involved in biological activity. We undertake our research in diverse environments including cold seeps and Antarctic saline lakes, open ocean blue water gyres, coastal salt marshes, deep ocean sediments, polar oceans, and at the air-sea interface. We combine field observations, laboratory experiments, and computer models to understand factors affecting chemical transformations and how these vary in space and time.
