The physical oceanography curricular group investigates the processes responsible for currents and water property distibutions over the entire range of scales from microstructure through the large-scale oceanic gyres and the ocean's role in climate. A large variety of approaches, involving both theory and measurement, using many different techniques and types of instrumentation, are utilized to quantify these physical processes and their importance. The research on motions of bodies of water spans a wide range - from studies using a rotating tank in the fluid dynamics laboratory, to studies of the circulation of Puget Sound, to studies of the global thermohaline circulation.

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