The Physical Oceanography Division conducts research and educational activities to understand the dynamics (movement, mixing, and exchange with atmosphere and land) of the ocean. These processes interact and vary across the small-scale (turbulent mixing), the human-scale (waves, coastal zone), the storm scale (sub-to-mesoscale, transfer between ocean and atmosphere), to the planetary scale (El Nio, climate). Current research topics within the division include, but not limited to: physical and biological interactions in the oceans, sub-mesoscale and mesoscale structures, water-type formation, dynamics of the ocean's surface layer, satellite remote sensing, ocean-atmosphere interaction, paleoceanography, ecosystem modeling, sea-level rise, equatorial circulation, general ocean circulation variability and dynamics, climate dynamics, ocean circulation and wave predictability, and technological development of instruments and sensors.<br>Ocean physics can impact people's lives from changes to rain and weather patterns, sea-level rise, coastal waves and dynamics, changes in ocean mixing of carbon, and much more. In addition to basic research, these applied areas are currently examined by members of the Division.