For marine chemists, the ocean is an enormous suite of chemical reactions dictated by the composition of the ocean water and sediments. These reactions - and understanding the ways in which various elements are cycled within the oceans - help scientists more fully define the suite of water masses that characterize the ocean today, and were likely to characterize it in the past. Ocean chemists improve our understanding of the basic conditions under which ocean life thrives in seawater, and help predict the effects of anthropogenic and natural climate change on ocean composition.

The work of CMS chemists finds strength in its diversity. Research programs include such wide ranging topics as the role and variability of nutrients in seawater, the distribution and cycling of rare earth elements and other trace metals, examination of the oceans' CO2 system including the development of new ways to carry out shipboard and in-situ measurements of pH, total inorganic carbon, alkalinity, and CO2 fugacity, the study of dissolved organic matter, molecular organic compounds, radionuclides and stable isotopes in the oceans, and the distribution of chemical pollutants and their toxicity on marine organisms and ecosystems.

Also notable is the development by CMS researchers and engineers from the Center for Ocean Technology of the world's first underwater mass spectrometer, an advance that continues to revolutionize the way marine chemists do research in the field. In addition, a long pathlength spectrometer has been developed to observe in situ oceanic nutrient distributions down to 200 meters. Other methods commonly used by CMS marine chemists include: fluorescence techniques, laser methods, high performance liquid chromatography, stable isotope mass spectrometry, radionuclide counting, high resolution gas chromatography, and combined gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. CMS chemists are currently working in all areas of the worlds oceans, both locally and globally.