Why Understanding the Ocean is Important
The our oceans make up an amazingly complex system. Winds acting thousands of miles away can have very noticable effects locally. Moving masses of water can cause very significant global scale weather changes (like El Nino). Even effects of gravitational interactions with other planets and the sun are enough to drive huge currents.

As diverse as the physical system is, the ocean has many further levels of complexity. Consider a two layered system with warm light water on top and cool dense water below. Often deeper colder water will be oxygen depleted and nutrient rich. When this water is driven up to the surface and conditions are good, phytoplankton will bloom, potentially leading to an increase in zooplankton, and finally an influx of small to large fish and aquatic mammals. So the physics have a direct impact on the biology, chemistry and even the economy of the ocean.

One crucial research question that is facing us now relates to how we can understand changes in our fisheries, and how can we help keep fisheries healty. Many fish are drastically overfished, some populations declining steadily, but let's not give up hope! Given a good understanding of the fish's lifestyle, and an understanding of the physical system involved, modelers can use coupled bio-physical models to predict primary productivity or help choose locations to be classified as Marine Protected Area (MPA) so that larval production and survival can be maximized and the health of the fisheries can be maintained (even repaired!).

Why I Think it's Interesting
Watching a set of waves roll in towards a beach, you can see the waves gently bobbing up and down. As the water gets shallow they quickly steepen, shooting out into the air. If the conditions are right (a clean set and light offshore winds), the steep waves turn the corner and form shimmering glassy barrels. Watching this process, in my opinion, is a truly beautiful experience. Seeing the barrel crash down making a frothy foam that lingers at the surface, one can appreciate the energy of these waves. Looking at a wave and knowing that it travelled as far as a thousand miles to end up at that beach is even more awesome. The link between all of the processes involved with the ocean is what I really love. The solar radiation driving the wind, the wind setting up tiny differences in the slope of the sea, those tiny differences driving huge currents that cause booms in biological productivity while changing the winds... all adds up to the beauty of nature.