Facilities

Student in Lab Photo The individual laboratories of each faculty member are equipped with modern equipment specific to each persons need. Laboratories currently in operation in the department are equipped for: water-quality analysis, trace-element analysis, radio chemistry, mariculture, numerical modeling, and fluid dynamics. In addition the department maintains a fully-equipped machine and instrument shop and two machinists who design and fabricate custom research equipment as well as repair it. The Current Meter Facility supports state-of-the-art instruments and provides the capability for deep-sea and shallow-water measurements.

The interdisciplinary nature of oceanography makes the physical location of our department adjacent to facilities in all the physical and life sciences at Florida State University particularly attractive. Both formal and informal cooperative efforts between various science departments and the Department of Oceanography have flourished for years.

Departmental facilities are augmented by access to facilities in other departments: the Antarctic Research Facility and Core Library in the Geology Department, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute, the Biological Science Imaging Resources and Analytical Laboratory and Research Facility in the Biological Sciences Department, the Statistical Consulting Center in the Statistics Department, the Cray Y-MP and Connection Machine in the Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory as well as the FSU Marine Lab and the FSU Academic Diving Program.

The Marine Laboratory at Turkey Point

Marine Lab Photo

Students have opportunities to gain significant field experience, both at the Florida State University Marine Laboratory and on field expeditions with their major professors.

R/V Seminole Photo The FSU Marine Laboratory is located on the Gulf of Mexico at Turkey Point, about 45 miles southwest of Tallahassee. It offers 16 research laboratories, a library, classrooms, greenhouses, a dive locker, controlled environment rooms with seawater capabilities, seawater wet tables and recirculating seawater raceway, plus facilities for housing, administration, and maintenance. The Seminole, a 47-foot vessel, and a fleet of smaller boats are operated by the laboratory. The FSU Marine Lab also administers the Academic Diving Program, which supports science divers by supplying training (e.g., dry suit use and mixed-gas diving) and equipment (tanks, regulators, bouyancy compensators, dry suits, cameras, etc.).

Deep-sea operations in remote areas of the world are undertaken regularly by FSU scientists through cooperative arrangements with other oceanographic institutions. Faculty have participated in deep-sea cruises on some two dozen major research vessels, including the research submersible ALVIN. Extensive facilities combined with resident experts create a dynamic environment at Florida State University and add significantly to the research productivity of the Department of Oceanography.