Image

 ![Coastal research landscape used as the Northmoor University hero image.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/camilo-botia-k4vFDPJoDZk-unsplash.1600x1200.jpg.avif?itok=ujHvC8nC)

 

 



Credential awarded

[BS](/taxonomy/term/3)

 

 

Degree level

undergraduate

 

Program length

4 years

 

Start terms

fall

 

 

Oceanography at Northmoor is a quantitative science degree. It is about how the ocean works as a physical and chemical system: why water moves where it does, what it carries, and how the whole thing couples to climate.

Every student in this program goes to sea aboard R/V *Cascadia Strait*. First-year students get a day trip. By the third year you may be running your own sampling station on a multi-day cruise, and by the fourth some students are writing their own science into a cruise plan.

## What you study

The first year covers introductory oceanography and earth systems alongside the mathematics and physics core. The second year splits into the sub-disciplines — physical oceanography, chemical oceanography — and the third adds ocean observing systems and circulation and climate.

The program requires a data analysis course, and that requirement was argued for by the faculty on the grounds that a student who cannot handle a messy time series cannot do the science. Ocean data are gappy, noisy and unevenly sampled. Learning to work with them honestly is half the training.

## Where it leads

Graduate study, agency and laboratory science, offshore and environmental consulting, instrument and survey work, and a steady stream into data-heavy roles outside the field entirely — the analysis training transfers further than students expect.

The department's own PhD program takes a small number of students each year, and several have come up through this degree.

## What to expect

Mathematics, and more of it than students who chose the ocean for romantic reasons sometimes anticipate. Also genuine sea time: fourteen-day endurance, watch-standing, and weather that decides the schedule. Departures are never convenient.



Courses

[Introduction to Oceanography](/course/introduction-to-oceanography)

[Earth Systems](/course/earth-systems)

[Physical Oceanography](/course/physical-oceanography)

[Chemical Oceanography](/course/chemical-oceanography)

[Ocean Observing Systems](/course/ocean-observing-systems)

[Ocean Circulation and Climate](/course/ocean-circulation-and-climate)

[Data Analysis for Ocean Science](/course/data-analysis-for-ocean-science)

 

 

Entry requirements

Four years of high school mathematics through calculus, three years of laboratory science including physics and chemistry, and four years of English. Calculus is a genuine requirement rather than a preference — the second-year courses assume it from the first week. Admitted students typically present a B-plus average or better in mathematics and science.



 

Program contact

[Dr. Elena Reyes](/person/dr-elena-reyes)