Welcome to the Ocean Optics Research Laboratory at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography

The Ocean Optics Research Lab, led by Professor Dariusz Stramski, is affiliated with the Marine Physical Laboratory (MPL) division at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of California San Diego (UCSD). Our research is focused on the development of an understanding of interaction of light with seawater constituents, variability in ocean optical properties, and propagation of light within the ocean and across the air-water boundary. This includes studies of light absorption and scattering by marine particles, field measurements of ocean optical properties and light fields within and leaving the ocean, and modeling efforts in the areas of particle optics and radiative transfer in the ocean. Our work also consists of developing optical methods for satellite remote sensing of the world’s oceans with an emphasis on applications to ocean biogeochemistry, climate change, and marine coastal environments.