Ocean Science & Deep-Sea Exploration

The scientists, technicians, and explorers who study how the ocean works and map the least-explored places on Earth.

Top pay: highest pay, longest training

• Ocean & Climate Modeler: Builds computer models of the ocean to forecast currents, storms, and climate change. Typical pay $115k.
• Ocean Data Scientist: Uses coding and machine learning to make sense of huge streams of ocean data. Typical pay $112k.

Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship

• Physical Oceanographer: Studies how ocean currents, waves, tides, and heat move around the planet. Typical pay $100k.
• Chemical Oceanographer: Studies the chemistry of seawater, including ocean acidification and how the sea stores carbon. Typical pay $95k.
• Marine Geologist: Studies the seafloor: underwater volcanoes, earthquakes, sediment, and how the ocean basins formed. Typical pay $100k.
• Biological Oceanographer: Studies the tiny plankton and food webs that power life in the open ocean. Typical pay $85k.
• Marine Science Professor: Teaches college oceanography or marine biology and runs a research lab. Typical pay $95k.
• Marine Biologist: Studies sea creatures, from whales and sharks to corals and microbes. Typical pay $72k.
• Hydrographic Surveyor: Maps the shape of the seafloor so ships can navigate safely and engineers can build. Typical pay $82k.
• Deep-Sea Submersible Pilot: Pilots crewed submarines that take scientists thousands of meters down to the seafloor. Typical pay $90k.
• Research Vessel Marine Technician: Runs the scientific equipment aboard research ships so scientists can collect data. Typical pay $68k.
• NOAA Physical Scientist: Works for NOAA on ocean forecasts, tides, fisheries data, or ocean observing. Typical pay $100k.
• Ocean Exploration Expedition Leader: Coordinates deep-sea exploration cruises, live-streaming discoveries to the public. Typical pay $85k.
• Marine Microbiologist: Studies the trillions of tiny microbes in seawater that make oxygen and drive the ocean's chemistry. Typical pay $88k.
• Marine Taxonomist: Identifies and names marine creatures, including new species of worms, crabs, and sea slugs. Typical pay $77k.
• Marine Field Station Manager: Runs a marine research station, keeping boats, labs, and housing ready for visiting scientists. Typical pay $78k.
• High School Marine Science Teacher: Teaches high school students about oceans, marine life, and coastal science. Typical pay $72k.
• Tide & Current Technician: Installs and repairs the instruments that measure tides and currents along the coast. Typical pay $62k.
• HF Radar Ocean Current Technician: Keeps the beach and cliff-top radar stations running that map ocean surface currents every hour. Typical pay $58k.
• Fish Collection Manager: Cares for a museum’s millions of preserved fish in jars, so scientists can study them for centuries. Typical pay $66k.

Starter: fastest way in

• Marine Research Lab Technician: Runs experiments, processes samples, and maintains tanks in a marine research lab. Typical pay $52k.
• Oceanographic Data Technician: Checks, cleans, and archives ocean data from buoys, floats, and ships. Typical pay $50k.
• Sediment Core Technician: Splits, photographs, and stores long tubes of mud and rock pulled from the seafloor. Typical pay $52k.
• Research Vessel Crew Member: Helps run the research ships that carry scientists to sea. Typical pay $50k.

Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.