Over coastal oceans and marginal seas, the ocean and marine atmosphere interact with land, and influence major human habitats. A suite of spacebased instruments have the potential of advancing our knowledge in this critical area. Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working with their U.S. and international collaborators, are studying coastal oceans, with a whole array of spacebased and in situ measurements, in ocean physics and biology, through monitoring, data-analysis, and modeling. These studies are supported by the Physical Oceanography and Ocean Vector Winds Programs of NASA, currently managed by Dr. Eric Lindstrom, the Biological Oceanography Program, currently managed by Dr. Chuck Trees, and Cryospheric Program, currently managed by Dr. Waleed Abdalati.

The titles of the section and subsection were largely selected by various research groups, for organization and display purposes. They do not accurately distinguish each study from the others; there are no clear boundaries.