Grand Challenges in Physical Oceanography

Physical oceanography is a relatively young scientific branch, in comparison with marine biology or other oceanographic disciplines, and with most physics disciplines. However, because of importance for fisheries and trading, surface ocean physics on currents and waves has been investigated for over centuries. It was largely applied science; a lot of fundamental science on the ocean interior is probably still ahead of us. This may have to do with the ocean's inaccessibility for mankind. Some challenges are given here, based on a biased diagnosis of present-day shortcomings in physical oceanography research