Southampton Marine Sciences Center

Take a virtual tour of the marine station at Southampton!

Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) is on the forefront of marine research on the east end of Long Island with its 15,000-square foot, two-story Marine Sciences Center located on its Southampton campus.  Already home to cutting edge and internationally recognized research on harmful algal blooms, ocean acidification, seagrasses, shellfish, and ocean acoustics, this facility has greatly expanded the research capabilities of SoMAS in Southampton.  These expanded abilities ultimately benefit Long Island and its coastal ecosystems as a majority of the research in Southampton focuses on our local bays, harbors, and estuaries.

The central feature of the new facility is a computerized, state-of the-art 2,500-square-foot indoor seawater lab, which is capable of supplying three different seawater scenarios; ambient, temperature control and a closed recirculation system.  The ambient seawater line allows researchers to mimic the seasonal temperature changes of Shinnecock Bay by pulling water directly from the bay to supply various research tanks.  With temperatures fluctuating between approximately 1°C during the winter and 26°C in the summer, a temperature control line is able to instantly heat or chill incoming water to any temperature desired by a researcher.  For research requiring very specific water quality parameters, the closed recirculation system allows for greater control of not only temperature, but salinity and various other aspects of the water chemistry.

In addition to this impressive indoor wet lab, the Marine Sciences Center has an additional 2,400 sq. ft. of outdoor wet lab space that can accommodate larger experimental chambers or those experiments that would benefit from a natural sunlight cycle.

Research and education go hand in hand at the Marine Sciences Center.  A classroom, analytical lab, and a prep lab that supports two teaching laboratories not only enhance one of the nation’s top ranked marine science graduate programs, but strengthens the increased growth of Stony Brook Southampton’s undergraduate Semester by the Sea program.  A large entrance lobby, hallway with a view of the wet lab and conference room allow Stony Brook Southampton to bring awareness of our marine environment to the local community through lectures, tours, and trips aboard our research vessels.

To keep with Stony Brook Southampton’s environmental mission, the Marine Sciences Center was constructed with many “green” features.  Sustainable design innovations such as energy recovery of ventilation air, day lighting of all normally occupied spaces, a low static pressure ductwork system, high-efficiency lighting and a super-insulated exterior wall assembly all work together to bring a silver LEED rating to the Marine Sciences Center.

The Marine Sciences Center is also home to a fleet of research vessels including the R/V Paumanok, a 44-foot ocean-going vessel used for coastal research, the R/V Shinnecock, a 35-foot platform craft used for sampling local bays and estuaries, the R/V Parker, a 25-foot craft that can operate year-round and in shallow waters, and the R/V Peconic, a 45-foot catamaran, houseboat-style vessel for operation in protected bays and rivers.  Many small, outboard crafts equipped with winches, davits and metering wheels for sampling instruments such as oxygen analyzers, CTD-probes, and trawls.

Take a tour of the new Marine Science Center by visiting our galleries page.

For questions related to the Southampton Marine Sciences Center, please contact

Prospective Stony Brook students: To be added to the invitation list for future tours at the Southampton campus, please complete this form on the SBU Admissions website.  Your information will be added to our email list where you will receive updates about SoMAS majors, the application process, and main campus and Southampton campus tour options.

News articles related to the Marine Station and Marine Sciences Center are listed below: