What Does a Career in Naval Bathymetry Involve?

[hasel001]

I am a soon to graduate physics student, and I just accepted my first tentative (physics) job offer. I will be working for the Naval Oceanographic Office in a Navy Career Intern position in their Bathymetry department. I'm very thrilled, but I don't know a great deal about the subfield and have a couple of questions:

1. What might I expect to do on a daily basis? I know I'll spend at least 2 months a year on one of their survey vessels, but besides that, I'm somewhat in the dark about it. With it being a Career Intern position, I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to learn as I go, so my uncertainty brings with it no qualms.

2. My interviewers made sure they emphasized that I would have the opportunity (read: be pushed) to continue my education. I'm also thrilled about this, and I know they will be more inclined to fund my grad school if it's well related to my job. What graduate degrees or emphases would come to mind that relate to such a job?

Thanks for any input. I'm sure I'll learn enough about it in time, but I would love some ideas on which to speculate.

 

[Fearless]

Bathymetry? Is that the thing where you measure the ocean floor in different ways?

If it's that, then I have some speculations.

* Signal processing would be quite useful, like interpreting the images that gets sent from some kind of sound-beam towards the ocean floor.

* Maybe mechatronics(for building more effcient datamodels/internal communication in the machines), although I think it's a stretch on bathymetry.

* Water/oceanic-physics. I think that will always be relevant for a bathymetrist.

* Shipbuilding? (nah just a joke. ;), that one was free of charge).