Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences

The Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, a unit of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, is a U.S. oceanographic research institution based in Bermuda. Founded in 1903, BIOS gained prominence after 1927 when the US National Academy of Sciences appointed the Lillie Commission to assess the needs of the U.S. oceanographic research community. Bermuda was selected as a key “substation” because it is “truly oceanic in location” and therefore in “the best situation in the North Atlantic for investigation into the phenomena that are fundamentally characteristic of the ocean basins.”

Today, ASU BIOS continues to conduct state-of-the-art oceanographic research with an emphasis on the North Atlantic Ocean and the coral reef platform of Bermuda. Because Bermuda is in the path of major ocean currents and in a region of significance with respect to climate change, our research portfolio has global relevance. We also leverages our core research to create unique educational programs at all levels—grade school through graduate school—many in collaboration with U.S. and Canadian universities.

Bermuda is located in the sub-tropical Atlantic Ocean, some 600 miles from the coast of the U.S. Located in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, Bermuda is uniquely situated to serve as a base for research on a variety of inland, coastal, and deep water issues of both local, national and global interest. From here, scientists can easily venture into the surrounding Sargasso Sea, one of the world’s most diverse open-ocean ecosystems. Bermuda is also home to some of the world’s most northern coral reefs, allowing researchers from around the globe an opportunity to study corals outside tropical waters.