The document discusses methods used by scientists to study Earth's oceans. It describes how oceanography developed as a field in the late 1800s and 1920s using ships equipped with new measuring devices like sonar. Modern techniques like satellites and submersibles now map ocean surfaces, temperatures, currents, and seafloor features. Studies indicate Earth's early oceans formed from water released by volcanism that condensed as the planet cooled. Oceans now contain 97% of Earth's water and cover 71% of its surface.