The main goals of studying the physical oceanography in the Gulf of Aqaba are to describe and understand the dynamics and thermodynamics of its waters and their interaction with the atmosphere. Objectives of the physical oceanography group at the MSS are to provide a description of the circulation regime in the northern part of the Gulf of Aqaba and to assess its effects on the spreading of various tracers and pollutants.

All basic oceanographic equipment necessary for our investigations are fitted for on two vessels, Al Bahith (6 m ´ 2 m) and Al Misbar (8 m ´ 3 m). Al Bahith is equipped with a winch, an electrical generator, a Global Positioning System (GPS), a depth finder of the Echo scan series. Al Misbar is equipped with a winch, an electrical generator, and a special frame for fixing the Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) 150 & 1200 kHz. Most of the needed equipment for long-term observations, such as water current records, water temperature-salinity measurements, is available at the MSS. The crew of investigation vessels is: Hassan Abu Talib (boat driver), Mysara Alamor (field technician) and Abdullah Al-Momani (technical assistant).

A state-of-the-art technologies to measure the surface currents in the Gulf of Aqaba were used by a set of HF radar installations since August 2008 that are able to measure surface currents over a wide area.