The oceans are the greatest reservoir of water on Earth. Due to the unique physical and chemical properties of water, the oceans play a key role as a thermostat and as a chemical buffer. One of the goals of ICM is to understand the evolution of the ocean’s heat and carbon content (storage, transport, and exchange) and how it impacts weather and climate across temporal scales, from past to present and future. We also study the variability modes of climate interactions that are modulated by the ocean, in addition to the effects on sea level rise.