CNR's Experimental Thalassographic Institute in Trieste is one of Italy's oldest national institutes engaged in marine research.

Responsible for two meteorological and one oceanographic detection stations, research at the institute has focused on issues related to marine chemistry and physics. Data from the stations, which has been collected since the 19th century, make it home to one of the oldest marine archives in the Adriatic Sea.

The work of the institute's chemistry group concentrates on bio-geo-chemical cycles and the distribution of dissolved gases, evolving stocks of organic and inorganic nutrients, as well as organic carbon dissolved in the Mediterranean basin and the polar seas.

The institute's physics group conducts research in oceanography, air-sea interactions, marine model-building and climatological data analysis both locally and throughout the Mediterranean Sea that rely on extensive use of satellite and ground-survey data.