[5] Talley has worked at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego since 1984, and was named a distinguished professor in 2012.
[5] While at Scripps, her research has combined analysis of ocean observations with advanced theoretical work to describe and map large-scale circulation.
[7] In addition to academic publications, she has published a graduate level textbook on descriptive physical oceanography and two oceanographic atlases.
In 2000, Talley and co-principal investigator, Daniel Rudnick, worked with moorings and hydrography on the collaborative Okhotsk Sea dense water formation project.
[14] In 2005-2006, Talley used hydrography, CTD, and profiling floats to understand Antarctic Intermediate Water formation in the southeast Pacific.