Stabeno is known for her research on the water masses of the Arctic, long-term changes in the movement of water in the region, and the implications of these changes in the face of global climate change. Her early research examined currents off California and Oregon. She used current data from moorings and buoys that were tracked by satellites to characterize the movement of water in the vicinity of Kodiak Island, Alaska. She subsequently expanded to using satellite-tracked buoys to examine water movement in the Bering Sea, and conducted studies on the changes in the water movement in the region, especially in response to climate change. She has used moorings deployed on the continental shelf to track the Alaska Coastal Current and followed the movement of eggs and larvae from walleye pollock. Her work includes investigations into the Gulf of Alaska, the region near select Aleutian Islands, and the North Pacific Ocean. In the Bering Sea, her research has revealed warming of waters on the Bering Sea shelf, the physical oceanography of the Bering Sea, and an integration of data from the Bering Sea that spans multiple decades.