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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Introductory Oceanography (EENS/EBIO 223)
Prof. Rosenheim Blessey 210 862-3196
Textbook:
Introductory Oceanography, 10th Edition. Thurman and Trujillo
Book Use: Required readings, test questions – you will do better with the book!
History of Oceanography
Chapter 1
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Science of Oceanography
• Physical Oceanography• Chemical Oceanography• Biological Oceanography• Marine Geology and Geological
Oceanography (Paleoceanography)
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
What is Oceanography?
• Study of our oceans– The basins that are the oceans– The water in those basins– The life in that water– Interactions between the water and the
atmosphere– The remnants of life collecting on the bottom
of the basins
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
How We View the Oceans
• Resource – time immemorial
• Travel and commerce – 2000 B.C. to present
• Integral part of our environment – 20th
century - present
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
The Beginnings
• Commerce & Exploration• Navigational Needs
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Early Navigation
• Pacific Islanders
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
PolynesiansUsed astute observations to construct charts and inhabit dispersed Pacific Islands from Asia
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Age of Exploration
• Early Exploration– Pheonicians 2000-450 B.C.– Greeks
• Pytheas – measured latitude and sailed to Iceland• Eratosthenes – Spherical Earth of r = 6366km
– Today, r = 6370km
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Pheonicians
• Mediterranean explorers and traders
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Middle Ages, Dark Ages
• Much was forgotten during the Middle Ages – religious suppression of science
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Vikings• Vikings
– 9th Century A.D. – Vikings explore Eastern Europe
– 900 A.D. – Discovered Greenland, Iceland, and N. America (did not colonize the latter)
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Age of Exploration
• Renaissance and beyond– Chinese – diplomatic missions as far as Africa– Spanish – Re-discovery of N. America,
Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world– British – growing marine power by the end of
the 16th century
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Notable Explorers
• Prince Henry the Navigator – Explored outside of Europe
• Bartholomeu Diaz – sailed to tip of Africa• Vasco de Gama – sailed around Africa• Columbus – sailed west to find the “East”• John Cabot – landed on N. America• Vasco Nunez de Balboa – crossed
Panama and saw Pacific
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Magellan’s Circumnavigation5 ships and 288 sailors to 1 ship and 18 sailors,
1519-1521
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Navigation for Further Exploration
• Polynesians– Navigated small distances using known wave
patterns and wind direction• Latitude
– Measured by early navigators using sun and stars
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Navigation for Further Exploration
• Longitude– Related to time – time couldn’t be kept on
board a ship!– John Harrison invented a sea-going clock in
1735, perfected in 1761.
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Modern Oceanography
• Ben Franklin – 1700’s– Published map of Gulf Stream based on
fishermen’s and merchants’ experiences
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Birth of Marine Science
• Inquisitive Exploration – Captain James Cook – 1768-1779– depth soundings, SST, Antarctica
• Bottom Samples– Ross and Forbes
• Bottom samples in the tropics were similar to surface samples in the polar regions
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Voyage of the HMS Beagle 1831-1836
• Crew member Charles Darwin– (not much of an old salt)– specialization of peculiar species (Galapagos)– coral reef life history and geology
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Matthew Fontaine Maury – the “Father of Oceanography”
• Depot of Naval Charts• International Meteorological Conference
1853• Physical Geography of the Sea 1855• Ocean currents documented• Hypothesized open seas near North Pole.
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Voyage of the HMS Challenger 1872-1876 (C. Wyville Thompson)
• Physics, chemistry and biology of world’s seafloors – ignited by the Ross-Forbes debate
• Bottom temperature records, dredge samples, bottom trawls– 4717 new species discovered– Record depth of Mariana Trench measured
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Polar Oceanography
• George Washington DeLong and the USS Jeanette – stuck in polar ice north of Alaska
• Fridtjof Nansen and the Fram– Inspired by distance that some parts of the
Jeanette had traveled in pack ice– Designed the Fram to withstand ice and set
“sail” stuck in ice
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
The Fram Voyage, 1893-1895
• Findings– 3000 m deep– Warm subsurface
water (1.5oC)– Nansen bottle– Ekman’s principles
of wind driven drift
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Voyage of the Meteor, 1925-1927
• Set sail in 1925 for 25 months• 310 sampling stations in the South Atlantic• Topography currents and chemistry
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Echo Sounder
• Used aboard the Meteor– Use sound waves to measure depth– More accurate than long rope from a drifting
ship– Meteor mapped much more of seafloor
• Found long mountain range in center of the Atlantic – Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Bathymetric Charts
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Ocean Sampling
• Alexander Agassiz – Brought oceanography recognition as a
science• Active and opinionated, but sometimes wrong
– Used dredge to collect bottom organisms• One haul produced more specimens than the
entire Challenger Voyage!• Skimmed rather than plowed
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Oceanography and the Navy
• Warfare necessitated increased maritime knowledge– Anti-submarine capabilities
• Sonar • Sea floor topography
– Waves and Currents– ONR – Office of Naval Research
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Post WWII
• Institutionalization of oceanography– Federal Sea Grant– Scripps– RSMAS– WHOI
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Current
• Collaboration is international– IODP – Integrated Ocean Drilling Program– ICDP – International Continental Drilling
Program
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Current
• Observations are ever more encompassing– Satellite Oceanography
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Satellite Oceanography
• Electromagnetic radiation does not penetrate the oceans deeply– “Skin temperatures” – top mm of ocean water
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Physical Oceanography
• Study of movements of water and interactions between different masses of water– Waves– Currents– Tides– Interaction with atmosphere
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Chemical Oceanography
• Chemistry of seawater– The water molecule and its peculiarities– Constituents dissolved in seawater– Chemical tracers of ocean movement
Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Biological Oceanography
• Study of sea life– Plankton– Whales and dolphins
• Which is more important?
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Professor Rosenheim EENS/EBIO 223
Intoductory Oceanography
Geologic Oceanography
• Paleoceanography– Past ocean conditions and circulation
• Marine Geology– Geology under the sea