AIMS OF OCEANOGRAPHY

 To define, describe, understand, predict

and utilize the oceans for basic research
and applied uses
– navigation, industrial uses, recreational and
commercial fisheries, energy,
transportation
 OCEANOGRAPHY
 Marine Geology and Geophysics
– study of the earth beneath and at the edges of the sea…
includes processes which shape and affect the seafloor
 Physical Oceanography
– physical parameters of seawater: temp, light, currents,
waves and tides…the movement of water masses
 Marine Meteorology
– forces which impart energy at the air-sea interface…heat
transfer and water cycles…affects of oceans in
generating hurricanes, monsoons, rainfall patterns and in
modifying weather
 OCEANOGRAPHY
 Chemical Oceanography
– origin and composition of seawater
– dissolved and suspended substances
– chemical cycles in the sea
 Marine Geochemistry
– relation between chemical and geological processes
in the sea
 Marine Biogeochemistry
– how fossil and living animals and plants affect
geological processes in the sea
 OCEANOGRAPHY
 Biological Oceanography
– how geological, physical and chemical processes
affect life in the sea, and how life, in turn, affects
these processes
– how the physical environment affects the
distribution, abundance, growth, reproduction and
mortality of marine organisms
 Marine Biology
– concerned with the biology of animals and plants
that live in the sea, their growth reproduction,
physiology and anatomy
 OCEANOGRAPHY
 Estuarine Ecology
 Ocean Engineering
 Fisheries
 Ocean and Coastal Law
 Marine Pollution Policy and Management
 Marine Sociology, Anthropology and
Archaeology
 Marine Resource Economics
 Navigation
Sailors required a system of coordinates for
traveling away from land

1. Latitude and Longitude:

Earth is an oblate sphere
circumference at the equator – 40075 km
circumference pole to pole – 40008 km
Lines of Latitude (Parallels)
the angular distance from the center of the
Earth north or south of the equator

Important Parallels:
66.5o N – Arctic Circle
66.5o S – Antarctic Circle
23.5o N – Tropic of Cancer
23.5o S – Tropic of Capricorn

There are 360o of latitude, 180o N and S

 Lines of Longitude (Meridians)
the angular distance from the axis of the Earth east
or west of the prime meridian

Lines of longitude are comprised of circles passing

through both poles

The prime meridian (0o) passes through

Greenwich, England

There are 360o of longitude, 180o E and W

Ocean Exploration and Navigation:
How to find latitude

 Stars
Stars remain fixed in the horizon throughout the
year, rotating around a common point

 Common point in the Northern Hemisphere

Polaris, the north star

A sextant is used to measure the angle of Polaris

above the horizon to get latitude
Ocean Exploration and Navigation:
How to find longitude

 An Accurate Clock
1760 – the 1st accurate seagoing clock was
developed by John Harrison

Earth rotates once a day (24 hours)

Earth is a sphere, 360o of longitude, rotating

15o/hour
HISTORY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
 ca. 4000 BC - Egyptians developed the
arts of shipbuilding and ocean piloting
 ca. 1000 - 600 BC - Phoenicians
explored the Mediterranean Sea, sailed
into the Atlantic to England,
circumnavigated Africa using coastal
landmarks and stars
 450 BC - Herodotus compiled a map of
the known world that centered on the
Mediterranean region
Polynesians
3000 BC–
650 AD

Inhabiting
the islands
in the
Pacific from
New
Zealand to
Hawaii,
from Fiji to
Easter
Island
HISTORY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
 325 BC - Pytheas explored coasts of England,
Norway and Iceland…developed a way to
determine latitude…proposed a connection
between phases of the moon and tides
 325 BC - Aristotle published Meteorologica,
describing geography and physical structure of
the known world, and Historia Animalium, first
known book on marine biology
 276 - 192 BC - Eratosthenes determined the
circumference of the earth
 54 BC - 30 AD - Seneca devised hydrologic cycle,
showing that, despite inflow of river water, the
ocean level remained stable because of
evaporation
HISTORY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
 ca. 150 AD - Ptolemy compiled a map of the
entire Roman world that showed latitudes and
longitudes
 673 - 735 AD - Venerable Bede published the
lunar control of tides, tidal variation and the
effects of wind on tidal height
 982 AD - Eric the Red completed first
transAtlantic crossing and visited Canadian
Arctic
 995 AD - Leif Erikson established North
American settlement of Vinland in
Newfoundland
AGE OF EUROPEAN DISCOVERY
DRIVEN MAINLY BY TRADE
 800 AD – Vikings, primarily raiders in wooden
boats, reached Iceland and Greenland
 995 AD - Leif Erikson established North
American settlement of Vinland in
Newfoundland
 1492- Columbus, first European to reach the
Caribbean
 1519 - 1522 – Magellan circumnavigates the
world; it took nearly 3 years for his crew to
finish the voyage
SCIENTIFIC
VOYAGING
 1768 – James Cook (HMS
Endeavor), probably the
first true ocean scientist,
explored and charted
much of the Pacific
during 3 voyages. Took
soundings, observations
on winds, currents,
temperatures. Charted
coasts of New Zealand
and Australia. Dicovered
Hawaii.
 BEGINNINGS OF MARINE SCIENCE

 1769 – Ben Franklin

and the Gulf Stream

 Physical Geography of
the Sea, by Matthew
Maury, 1st text on
oceanography

 Study of the oceans

now driven by national
commercial interests
SCIENTIFIC VOYAGING

 1831 – 1836 – Voyage of the HMS Beagle,

Charles Darwin, naturalist, surveyed
South America and the Galapagos Islands.
Studies conducted by Darwin inspired his
theory on evolution and resulted in The
Origin of Species.

 Proposed a theory for the evolution of

coral reefs.
 THE CHALLENGER EXPEDITION

 1872 – 1876 – 1ST

scientific ocean
expedition under Capt.
C. Wyville Thompson

 Investigated

1. physical conditions of the deep sea in ocean basins

2. chemical composition of SW at all depth
3. physical and chemical characteristics of the
seafloor and its composition
4. Distribution of life at all depths, and on the seafloor
 THE CHALLENGER EXPEDITION
 3.5 yr voyage logging
69000 miles. Took deep sea
soundings, bottom dredges,
open water trawls and
water salinity and
temperature

 Netted and classified 4717

new species; found that life
existed in the deep ocean

 Mapped the ocean floor by

measuring depth; deepest
sounding and sampling at
8,185 meters (26,850 feet)

 Opened up the era of

descriptive oceanography
20th Century Oceanography
Meteor Expedition –1925

Mapped the depth and

contour of the seafloor
using a new technique,
echo sounding

By measuring TS, scientists

were able to map the
vertical distribution of
water masses, finding
that the water column
consisted of several
physically and chemically
distinct layers
Glomar Challenger – 1968-1983

The Glomar Challenger was capable of drilling the ocean

floor and recovering complete cores from water depths
as great as 6000 m

Contributed to our understanding of plate tectonics,

ocean history, paleoclimate, evolution
 JOIDES Resolution
commissioned to continue the mission of scientific
drilling
 Satellite Oceanography
sea surface temperature link
sea surface color link
Earth-orbiting satellites 900-
1000 km above the Earth can
measure a variety of physical
and chemical properties of the
ocean

Detects a wide spectrum of

radiation (solar radiation
reflected from the earth’s
surface)

Measures sea surface

temperature and chlorophyll