MBARI Scripps Moss Landing San Diego Introduction to Oceanography
Oceanography The Science or Study of the Oceans Geological Oceanography Physical Oceanography Chemical Oceanography Biological Oceanography
Geological Oceanography Study of earth at edge of ocean Formation processes (seafloor) Sediments Rocks & minerals Geothermal vents
Physical Oceanography How & why oceans move Weather Heat transfer Water cycles Waves, tides, currents Temperature
Chemical Oceanography Composition & history of seawater Seawater processes & interactions Salinity Dissolved gases Nutrients
Biological Oceanography Living organisms Organisms relationships with each other and their environment
Marine Sediments (geological) created by Living Organisms (biological) That are influenced by Nutrients (chemical) and Currents & Temperature (physical)
History of Oceanography
Early Times Paleolithic and Neolithic periods – Hunting and food gathering: –Ohlone Indians on Central Coast of California The Egyptians –Offshore fishing –Exploration- reed boats The Phoenicians –Trade –Navy
Early Explorers and Traders Ancient Civilizations (1500 BC – 500 AD) Interest in oceans driven by need to food and trading Egyptians - shipbuilding and coastal piloting Phoenicians – North Africa, excellent sailors; explored the Mediterranean, traded with Britain, May have circumnavigated Africa around 600 BC Arabs explored the Indian Ocean Polynesians – explored Pacific Ocean
From the ninth to sixth centuries B.C. they dominated the Mediterranean Sea, establishing emporiums and colonies from Cyprus in the east to the Aegean Sea, Italy, North Africa, and Spain in the west.
Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria One of seven wonders of the ancient world Recently found by marine archeologists
Ancient Classical Knowledge Greeks: an intellectual curiosity about the oceans Aristotle (~350 BC) Treatise on marine organisms, observations of water cycle (hydrologic cycle) Library of Alexandria founded in 3rd century BC. housed “world’s knowledge” Eratosthenes (~ 200 BC): 2nd librarian at Alexandria Calculated earth’s circumference Invented latitude and longitude lines
Eratosthenes
Possible origin of “Atlantis” as volcanic eruption and tsunamis destroyed Minoan civilization near Crete Fresco from the Palace of King Minos 1500BC
Polynesian Double-Hulled Canoe The Polynesians: Explorers of the Pacific Ocean
Polynesian double hull canoe Dual hulled boats carried 100 people Skilled navigation wave action bird flight stars atmospheric conditions
Polynesian Sailing Canoes
Polynesian Stick Map
Migration routes of the Polynesians
Goal: Water Person Hawaiian Style Hawaiians invented surfing
Easter Island: deforested Civilization collapses
Middle (Dark) Ages 400s – 1400s in Europe Extreme superstition Fear of intellectual inquiry Much information lost Map of Europe 600 AD
The Middle Ages Vikings –Improvements in shipbuilding –Trade and colonization Arabs –Description of currents associated with seasonal monsoon –Trade routes to China –Preserved Greek and Roman knowledge China –Compass –Trade routes to Persian Gulf Europe –Increased knowledge of navigation –Tide tables
In 1405, Chinese sent 62 ships to explore the Indian and Pacific Oceans
Vikings Age of Exploration AD Discovered North America 500 years before Columbus Leif Erickson
Viking Long Boat
Fig. 1.5
Modern day Vikings
Vikings where did they go? Vikings view of their Inuit Neighbors
Ptolemy’s Map of the World 150AD
Ptolemy’s Map Fig. 1.4 Still in use 1500 AD
Age of Exploration
Voyages of Discovery Early Chinese –Exploration of the Pacific and Indian Oceans Europe –Prince Henry the Navigator Naval observatory –Vasco da Gama –Christopher Columbus –Ferdinand Magellan –Sir Martin Frobisher –Francis Drake
Fifteenth century routes of Bartholomew Diaz, Vasco da Gama, and Christopher Columbus
Columbus: Hero or ? “Gold is most excellent; gold constitutes treasure; and he who has it does all he wants in the world, and can even lift souls up to Paradise.” – Christopher Columbus, 1503 letter to the king and queen of Spain.
Navigational Chart of northern Europe from Johannes van Keulen’s Sea Atlas of
Sixteenth Century circumnavigation routes of Ferdinand Magellan and Sir Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake Great Explorer or Sea Devil?
The Importance of Charts and Navigational Information Trade, travel, and exploration First hydrographic offices –France, 1720 –Britain, 1795 Relationship between time and longitude –John Harrison; first chronometer
The Importance of Charts and Navigational Information Voyages of James Cook Benjamin Franklin –Chart of Gulf Stream National and commercial interests –U.S. Survey of the Coast set up in 1830 (now known as the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office)
James Cook (1728 – 1779) 3 major voyages mapped South Pacific, coasts of New Zealand, Australia and N America, “discovered” Hawaiian Islands
Cook’s Voyages
Ben Franklin’s Gulf Stream Map
Why did Benjamin Franklin make his map? First Postmaster General of U.S., he wanted to speed the mails across the Atlantic. “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.” “You may delay but time will not.” Benjamin Franklin
Franklin’s map and satellite photo of Gulf Stream “You may delay but time will not.” Benjamin Franklin
1860 Gulf Stream Map
What’s at the bottom of the Sea?
Ocean Science Begins Botanists and naturalists –Collect, describe, and classify organisms –Theory of atoll formation (Charles Darwin) –Investigations of microscopic drifting plants and animals (plankton) Scientific interest based on practical reasons –Navigation, tide prediction, and safety Importance of government support –Laying of transatlantic telegraph cables
H.M.S. Beagle
Voyage of the Beagle,
1847 Maury 1847: U.S. Navy Lieutenant Matthew F. Maury produced first bathymetric, wind and current chart of the North Atlantic. First “true” oceanographer
The Challenger Expedition Comprehensive scientific expedition Naval corvette refitted with laboratories, winches, and sounding scope –Circumnavigation –361 sounding stations –Collected deep-sea water samples –Investigated deep-water motion –Temperature measurements at all depths –Thousands of biological and sea-bottom samples
Fig Analysis and compilation of data continued for 20 years Began oceanography as a modern science Prestige stimulated expeditions by other nations Challenger Expedition
Voyage of the Challenger,
Challenger Expedition
Exploratory Science Fridtjof Nansen –Voyage of the Fram –Nansen bottle International scientific cooperation –Motivated by fluctuations in commercial fish Antarctic exploration Amundsen, Scott, Shackleton Arctic exploration Admiral Peary, Nansen
Early Oceanographers Harsh conditions and slow work compared to today
Oceanography in the Twentieth Century Support by wealthy individuals Scripps Institution of Oceanography Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Rapid advances during World War II Office of Naval Research (ONR) and National Science Foundation (NSF) funding International Geophysical Year (IGY) cooperation Satellites Deep Sea Drilling Program National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Bathyscaphe Trieste
dia/trieste.htmlhttp:// dia/trieste.html
False color images of plankton concentrations on Tasmania, Australia Yellow and red: high concentrations Green and blue: low concentrations Dark blue and purple: very low concentrations
Glomar Challenger Deep Sea Drilling Project Ship (1968 to 1983) Howard Hughes’ ship
JOIDES Resolution (1985 to present) Ocean Drilling Program drill ship
Offshore Drilling Platform
MBARI Scripps Moss Landing San Diego
Most famous oceanographer today: Robert Ballard Found Titanic, Lusitania, Bismarck, PT 109, Black Sea Flood Play movie
Marcia McNutt, MBARI
Jacques Cousteau ( ) invented SCUBA during World War II
Jacques Cousteau ( ) Most famous oceanographer of the 20 th century If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed... if we are not willing [to change], we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect. ~ Jacques Cousteau
Doc Ricketts
The Recent Past, the Present, and the Future of Oceanography Earth is a complex of systems and subsystems Cross disciplinary research Integrated approach Large scale oceanographic programs –Climate: WOCE, JGOFS, GOALS, –Structure and history of the Earth: ODP, RIDGE –Satellites; TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1 –Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) –Project NEPTUNE
The future? ROVs and satellites
This image of the Pacific Ocean was produced using sea-surface height measurements taken by the U.S.-French Jason satellite. The image is based on the average of 10 days of data centered on Feb. 12, 2007, compared to the long-term average of observations from 1993 through In this image, places where the Pacific sea surface height is higher (warmer) than normal are yellow and red, and places where the sea surface is lower (cooler) than normal are blue and purple. Green shows where conditions are near normal. Sea-surface height is an indicator of the heat content of the upper ocean.
ROV has an unexpected visitor, a Sperm Whale
Nuclear Missile Submarine Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, California
Our little Blue Marble
Summary Oceanography, a multidisciplinary field –Geology, geophysics, chemistry, physics, meteorology, biology Early explorers and traders National and commercial interests Beginning of ocean science (19 th century) 20 th century –Role of private institutions –Role of large-scale government funding and international cooperation Summary
Sunset