Intro to Oceanography.

Intro to Oceanography

What is Oceanography? How does it differ from Marine Biology?
Study of the ocean, its surroundings, and life within it. How does it differ from Marine Biology? Marine bio studies marine organisms’ anatomy, physiology, behavior; more individualistic.

The five principal oceans
Pacific Atlantic Indian Arctic Southern or Antarctic Ocean

Earth's Oceans Artic Atlantic Pacific Indian Southern or Antarctic
The Earth's oceans are all connected to one another. Until the year 2000, there were four recognized oceans: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic. In the Spring of 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization delimited a new ocean, the Southern Ocean (it surrounds Antarctica and extends to 60 degrees latitude). The oceans of Earth are unique in our Solar System. No other planet in our Solar System has liquid water (although recent finds on Mars indicate that Mars may have had some liquid water in the recent past). Life on Earth originated in the seas, and the oceans continue to be home to an incredibly diverse web of life. The oceans of Earth serve many functions, especially affecting the weather and temperature. They moderate the Earth's temperature by absorbing incoming solar radiation (stored as heat energy). The always-moving ocean currents distribute this heat energy around the globe. This heats the land and air during winter and cools it during summer. OCEANS ARE DEFINED BY POSITION OF OCEAN BASINS & POSITION OF CONTINENTS Pacific- world’s largest ; relative size- 50.1% Atlantic- ½ the size of the Pacific ; relative size- 26% Indian- slightly smaller than the Atlantic ; relative size- 20.5% Arctic- ; relative size- 3.4% Southern or Antarctic 7 SEAS: smaller and shallower and somewhat enclosed by land North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, Southern or Antarctic Southern or Antarctic

Comparison of Oceans Size
Area (square miles) Average Depth (ft) Deepest depth (ft) Pacific Ocean 64,186,000 15,215 Mariana Trench, 36,200 ft deep Atlantic Ocean 33,420,000 12,881 Puerto Rico Trench, 28,231 ft deep Indian Ocean 28,350,000 13,002 Java Trench, 25,344 ft deep Southern Ocean 7,848,300 sq. miles ( million sq km ) 13, ,400 ft deep (4,000 to 5,000 meters) the southern end of the South Sandwich Trench, 23,736 ft (7,235 m) deep Arctic Ocean 5,106,000 3,953 Eurasia Basin, 17,881 ft deep

The Seven Seas? Mediterranean Dead Sea Ross Sea South China Sea
Sea of Japan Caribbean Sea Baltic Sea Adriatic Sea Black Sea Red Sea Aegean Sea Marmara Sea North Sea

Ocean Disciplines

Physical Oceanography
How and why ocean currents flow, air-sea interactions such as the generation of waves by wind.

Chemical Oceanography
Composition of sea water and the processing controlling and altering its composition, including marine pollution

Biological Oceanography
Organisms that live in the ocean and their relationship to the environment

Geological Oceanography
Study of rock structure in the ocean basin, properties of rocks such as magnetism, occurrence of earthquakes.

Design and installation of oceanographic instrumentation and vehicles
Ocean Engineering Design and installation of oceanographic instrumentation and vehicles

Global/Local Monitoring
Chlorophyll Satellite Oceanography: Benthic habitat types in optically shallow water(30m or less), chlorophyll concentration, coral bleaching events, water temperature, formation of eddies, El Nino, track global warming, atmospheric ocean wing and waves, sea level heights, measure ice sheet retreat and growth NOAA Weather Buoy/ Tsunami

Disciplinary Connections
BIOLOGY BIOPHYSICS BIOCHEMISTRY OCEANOGRAPHY PHYSICS CHEMISTRY GEOPHYSICS GEOCHEMISTRY GEOLOGY

Characteristics of the World's Oceans
Average depth of ocean- 4000m Average temperature- 39oF (3.9oC) Age of ocean- 4 billion years old

Covers 71% of the Earth’s surface

Average salinity- 35 o/oo
Jordan Dead Sea Israel This is the lowest point on earth at 412 metres below sea level. It was the centre of one of the biggest activities of the earth. It was the rift called the Syrian African Rift. Due to the depth below sea level and the very hot temperature, about 12 million tons of water has evaporated, and so the salinity of the Dead Sea is the highest in the world (38%= 380 o/oo). This is the reason why people can float easily, even if they do not know how to swim. Amazon River Dead Sea

Tallest Mountain: Hawaii's Mauna Kea rises 10,203 m (33,476 ft) from base to peak. Everest is only 8,848m.

Deepest spot- Marianas Trench (10,912m)
1960- Walsh & Piccard Marianas Trench 10,912 m 1960- Walsh & Piccard voyaged to Marianas Trench in the bathyscaphe Trieste. A bathyscaphe is a submersible tethered to the main ship by a cable. The voyage took several hours for the bathyscaphe to descend . The men heard a dull cracking sound that shook the cabin. The plexiglass port cracked. Depth 10, 912m (35, 8000 ft). They saw a few fish , shrimp and jellyfish. Mt Everest 8,863 m

Age of the ocean basin: 200 my old
Millions of Years Before Present

When did the study of oceanography begin?
It formally began in the 1800’s. Previously, it was thought that the deep ocean had no life below 550 m (Edward Forbes- Azoic Theory). Edward Forbes was a distinguished British naturalist, born in His accomplishments included the curatorship of the museum of the Geological Society of London and the professorship of botany at Kings College. In November 1844 he resigned the curatorship of the Geological Society, and became palaeontologist to the Geological Survey of Great Britain. In 1841 he sailed with the British Survey on the Beacon, charting the waters of the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea, where he was able to dredge for samples from the deepest waters examined to date. After these explorations, Forbes developed his theory that below 300 fathoms the mysterious dark depths of the seas was a baren lifeless area and he named this the Azoic (lifeless) zone. His theory was accepted by the public and assumed the status of fact. In 1853 he fulfilled a long-cherished wish with his appointment to the professorship of natural history in the university of Edinburgh, made vacant by the death of his and Darwin's mentor Professor Jameson. But soon after taking on the professorship, he died suddenly, aged 39. Despite his many contributions to science and great status in the scientific community, he is best remembered for his misguided Azoic theory. Forbes was followed in the Edinburgh Chair by Charles Wyville-Thomson, who strongly disputed the Azoic theory and became determined to disprove it. And so the stage was set for the Challenger's historic voyage.

Ocean Navigation Latitude measured by using a sextant by measuring position of sun and stars John Harrison of England is credited with solving the longitude problem by inventing an accurate timepiece Compass came from China 4th century BC, used in Europe 1190 AD GPS- global positioning system- uses satellite tracking Human populations through time have often flourished near the sea, partly because of the food resources that can be found there, but also because of the ease of transportation of people and cargo by boats. Observations about various organisms and environments were of course a major part of human activities since the earliest times, since the very survival of early Homo sapiens depended on this knowledge to obtain food and provide defense against dangerous plants and animals. Near the end of the bronze age, the Egyptians were not a maritime people, and the Greek and Hebrew civilizations had not yet developed to the point where they could make extensive sea voyages (and no written records are known from that time). The Phoenicians, however, were accomplished navigators and sailors, and made voyages throughout the Mediterranean for the establishment of colonies and commerce. They made voyages outside the Straits of Gibraltar, into the Atlantic, and made extensive voyages along the coast of Africa. They apparently recognized the higher tides of the Atlantic, and considered the possibility of a water mass that surrounded all lands. During the bronze age, the Minoans of Crete and later the Mycenaean Greeks must also have made voyages within the Mediterranean. The Homeric poems (written several hundred years later by Homer, as the Iliad and Odyssey), describe events around 1200 BC, and involve fairly extensive sea voyages (at least for that era).

1500 B.C., Phoenicians were skilled sailors and traded goods
Prior to then: 1500 B.C., Phoenicians were skilled sailors and traded goods Phoenicians: Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Israel- as early as 2000BC they explored the Mediterranean Sea , Red Sea, and Indian Ocean Early navigation done by keeping view of land

Migration Routes of Polynesia
Marquesas appeared to be the starting point for voyages to Easter Island, Hawaiian Islands and New Zealand. Polynesians navigated using the sun and moon, the nighttime stars, behavior of marine organisms, various ocean properties and a stick chart.Stick charts consistently depicted regular patterns of ocean waves In addition to their more advanced navigational techniques, the early navigators used some simple facts as an aid to their navigation. The first of these was the occurrence of trade wind clouds over invisible islands over the horizon. What the navigator could see was the reflection of the island in the under surface of the cloud. This green reflection was an obvious sign to the navigator that there was an island or atoll over the horizon. The second simple navigational technique adopted by our forefathers was to follow the movements of the birds. Such birds as the frigate bird and the tern roost ashore and then feed at sea. Dawn and dusk flight paths pointed the way to land. When travelling greater distances, the early navigators steered by the stars. They directed their canoes towards a particular star in the constellation Leo and when that star moved too high and too far to the left, they followed the next star that rose from the same point on the horizon. Then the next and after that the next and so on until dawn broke. The star-compass technique is still practised over much of the Pacific. What is more impressive however is the island navigator's uncanny skill to steer by wave motion - swells reflected from islands beyond the horizons. The skilled navigator comes to recognise the profile and characteristic of particular ocean swells as he would the faces of his friends, but he judges their direction more by feel than by sight. The complex patterns produced by swell reflected and refracted among the islands are recognised by navigators throughout Oceania.

Hawaiian Star Map To make the desired landfall the captain (ho'okele) first located the North Star, in Hawaiian, Hokupa'a, or fixed star, and kept it on the proper bearing; and then selected from the heavens the steering star, the star from among many that would carry him safely to his port. If the little star near Na Hiku (The Seven, or The Dipper) was seen to wink frequently, or if other signs were present, a storm was approaching, and he steered for a safe haven.

An early stick chart from Micronesia shows the waves
and currents around the islands which are represented by shells.

Vikings from Scandinavia
981 Ad Greenland, Iceland and parts of N. America Colonies dies out by 1450 AD Whether it was a cargo ship (the knarr) or a longship (the drakkar), the Vikings followed some simple rules of navigation. During the day, they sailed within sight of land, using its familiar landmarks to guide them to their destination. Rarely did they go beyond the horizon unless blown off course by a storm. It was on these occasions they discovered new lands which they eventually settled. The Vikings were the first real European explorers. From their Scandinavian homeland, they explored the rivers of western Russia and Europe and sailed as far south as the Mediterranean Sea, north Africa and on to what is now Israel. They were also the first Europeans to travel westward beyond the horizon and onto North America. Since they were very practical people, the Vikings based their navigation skills on knowledge gained from many years of sailing. They knew about prevailing winds and where these steady winds would take them. They could identify where they were by the type of seaweed floating on the ocean, the types of seabirds flying overhead and the presence of whales and other sea animals. During expeditions that took them out of sight of land, the Vikings released captured seabirds and ravens and watched the directions in which they flew to find land and then followed them. If the seabirds returned to the ship, it was a sign that land was still far off. There are also accounts of the Vikings using the colour of seafloor mud samples raised on sinkers to help them determine where they were. While the Vikings did not develop a way of measuring time as we do today, they did use the position of the Sun as a navigational aid. Evidence of a type of sundial, pictured to the left, is believed to have been used to find their north/south position more accurately on sunny days. They used the sun's location above the horizon at sunrise to determine east, its position at noon to determine north and south and its location at sunset to determine west sailing directions. During foggy and cloudy days, they used a special stone called a "sun stone" to help them locate the sun's position. This stone, really a calcite mineral called Icelandic spar, would change colour slightly as it was turned in the light. A certain colour marked the position of the sun even through fog and cloud cover. If, in their explorations for new land, they sailed at night, the Vikings used the stars to guide them. Their favourite star was the same one used by explorers centuries later; Polaris, the North Star. Its position in the night sky helped them to fix their north/south position on the earth's surface. The Vikings most reliable method of navigating was the use of landmarks. These were special shapes of the land like mountain peaks, fjords and headlands. The Vikings knew that if they sailed directly west or east from a particular landmark, they would reach a certain destination. Without knowing it, the were using the concept of latitude to fix their location north and south of the equator and guide their east/west journeys. They used this method of navigation to sail from Norway to Iceland, from Iceland to Greenland and from Greenland to North America.

Passing Through the Straits
Voyage of Columbus (1492) and Magellan (1519) Voyage around the World. On September 20th 1519 Magellan set sail from Sanlucar de Barrameda in southern Spain. He commanded a total of 241 men and a fleet of five ships ;the Concepcion, San Antonio, Santiago, Trindad and Victoria. About a month after the voyage began the Spanish captain of the San Antonio challenged Magellan’s authority and Magellan had him arrested. The fleet sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the coast of Brazil. The ships followed the coast to the bay where Rio de Janeiro now stands. They remained there for two weeks and then sailed South in search of a passage to the Pacific Ocean. However they could not find a passage before the end of summer in the Southern Hemisphere. In late March 1520 the fleet anchored for the winter at San Julian in what is now southern Argentina. During the winter a storm destroyed the Santiago. In addition a mutiny broke out shortly after the men set up their winter quarters. Magellan and loyal crew members put down the mutiny and executed the leader. They also marooned two other mutineers when the fleet sailed again. Magellan and his crew resumed their voyage on October the 18th Three days later they discovered the passage to the Pacific -- a passage known every since as the Strait of Magellan. As the fleet sailed through the strait, the crew of the San Antonio mutinied and returned to Spain. On November 28th, the three remaining ships sailed out of the strait and into the ocean. Magellan named the Ocean the Pacific, which means peaceful, because it appeared calm compared with the stormy Atlantic. Sailing across the Pacific. They were the first Europeans ever to sail across the Pacific and it was far larger than anyone had imagined. They sailed for ninety - eight days without seeing any land except two uninhabited islands. There food became contaminated and nineteen men died before the fleet reached Guam on March the 6th, After a while the crew seized enough food and water to continue the journey to the Philippines. On April 27th Magellan was killed when he took part in a battle between rival Filipino groups on the island of Mactan. One of the crew members who returned with Del Cano was an Italian named Antonio Pigafetta. He had written down the events of the voyage, and his journey is the source of information about the expedition. According to Pigafetta, the voyage covered 50,610 miles. Magellan who was looking for the Spice Islands failed to find a short route to them, but his voyage contributed greatly to knowledge about the earth. In addition the discovery of the Strait of Magellan lead to future European voyages to explore the vast Pacific. Magellan's Voyage The crew of Portuguese sea captain Ferdinand Magellan were the first Europeans to sail around the world, proving that the world was round. From 1519 to 1521, Magellan, with 5 ships and a Spanish crew of 241 men, searched for a western route to the Spice Islands. He was killed in a battle with Philippine natives on April 27, 1521, and only two of his ships continued to the Spice Islands. The two ships then made separate return voyages, and only one, commanded by Juan Sebastian delCa completed the trip back to Spain. Passing Through the Straits When a small boat was dispatched from the mutineer’s ships to give Magellan their demands, Magellan cleverly positioned his vessel between the small boat and the mutinous ships. The mutineer commanders could not see that Magellan arrested the party and put men loyal to him in the boat to take back his message. When they arrived at one of the mutineer ships, one of the men—acting under Magellan’s orders—immediately stabbed and killed the leader of the mutiny on that vessel. At the same time, men loyal to Magellan clambered on board the other rebellious ships. The bold move worked, as the mutineers, with their leader dead, did not resist. Consequently, in that era’s horrific mode of naval punishment, Magellan had the remaining captains of the mutiny executed in front of the assembled crew. Magellan sentenced to death the men who had gone along with the mutiny. Then, in a stroke of brilliant psychology, after letting them despair for some time, Magellan announced that they were pardoned. As a result, the grateful men forged unswerving loyalty to their commander. They would need it, for Magellan would lead them through terrible ordeals. After more than a year from the date of their departure, in October of 1520, Magellan found a strait, now bearing his name, which would allow them through the frigid waters at the tip of South America. Leaving one hapless mutineer behind in Patagonia (Southern Argentina), he continued the journey. It took 38 days to negotiate the narrow strait and during that time one of the ships deserted and turned back for Spain. Magellan was never to know what happened to it. When the deserting ship reached Spain, the officers and crew began to spread lies about Magellan. Balboa had seen the ocean earlier and named it the great Southern Sea. It was Magellan who called it the Pacific (peaceful) due to the gentle winds that he found as he entered. Today the water passage between the two great oceans (the Atlantic and Pacific) is named the Strait of Magellan in the explorer’s honor. Magellan resisted the pleas of the timorous, who wanted to turn back for Spain, and continued across the vast emptiness of the Pacific. It was to be one of the most difficult voyages in the history of navigation. After two months of sailing they were nowhere near any major land mass. During the bleak Pacific crossing, Magellan’s men ate the last of their biscuits, now rotten or reduced to insect-infested powder. When the biscuits were gone they ate sawdust, the leather from their belts and shoes (boiled until softened) and any rats they could catch. The going price for a rat was half a crown, a small gold coin. Even when drinking the putrid water from the barrels on board, the men held their nose due to the brackish stench. Fortunately, occasionally flying fish would leap on board, and the men would pounce on this source of fresh seafood. Not surprisingly the men developed scurvy. The sailor’s gums bled and turned black; “their gums grew fat,” wrote Pigafetta. They became feverish and docile, unable to work or even move. Dozens of them died. They were given last rites and were thrown overboard. About thirty more were so ill from scurvy that they could not work and in many cases could not move. The men despaired of surviving the voyage. According to Magellan’s maps, he should have been in Asia. Little did he know he was not even half way across the vast Pacific. He threw the maps overboard in disgust. The very next day they spotted an island and landed briefly, but found little in the way of supplies. The crew decimated; they finally reached an island with bananas, coconuts, sugar cane and yams. The waters were teeming with fish. Magellan’s crew had sailed half way across the Pacific Ocean, the largest body of water on the planet. By February 13th they had crossed the equator, and in March they landed in Guam. He called the island Ladrones (thieves) when the islanders tried to rob his boats. Today they are called the Marianas. On March 16th he landed on an island in what was to become known as the Philippines. They reached the Ladrone Islands and two weeks later the Philippines. They had sailed half way around the world. On one of the Philippine Islands, Magellan was given a basket of ginger and a bar of solid gold. He realized that the wealth of the Spice Islands must be near at hand. Magellan continued westward and reached the island of Cebu, which he claimed for Spain. The commander must have been relieved and deeply satisfied. He had sailed half way round the world and had proven that the great water ways and oceans of the world were interconnected. He had demonstrated that it was possible to arrive in the east by sailing west. And now he had opened up a fabulous trade route for Spain. But here the story turns tragic for Magellan. The people of Cebu and their ruler were peaceful and amicable at first, even when Magellan claimed the island for his king. When he tried to convert the chieftain to Christianity, the island leader seemed agreeable. Magellan did not realize that his seeming acceptance of the intentions of the Spaniard was superficial and insincere. It was customary among the island people to show politeness, grace and hospitality, but they would only bend so far. The chieftain of Cebu had designs of his own; he thought to use the Spaniard’s presence to his advantage against a traditional enemy. He told Magellan that the nearby island of Cilapulapu was resisting Spanish authority by refusing to acknowledge the dominion of the Spanish crown. Magellan accompanied a large group of soldiers to the island where they made the mistake of attacking the main village. They were immediately confronted by a much larger band of armed islanders. The two groups exchanged volleys of arrows and spears for some time, but eventually Magellan decided to break off the attack. As his men retreat to the boats, Magellan was struck in the face by a spear. He fell to the ground and before his men could attempt a rescue, a swarm of islanders fell upon him and hacked him to death. Magellan’s men were disconsolate at the loss of their leader. They sailed back to Cebu and told the rest of the crew of the disaster. With the death of Magellan, the crew fell into squabbling and behaved like pirates among the natives. Finally a leader emerged who was able to organize them sufficiently to continue their voyage. He was Juan Sebastian del Cano. Two of the remaining vessels developed leaks and became too dangerous to face the long voyage home, so they were destroyed. Now with only 47 Europeans and some islanders gathered on the way, the newly elected captain, Juan Sebastian del Cano, embarked for Africa. Their troubles were still not over. More men died of scurvy in the Cape Verde islands controlled by Portugal; others were arrested. Only eighteen of the original crew reached Seville at the end of three epic and tortuous years. When the emaciated sailors disembarked, del Cano led them on foot to two churches where they gave thanks for their successful arrival. Stunned crowds gathered to stare at the stricken sailors who had endured indescribable privation and suffering. In recognition of his service, the king gave del Cano a small pension and a coat of arms with an image of a globe and the inscription. “You were the first to circumnavigate me.” The cargo of 26 tons of cloves which the crew had secured was sold at a tremendous rate of profit. Yet with such staggering losses and expenses for the voyage, the entire expedition barely paid for itself. Magellan was almost forgotten and did not receive the honor due him until many years later. It is generally agreed by scholars of the voyage that had Magellan survived, many of the difficulties of the latter part of the voyage most likely would have been avoided. Sadly, his wife died when she heard the news of his death. His voyage is one of the great accomplishments in all of world history. It has been said that up until Magellan’s circumnavigation of the earth, the world was constantly expanding. Since that time it has been growing smaller. Two decades after his death, a chronicler wrote the following tribute to the great navigator: “The track the Victoria followed is the most wonderful thing and the greatest novelty that has ever been seen from the time God created the first man and ordered the world unto our own day. Neither has anything more notable ever been heard or described since the voyage of the patriarch Noah.” With the passage of time it is clear that Magellan was one of the ablest of the maritime leaders of the period. He combined leadership with diplomacy uncommon among the Spanish and Portuguese captains of conquest. Had he not tragically been killed, it is likely that many more of the original crew would have retuned home alive.

Cook (1700’s)- sailed twice around the world
1st European to visit Hawaii Cook James Cook was born on October 27, 1728, in Marton-in-Cleveland, Yorkshire, England. He was the son of a farmer of Scottish decent. As a young teenager, Cook was apprenticed to a seafaring family. In 1755, he joined Great Britain's Royal Navy and soon proved himself an expert navigator. Just after making officer rank, Lieutenant Cook was chosen by the Royal Society of London to undertake a scientific journey to Tahiti to observe and document the planet Venus as it passed between the earth and the sun. These observations would help scientists calculate the distance of the earth from the sun. On August 25, [1768], Cook departed England aboard the Endeavour with 94 crewmen and scientists. He was carrying secret orders from the Royal Navy to be opened upon completion of his scientific mission. Cook was determined to keep his crew healthy. He insisted his men eat onions and pickled cabbage every day, and made sure that the ship kept fresh fruit and vegetables on board. He ordered his men to bathe every day, to clean their clothing, and to air out their bedding. He did not know the scientific reasons behind these measures, but he knew they worked to prevent scurvy and other diseases in his crew. On April 11, 1769, the Endeavour arrived on the shores of Tahiti, seven weeks early. After viewing the passing of Venus between the earth and sun for several weeks, Cook opened a sealed envelope with the Royal Navy's orders. He was to seek out the fabled southern continent and claim it for England. Early mapmakers in the 1570s assumed there were two major continents at each of the earth's poles. Dutch explorers searched for the southern continent in the seventeenth century. Since the continents had not yet been found, the Royal Navy trusted that Cook would find the southern one if it existed. He left Tahiti on July 13 and headed southwest. When Cook reached New Zealand on October 6, the native Maori people proved to be unfriendly and his crew was forced to fire on them. The Endeavour spent a few months exploring New Zealand and proved it was not part of the great southern continent. On April 9, [1770], Cook explored and documented the location of Australia. While sailing around this great continent, the Endeavour ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef (extending 150 miles from Australia's northeast coast and the largest reef in the world) on June 11. It took a day to free the ship after the crew threw fifty tons of ship's ballast, iron cannons, firewood, and barrels overboard. Once free, the crew quickly made repairs to the badly leaking ship to keep it from sinking. After months of exploring the coastline of Australia, Cook concluded that this continent was not the great southern continent. The Endeavour made its way to Java in the East Indies in October, Once there, Cook's men became very ill with Malaria and dysentery. Despite all his efforts to keep his crew safe and healthy, they were no match for these diseases. He lost 30 men and had to sign on new crew in South Africa in order to make it back home to England. The Endeavour made it back to Dover, England, on July 13, 1771, after a three-year voyage. Cook was formally presented to his majesty, King George III following the historic journey and made a naval commander

Humboldt (1800’s)- German naturalist, contributions in geophysics, meteorology, and oceanography
Alexander von Humboldt was an ecologist before the word existed. In 1799 the explorer left his native Berlin to embark on a five-year wilderness trek through Central and South America, where he gathered plant and animal specimens, recorded meteorological data, and developed ideas that would influence generations of scientists, including Charles Darwin.

Voyage of the HMS Beagle
The primary mission of the Beagle was to map the coastline of southern South America and take oceanographic measurements (currents, bathymetry, etc) as well. Darwin's job as ship's naturalist was to observe everything, write it all down and collect as many specimens as possible. It was his job to record the weather, geological features, plants, animals, fossils, rocks, minerals, indigenous people and anything else that he saw. Specimens had to be packed and labeled very carefully. In preparing for the voyage, Darwin made a list of things that he would need, including 12 new shirts and other clothing; slippers; light walking shoes; a folding, portable dissecting microscope; a geological compass; a case of pistols and a rifle; a Spanish-English dictionary; a book on taxidermy; reading material (Humboldt and Milton); his favorite geology text, Lyell's Principles of Geology; a Bible; a pair of binoculars; a magnifying glass; and jars of "Spirit" (probably alcohol) for preserving specimens. (I wonder what his dad thought of that list...Thanks, Dad!) Like any expedition, there were space limitations. The Beagle was not an exceptionally large vessel by any means. Measuring only ninety feet in length, she carried a crew of 74 people, "including the Captain, three officers, the crew, a doctor, an artist, and the naturalist. Darwin shared the poop cabin (at the back of the ship) with two officers. Their space was so cramped that Darwin had to remove a drawer each night so that he would have room for his feet." David Likely tells the story of how the ship's Captain Robert Fitzroy almost refused to let Darwin sail because his nose did not appear to be that of a man with character. Darwin had to get testimonials that he was suitable for dining at the Captain's dinner table. Apparently, Darwin and the Captain, a fundamentalist Christian, didn't always see eye to eye (Darwin was once banned from the dinner table for several days), which has led some to speculate that this relationship even further hardened Darwin against religion. After more than two months delay (the ship was to leave October 24, 1831), the ship attempted a departure on December 10 but ran into bad weather. Finally, on December 27 at 2:00 pm, Darwin and the Beagle left Plymouth harbor on what was to become most revolutionary oceanographic expedition of our time. Immediately upon sailing, Darwin's enthusiasm for the voyage was severely dampened by sea-sickness. He writes: "...the misery I endured from sea sickness is far beyond what I ever guessed at. The real misery only begins when you are so exhausted that a little exertion makes a feeling faintness come on -- I found that nothing but lying in my hammock did any good. Three and a half weeks later, on January , they reached the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of south Africa. It was here that Darwin's innate ability to observe in great detail and think "large" began to assert itself. In St. Jago, he correctly surmised the African origins of dust that created the hazy atmosphere of the islands, he wrote about "reckless destruction" of the forests and offered the following observations on octopus: I was much interested by watching the habits of an Octopus, or cuttle-fish. By means of their long arms and suckers, they could drag their bodies into very narrow crevices; and, when thus fixed, it required great force to remove them. These animals escape detection by a very extraordinary, chameleon-like power of changing their color. They appear to vary their tints according to the nature of the ground over which they pass. These changes were affected in such a manner that clouds, varying in tint were continually passing over the body. Any part, being subjected to a slight shock, became almost black. While not the first to observe cephalopod chromatophores, the detail with which he describes them belies his fascination with nature. Indeed, the enthusiasm with which he carried out his observations and collections can be found in his diary entries upon exploring South America: I have been wandering by myself in the Brazilian forest: amongst the multitude it is hard to say what set of objects is most striking; the general luxuriance of the vegetation bears the victory, the elegance of the grasses, the novelty of the parasitical plants, the beauty of the flowers, the glossy green of the foliage, all tend to this end...To a person fond of Natural History such a day brings with it pleasure more acute than he ever may again experience" [Barlow 1933: 39-40]. And the next day, "I can only add rapture s to the former raptures" [Barlow 1933: 40].[Journal of Syms Covington, Darwin's assistant] Overtaken with such "treasures", Darwin felt that he needed an assistant. He got permission to hire Syms Covington, the ship's "fiddler and boy to the poop cabin" [where the officers lived], who helped with the time-consuming task of cataloguing and shipping Darwin's specimens. Covington kept his own journal [Journal of Syms Covington] which offers interesting reading about Darwin and his relationship with others on board. Darwin (1831): Subsidence theory of coral reef formation (atolls) & origin of species

Ben Franklin (1770’s)- mapped the Gulf Stream
1996 1786

Voyage of the HMS Challenger (1872-1876)
collected thousands of biological and sea bottom samples traveled in every ocean except arctic cruise directed by Charles Wyville Thompson 362 stations, 715 new genera, 5000 new species discovered Mariana Trench and Mindarniad (34,000 ft deep) On 21 December 1872 the 2306 ton steam assisted corvette HMS Challenger sailed from Portsmouth on a 3-year voyage of marine exploration which laid the foundations of almost every branch of oceanography as we know it today. Her naval complement was headed by Captain G S Nares, an experienced survey officer, while the Director of her scientific staff was Charles Wyville Thomson, Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh. These two men were responsible for an extremely wide-ranging programme of research into the physical and biological characteristics of the deep sea, for when the Challenger sailed the scientific investigation of the open oceans had hardly begun and many basic questions were still unanswered. What was the nature of the animal life in the very greatest depths? Indeed, did animals exist at all over wide areas of the sea bed? (Only a few years previously it had been widely assumed that life was untenable in the perpetual darkness, enormous pressures and intense cold of the abyssal depths.) What was the shape of the bottom of the great ocean basins, the composition of the bottom sediments and their source? And what of the sea water itself? Would a knowledge of its temperature variation with depth as well as its specific gravity give clues to the nature and causes of the complex system of sub-surface currents of which scientists were becoming aware? To enable her to probe into these and many other problems, Challengers guns had been removed, her spars reduced, and laboratories, extra cabins and a special dredging platform installed. She was loaded with thousands of specimen jars, alcohol for preservation, microscopes and chemical apparatus, trawls and dredges, thermometers and water sampling bottles, sounding leads and devices to collect sediment from the deep sea bed and great lengths of rope with which to suspend the equipment into the ocean depths. In all she was supplied with the staggering total of 181 miles of best Italian hemp for sounding, trawling and dredging. During the mile voyage the naval staff was responsible for taking a wide variety of magnetic and meteorological observations, and for the actual working of the sampling gears at the 354 official stations where the vessel stopped to make detailed studies. The work of the scientists, or 'philosophers' as they were nicknamed aboard, began with the arrival of the samples on deck. The water samples were examined by the chemist, John Young Buchanan, while the contents of the nets and dredges were the responsibility of Wyville Thomson and his three young naturalist assistants. All of the naturalists were involved in the documentation of the thousands of samples and their preparation for dispatch back home, but they also had their own particular research interests. H N Moseley, for instance, took particular interest in the corals and sea squirts, the young German, Rudolf von Willemoes Suhm, was mainly concerned with the crustaceans, while John Murray dealt with the pelagic organisms and the ocean deposits. The final member of the civilian staff, the Swiss J. J. Wild, acted as secretary to Wyville Thomson and artist to the expedition. The voyage was an orderly and unhurried affair, with the ship proceeding mainly under sail at the somewhat matronly rate of about 100 miles a day, generally using her engine only to maintain position when she stopped to work a station every two or three days. For the period, the expedition was also a very healthy one, for only 10 fatalities occurred amongst the total complement of 243 during the whole voyage. One of these was Willemoes Suhm's tragic death from erysipelas while the ship was in the Pacific. But they lost a further 61 ratings through desertion, evidently caused in part by a desire for a cheap passage to Australia as well as by the arduous and tedious routine of the sounding and dredging operations which often took many hours. The ratings were not the only ones affected, for many of the officers became discontented with their lot long before the voyage was over, and even amongst the scientists only Wyville Thomson seems to have retained his enthusiasm to the end. Yet the expedition was not all tedium, for of the 1281 days spent away from home, 568 were spent in harbours in all quarters of the world. During these shore breaks the officers and scientists made extensive zoological, geological and ethnological collections and socialised with all manner of 'locals' ranging from the King of Portugal to recently cannibalistic Fijian natives! By the time the ship returned to Spithead in May 1876, the expedition had already provided answers to some of the significant oceanographic questions which had been posed at the outset. There was now a much clearer idea of the form of the great ocean basins down to the greatest depth sounded at 4475 fathoms, including the important discovery of a submarine ridge running the length of the Atlantic Ocean. The varying types of sea-bed samples had been classified and it had been conclusively demonstrated that the deep-sea oozes were made up of the skeletons of tiny organisms which lived in the upper layers of the sea rather than on the bottom, a subject which had caused considerable controversy during the decade before the Challenger sailed. Ample evidence had been obtained of the existence of a rich and varied fauna in the very deepest regions, although there was no evidence that the ocean depths were occupied by 'living fossils' as some biologists had expected. These results were apparent from the relatively cursory investigations which had been carried out on board, but the detailed examination of the massive collections of animals and plants, water and sea-bed samples, and of the vast quantities of numerical data had still to be accomplished. The mammoth task of organising the distribution of the material to the scientists who were to work on it and the publication of the results initially fell to Wyville Thomson. This involved him in a series of acrimonious exchanges with many individuals and institutions, including the Trustees of the British Museum who demanded that the specimens should go directly to the national collection instead of being separately distributed from an office in Edinburgh as Wyville Thomson wished. With the aid of the Royal Society Thomson eventually won this tussle, but the strain of the responsibility of establishing a style for the publication of the official reports with opposition from those who did not understand the requirements for accurate scientific investigations and illustrations, as well as the rigid accountability forced upon him, proved too much for his highly strung but unmethodical nature. He broke down first in 1879, and in 1881 when the initial five year grant from the Treasury came to an end he collapsed, resigned his professorship, and took to his bed to die in The reins were taken up by John Murray under whose forceful leadership the publication of the results was finally completed in 1895, almost a quarter of a century after the ship set sail. The fifty thick royal quarto tomes of the report, containing pages, were written by an international galaxy of scientists and many of these reports still form a starting point for specialist studies in oceanography. Similarly, many of the original samples on which the reports were based, including nearly 4000 new species of animals taken by the trawls and dredges, are still referred to by scientists from a11 over the world. The reports were the tangible evidence of the achievements of the Challenger venture, but perhaps of much greater importance in the long term was the co-operation between scientists of many countries, inspired by Wyville Thomson's leadership, which set the young science of oceanography on the path to becoming the truly international discipline that it is today. Postscript HMS Challenger's foray into oceanography interrupted an otherwise unremarkable career. In 1862 she had taken part in operations against Mexico, including the occupation of Vera Cruz, but otherwise the only action which she saw seems to have been a punitive operation in 1866 against some Fijian natives to avenge the murder of a missionary and some of his dependents. After her three years of glory, her fate was even more ignominious. Commissioned as a Coast Guard and Dril1 ship of Naval Reserves at Harwich in July 1876, she was finally paid off at Chatham in She remained in reserve until 1883, when she was converted into a receiving hulk in the River Medway, where she stayed until she was finally broken up for her copper bottom in Despite the great excitement which surrounded her middle years, virtually nothing, apart from her figurehead, now remains. This is on display in the foyer of Southampton Oceanography Centre.

Voyage of the HMS Challenger (1872-1876)
Deep sea Collections During the mile voyage the naval staff was responsible for taking a wide variety of magnetic and meteorological observations, and for the actual working of the sampling gears at the 354 official stations where the vessel stopped to make detailed studies. The work of the scientists, or 'philosophers' as they were nicknamed aboard, began with the arrival of the samples on deck. The water samples were examined by the chemist, John Young Buchanan, while the contents of the nets and dredges were the responsibility of Wyville Thomson and his three young naturalist assistants. All of the naturalists were involved in the documentation of the thousands of samples and their preparation for dispatch back home, but they also had their own particular research interests. H N Moseley, for instance, took particular interest in the corals and sea squirts, the young German, Rudolf von Willemoes Suhm, was mainly concerned with the crustaceans, while John Murray dealt with the pelagic organisms and the ocean deposits. The final member of the civilian staff, the Swiss J. J. Wild, acted as secretary to Wyville Thomson and artist to the expedition. The voyage was an orderly and unhurried affair, with the ship proceeding mainly under sail at the somewhat matronly rate of about 100 miles a day, generally using her engine only to maintain position when she stopped to work a station every two or three days. For the period, the expedition was also a very healthy one, for only 10 fatalities occurred amongst the total complement of 243 during the whole voyage. One of these was Willemoes Suhm's tragic death from erysipelas while the ship was in the Pacific. But they lost a further 61 ratings through desertion, evidently caused in part by a desire for a cheap passage to Australia as well as by the arduous and tedious routine of the sounding and dredging operations which often took many hours. The ratings were not the only ones affected, for many of the officers became discontented with their lot long before the voyage was over, and even amongst the scientists only Wyville Thomson seems to have retained his enthusiasm to the end. Yet the expedition was not all tedium, for of the 1281 days spent away from home, 568 were spent in harbours in all quarters of the world. During these shore breaks the officers and scientists made extensive zoological, geological and ethnological collections and socialised with all manner of 'locals' ranging from the King of Portugal to recently cannibalistic Fijian natives! By the time the ship returned to Spithead in May 1876, the expedition had already provided answers to some of the significant oceanographic questions which had been posed at the outset. There was now a much clearer idea of the form of the great ocean basins down to the greatest depth sounded at 4475 fathoms, including the important discovery of a submarine ridge running the length of the Atlantic Ocean. The varying types of sea-bed samples had been classified and it had been conclusively demonstrated that the deep-sea oozes were made up of the skeletons of tiny organisms which lived in the upper layers of the sea rather than on the bottom, a subject which had caused considerable controversy during the decade before the Challenger sailed. Ample evidence had been obtained of the existence of a rich and varied fauna in the very deepest regions, although there was no evidence that the ocean depths were occupied by 'living fossils' as some biologists had expected. These results were apparent from the relatively cursory investigations which had been carried out on board, but the detailed examination of the massive collections of animals and plants, water and sea-bed samples, and of the vast quantities of numerical data had still to be accomplished. The mammoth task of organising the distribution of the material to the scientists who were to work on it and the publication of the results initially fell to Wyville Thomson. This involved him in a series of acrimonious exchanges with many individuals and institutions, including the Trustees of the British Museum who demanded that the specimens should go directly to the national collection instead of being separately distributed from an office in Edinburgh as Wyville Thomson wished. With the aid of the Royal Society Thomson eventually won this tussle, but the strain of the responsibility of establishing a style for the publication of the official reports with opposition from those who did not understand the requirements for accurate scientific investigations and illustrations, as well as the rigid accountability forced upon him, proved too much for his highly strung but unmethodical nature. He broke down first in 1879, and in 1881 when the initial five year grant from the Treasury came to an end he collapsed, resigned his professorship, and took to his bed to die in The reins were taken up by John Murray under whose forceful leadership the publication of the results was finally completed in 1895, almost a quarter of a century after the ship set sail. The fifty thick royal quarto tomes of the report, containing pages, were written by an international galaxy of scientists and many of these reports still form a starting point for specialist studies in oceanography. Similarly, many of the original samples on which the reports were based, including nearly 4000 new species of animals taken by the trawls and dredges, are still referred to by scientists from a11 over the world. The reports were the tangible evidence of the achievements of the Challenger venture, but perhaps of much greater importance in the long term was the co-operation between scientists of many countries, inspired by Wyville Thomson's leadership, which set the young science of oceanography on the path to becoming the truly international discipline that it is today. Postscript HMS Challenger's foray into oceanography interrupted an otherwise unremarkable career. In 1862 she had taken part in operations against Mexico, including the occupation of Vera Cruz, but otherwise the only action which she saw seems to have been a punitive operation in 1866 against some Fijian natives to avenge the murder of a missionary and some of his dependents. After her three years of glory, her fate was even more ignominious. Commissioned as a Coast Guard and Dril1 ship of Naval Reserves at Harwich in July 1876, she was finally paid off at Chatham in She remained in reserve until 1883, when she was converted into a receiving hulk in the River Medway, where she stayed until she was finally broken up for her copper bottom in Despite the great excitement which surrounded her middle years, virtually nothing, apart from her figurehead, now remains. This is on display in the foyer of Southampton Oceanography Centre. HMS Challenger's Chemical Laboratory

Late 19th century – early 20th century:
Founding a number of important marine laboratories, including coastal labs and open ocean labs. 1888 Founded 1930 Founded 1903

Recent: Meteor Expedition (1925)- introduced modern optical and electronic equipment (echo sounder) Meteor Expedition major achievements: 1. mapped the depth and contours of the seafloor, using a new technique known as ____________ . 2. By measuring temperature and salinity, scientists were able to map the vertical distribution of water masses, finding that the water column consisted of several physically and chemically distinct layered water masses. The German Meteor expedition systematically surveys the South Atlantic with echo-sounding equipment and other oceanographic instruments, proving beyond a doubt the continuity of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Glomar Challenger (1968)- drilling for deep sea sediments
But the purpose of the Glomar Challenger was scientific exploration. One of the most important discoveries was made during Leg 3. The crew drilled 17 holes at 10 different sites along a oceanic ridge between South America and Africa. The core samples retrieved provided definitive proof for continential drift and seafloor renewal at rift zones. This confirmation of Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift strengthened the proposal of a single, ancient land mass, which is called Pangaea. The samples gave further evidence to support the plate tectonics theory of W. Jason Morgan and Xavier Le Pichon. The theory of these two geologists attempts to explain the formation of mountain ranges, earthquakes, and deep sea trenches. Another discovery was how youthful the ocean floor is in comparison to Earth's geologic history. After analysis of samples, scientists concluded that the ocean floor is probably no older than 200 million years. This is in comparison with the 4.5 billion years of our Earth. As the seafloor spreads from the rifts, it descends again beneath tectonic plates or is pushed upwards to form mountain ranges.

Rachel Louise Carson (1907-1964)
CARSON, Rachel Louise Writer, scientist, and ecologist. Carson grew up in Springdale, Pennsylvania. Carson graduated from Pennsylvania College for Women in 1929, and later studied at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory. She received her MA in zoology from Johns Hopkins University in She wrote her most famous book, Silent Spring, in U.S. President Kennedy was impressed with her ideas and called for a testing of the chemicals mentioned in her book. DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: After completing her education, Carson joined the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries as the writer of a radio show entitled "Romance Under the Waters," in which she was able to explore life under the seas and bring it to listeners. In 1936, after being the first woman to take and pass the civil service test, the Bureau of Fisheries hired her as a full-time junior biologist, and over the next 15 years, she rose in the ranks until she was the chief editor of all publications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. During the 1940s, Carson began to write books on her observations of life under the sea, a world as yet unknown to the majority of people. She resigned from her government position in 1952 in order to devote all her time to writing. The idea for her most famous book, Silent Spring, emerged, and she began writing it in It was published in 1962, and influenced President Kennedy, who had read it, to call for testing of the chemicals mentioned in the book. Carson has been called the mother of the modern environmental movement. (1907–64), American marine biologist, author of widely read books on ecological themes. Born in Springdale, Pa., and educated at the former Pennsylvania College for Women and Johns Hopkins University, she taught zoology at the University of Maryland from 1931 to She was aquatic biologist at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries and its successor, the Fish and Wildlife Service, from 1936 to Her books on the sea, Under the Sea Wind (1941), The Sea Around Us (1951), for which she was awarded the 1952 National Book Award in nonfiction, and The Edge of the Sea (1955), are praised for beauty of language as well as scientific accuracy. In Silent Spring (1962), she questioned the use of chemical pesticides and was responsible for arousing worldwide concern for the preservation of the environment. Marine biologist at U.S. Bureau of Fisheries & Fish & Wildlife Service

Navy officer, explorer, film maker, inventor of scuba (1947)
Jacque Cousteau ( ) Navy officer, explorer, film maker, inventor of scuba (1947) "From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to the earth. But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free.”

Navy officer, explorer, film maker
Bob Ballard (1942-) Navy officer, explorer, film maker Dr. Ballard is President of the Institute For Exploration, founder and Chairman of the JASON Foundation for Education, and Chairman of Odyssey Corporation. He is also Scientist Emeritus in Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He has won numerous awards for his continuing work. As part of his studies, Dr. Ballard has led or participated in over 100 deep-sea expeditions including the use of the deep-diving submersible ALVIN, ARCHIMEDE, TRIESTE II, TURTLE, BEN FRANKLIN, CYANA, and NR-1. These missions include the first manned exploration of the Mid-Ocean Ridge; the discovery of warm water springs in the Galápagos Rift; the first discovery of polymetallic sulfides; the discovery of high temperature "black smokers;" the discoveries of the R.M.S. TITANIC, the battleship BISMARCK, 11 warships from the lost fleet of Guadalcanal and the WWII aircraft carrier YORKTOWN; and exploration of the LUSITANIA and hospital ship BRITANNIC. Dr. Ballard has published over 50 scientific articles in refereed journals including Science, Nature, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, the Journal of Geophysical Research, and many others. He received the Newcomb Cleveland Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science for an article he co-authored in Science detailing their discovery of high temperature vent fields in the East Pacific Rise. Dr. Ballard has also written many articles for the general public, including ten in National Geographic Magazine. For this work he received the Westinghouse Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The books he has written on discovering the R.M.S. TITANIC and the German battleship BISMARCK are best sellers. His first novel, "Bright Shark" and "Explorer," a children's pop-up book, were released in "The Lost Ships of Guadalcanal," was published in October of His autobiography, "Explorations" and "Exploring the LUSITANIA," both were published in His latest book, "Return to Midway" was published in 1999. Dr. Ballard has participated in the production of numerous television programs for various networks. From 1989 to 1991, he served as host of the weekly National Geographic Explorer program shown on Turner Broadcasting System. Dr. Ballard was also technical advisor on "SeaQuest DSV" during its premiere season in 1993/1994. He graduated from the University of California as a distinguished military graduate with a Commission in Army Intelligence. Later he transferred to the U.S. Navy, and during the Vietnam War he served on active duty as an Ensign, Lt. J.G. and finally as a Lieutenant. Dr. Ballard has rejoined the U.S. Naval Reserve as a Commander. Dr. Ballard attained his B.S. in Geology and Chemistry from the University of California. He got his Ph.D. in Marine Geology and Geophysics from the University of Rhode Island, and attended the graduate schools at USC and the University of Hawaii.

Inquiry The 4 major disciplines of oceanography are _____.
The tallest mtn in the world is____. The ave. depth of the ocean is ____. What are modern and ancient ways to navigate? Who discovered the Marianas trench and how was it done? Who traveled to it’s depths? What was Rachael Carson known for?

Intro to Oceanography.

Similar presentations

Presentation on theme: "Intro to Oceanography."— Presentation transcript:

Similar presentations

About project

Feedback

Log in

Auth with social network:

Intro to Oceanography.

Similar presentations

Presentation on theme: "Intro to Oceanography."— Presentation transcript:

Similar presentations

About project

Feedback