Transcript Introduction

INTRODUCTION TO OCEANOGRAPHY (226)
Instructor: Prof. ANAMARIJA FRANKIĆ
Office Number: S-1-061
Office Hours: Posted on office door or by appointment
Telephone: 617-287-4415
Email Address: [email protected]
Web Page: http://alpha.es.umb.edu/faculty/af/frankic.hml
Department Website: http://www.es.umb.edu/
INTRO CLASS – Chapter 1
Oceanography is an
observationally driven field!
What do we measure and why?
Geology: coastlines, bathymetry, movement of
tectonic plates
Chemistry: salinity, Carbon, Nitrogen, Iron, Oxygen…
Physics: Temp, pressure, currents, tides, waves, light
Biology: Chl-a, Productivity, Zooplankton, Phytoplankton,
Fish and Egg counts, etc…
Your Syllabus
I. The Ocean World – Life in the Oceans:
• A. Ocean ecosystem
• Life in coastal environments (estuaries, salt marshes,
coral reefs)
• B. Life in hydrothermal vents (also about the plate
tectonics, earthquakes, tsunamis)
• C. Life in open ocean environments (At what depth does
marine life become scarcer?)
• D. Life in the deep sea (physical and chemical
adaptations)
• E. What in general affects the abundance and diversity
of marine life?
II. The Oceans, the Atmosphere, the Sun, and the Moon
• A. Weather, ocean currents, and global climate (your questions:
Why is the temperature warmer near the ocean in the winter but colder in
the summer than it is inland? How does ocean current affect the
weather?)
• B. Why is the sea salty? If the oceans evaporated, how much salt
(height, weight) would cover the ocean floor? Where does the salt come
from?
• C. What creates tides and waves? Why/how does high and low tide
occur?
• D. Sea-level changes
• E. Light, sound and oceans (What was the infamous “Bloop” sound
picked up off S. America?)
III. Environmental Evolution – life and ocean evolving together
(geologic and ecologic history)
• Where the ocean has been and where it might be going? (Lovelock
Gaia video)
• Why is the soil different on the beach from the soil in my backyard?
• Continental Margins and Ocean Basins How land masses were
actually formed from the ocean?
• Will the world someday be like waterworld?
IV. Humans and Oceans: Changing the natural cycles and types of
pollution
• A. Global Climate Change
• B. Fisheries (Fisheries games  At the current rate, how long do
you think that the oceans fish stock will last?)
• C. Oceans and Human Health (healthy oceans – healthy
humans)
• D. Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management (laws and
policies, monitoring and indicators of ecosystem health) - What
area has the greatest coastal degradation? Does that damage
extend outward to the open ocean? Renewable energy sources from
the oceans?
• E. Marine and Coastal Conservation
(Some) OCEANS’ related FACTS:
 Our planet is actually the Ocean Planet - 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered
by oceans and seas. However, less than 10% has been investigated.
 Oceans provide more than 70% of oxygen we breathe
 80% of world’s plant and animal species live in oceans
 More than 60% of the current human population (5.8 billion) lives in the coastal
zones (~60 km wide), the areas representing only 8% of the Earth surface!
 ‘Poorest of the poor’ - 1.1 billion people ‘survive’ on less than 1$/day
 1 billion people rely on fish as the only daily source of protein
 Global climate change and the humans’ well being depend on the conditions and
health of the oceans;
 Poverty, hunger, diseases as well as casualties from natural disasters can be
alleviated by improving the health of the environment and by sustainable use and
management of the coasts and oceans!
How was the ocean observed so far?
Chapter 1
Lots of historical account of early
explorations – (see book).
HMS Challenger
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0393317552/ref=sib_dp_pt/1
03-3317661-1512644#reader-page jared diamond: guns, germs and
steel: the fates of human societies;
http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/marinebio/challenger.html
http://www.seasky.org/oceanxp/sea5a3.html
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/OA/
International Observational Programs
Deep Sea Drilling Project - DSDP
1968, Glomar Challenger
Theory of
Plate
Tectonics
and much
more…
1985, Joides Resolution Replace G.
Challenger
International Observational Programs
The Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS)
(launched in 1987 at a planning meeting in Paris)
The Operational Goal of JGOFS :
Spatial Scale: regional to global
Temporal Scale: seasonal to interannual
1) Fluxes of carbon between the atmosphere-surface ocean-ocean
interior.
2) Sensitivity to climate changes
International Observational Programs
The World Ocean Circulation Experiment
1990-1998
http://woce.nodc.noaa.gov/wdiu/
International Programme on Climate Variability and
Predictability, 1995-present
http://www.clivar.org/index.htm
http://www.clivar.org/publications/other_pubs/clivar_transp/index.htm
World Climate Research Programme
http://www.wmo.ch/web/wcrp/wcrp-home.html
US Programs:
http://www.nsf.gov/
e.g. GLOBEC http://www.pml.ac.uk/globec/
http://www.noaa.gov/
http://www.whoi.edu/sbl/liteSite.do?litesiteid=7732&articleId=11610
http://science.hq.nasa.gov/oceans/
http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/habitats/default.htm
U.S. Coastal Observing Systems
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/coos/
Technologies for ocean observing
Remote Sensing/Satellite Imagery:
Geostationary Server -http://www.goes.noaa.gov/
Satellite significant events: http://www.osei.noaa.gov/
National Geophysical Data Center:
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/ngdc.html
Floating devices in the ocean:
Argo FLoats - http://www.argo.ucsd.edu/
Drifter Programs:
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/graphics/pacifictraj.gif
Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) :
Amazing discoveries…
http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/technology/subs/rov
/rov.html
Automated Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) :
How do we define the science of Oceanography?
WHAT PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
OCEAN SCIENCES
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Ways of knowing – “Reflection on how we know what we believe will help
our understanding”
Human interactions – “Currently, the human species is significantly affecting
earth systems, but has the ability to choose its relationship with the
environment”
Ecosystems – “The survival and health of individuals and groups of
organisms are intimately coupled to their environment”
Earth system science – “The Earth as a whole acts as a complex set of
interacting systems with emergent properties”
Evolution & Biodiversity – “Evolution explains both the unity and diversity of
life”
Energy flow and transformation – “Energy transformation drive physical,
chemical, and biological processes. Total energy is conserved and flows to
more diffuse forms”
Conservation of mass – “Mass is conserved as it is transferred from one
pool to another”
Spatio-temporal relationships – “Choosing the appropriate reference frame
is the key to understanding one’s environment”