The History of Oceanography

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the history of oceanography from ancient maritime activities through modern deep-sea exploration.

Earth's Water Distribution

The proportion of the Earth's surface covered by water is $71\,\%$ and by land is $29\,\%$.

Early Human Sea Interaction (5000 BC)

Evidence includes copper fishhooks, middens, and Egyptian drawings of fishnets.

Polynesians

Began migration from Asia $20,000$ years ago and were sailing to mid-Pacific islands by $2,500$ years ago.

Thalassa

The name used by Ancient Greeks for what is now called the Mediterranean Sea; also the name of the Greek goddess of the sea.

Oceanus

According to Ancient Greeks, an endlessly circling river that surrounded known lands, beyond which were monsters and whirlpools.

Pytheas

A navigator ($350-300\,\text{BC}$) who sailed to England, Norway, and Germany and recognized the relationship between the moon and tides.

Eratosthenes

Calculated the circumference of the Earth at $25,000\,\text{miles}$ around $200\,\text{BCE}$ and utilized latitude and longitude lines.

Ptolemy

An ancient thinker who disagreed with Eratosthenes, believing the Earth's circumference was only about $18,000\,\text{miles}$, a mistake that later misled Columbus.

Vikings

Colonized Iceland and Greenland and reached the Mediterranean by $455\,\text{AD}$ before being driven from North America by the Little Ice Age.

Chinese Compass

Invented around $1000\,\text{AD}$, it consisted of a bowl of water with a magnetized needle floating on top pointing to the poles.

Prince Henry, the Navigator

Portuguese figure who opened the first school of navigation in $1416$ and sent expeditions down the west coast of Africa.

Bartholomeu Dias

The first European ($1488$) to sail around the southern tip of Africa, connecting Europe to the Indian Ocean.

Christopher Columbus

Explorer who made four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean ($1455-1506$) and incorrectly believed he had found Asia.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer who was the first European to reach India by sea in $1498$, linking Europe and Asia.

Amerigo Vespucci

Merchant and explorer who accepted South America as a new continent rather than Asia; the New World was named "America" after him in $1507$.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Spanish explorer who became the first European to cross the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in $1513$, which he called the South Sea.

Juan Ponce de Leon

Explorer who discovered Florida in $1513$ and provided the first description of ocean currents after being pulled by the Florida Current.

Ferdinand Magellan

Leader of the first expedition to circle the globe ($1519-1522$); although he was killed in the Philippines, his ship Victoria completed the circumnavigation.

Strait of Magellan

A passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans that avoids the rough water of the open sea.

Sir Francis Drake

The second man and the first Englishman to sail around the world, completing his circumnavigation in $1580$.

Henry Hudson

Explorer who went on four voyages between $1607$ and $1611$ searching for a Northwest Passage to the Far East.

Captain James Cook

Explorer who led three Pacific voyages ($1761-1779$) and was the first to sail around Antarctica.

Ben Franklin

Made the first map of the Gulf Stream in $1769$ with Capt. Timothy Folger, reducing sailing times to Europe.

Sextant

An $18\text{th}$ century instrument used to find latitude by measuring the angle of elevation of stars, moons, and planets.

Robert Fulton

Designer of the first steamship (Clermont) in $1807$ and the first usable submarine (Nautilus) in $1801$.

Atoll Formation Theory

Proposed by Charles Darwin; suggests atolls form as coral reefs grow upward around a sinking volcanic island until only a reef surrounding a lagoon remains.

Wilkes Expedition (U.S. Ex. Ex.)

The United States South Seas Exploring Expedition ($1838-1842$) led by Charles Wilkes, which confirmed Antarctica as a continental landmass.

Matthew Maury

Known as the father of oceanography; he wrote "The Physical Geography of the Sea" ($1855$) and assembled wind and current charts.

Challenger Expedition

The first true oceanographic research voyage ($1872-1876$), which included over $300$ sampling stops and produced reports in over $50$ volumes.

Wyville Thomson

Scientific Director of the Challenger expedition and author of "The Depths of the Sea" ($1873$), the first book on sea bottom composition.

Fridtjof Nansen

Norwegian explorer who froze his ship Fram into the Arctic ice pack ($1893-1896$), proving the Arctic Ocean is a deep basin.

USS Albatross

The first ship constructed specifically for oceanographic research, launched in $1882$ by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries.

Roald Amundsen

Norwegian polar explorer and the first person to reach the South Pole on $14\,\text{December}\,1911$.

Ernest Shackleton

British explorer of the 1914 expedition whose ship Endurance was crushed by ice, leading to an $800\text{-mile}$ lifeboat voyage to survival.

International Ice Patrol

Formed in $1913$ in response to the Titanic disaster to monitor iceberg danger in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Echo Sounding

A technique using sound waves to measure depth by timing their return from the bottom; first used on the German ship Meteor ($1925-1927$).

Bathyscaphe Trieste

Submersible that reached a record depth of $35,800\,\text{feet}$ in the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench on $23\,\text{January}\,1960$.

International Geophysical Year (IGY)

An international project ($1957-1958$) involving $67$ nations that included soundings of the ocean floor, contributing to plate tectonics theory.

Alvin

A research submarine capable of diving to $4,000\,\text{meters}$, used for deep-sea exploration including locating the Titanic.

JOIDES Resolution

A ship used for the Ocean Drilling Project (ODP) to conduct deep-sea scientific drilling.

Deepest Dives Record (Current)

Victor Vescovo reached $10,928\,\text{m}$ in the Limiting Factor ($2019$), surpassing James Cameron ($2012$) and the Trieste ($1960$).