CH1 GROW OF OCEANOGRAPHY

what is oceanography?

the physical description of the ocean

how does oceanography differ from other fields of science?

most oceanographers are trained in at least one traditional field of science and they apply it to oceans

what were the successes of the Egyptians and Phonecians?

Egyptians- sailed on the mediterranean and nile

Phonecians- said to be the first to circumnavigate Africa, and they went as far north as Cornwall, UK; did all this via piloting

what distinguishes modern oceanography from earlier scientific investigations?

pre 1700s was just really descriptions of the ocean, then 1700s→early 1900s they finally got scientific explorations going, and 1900s→ modern day we have modern technology

in what ways are future oceanographic research techniques likely to differ from present ones?

they will be more advanced, we will probably be able to get people further down into the ocean in submersibles or eliminate humans going under all together

what is the scientific method?

1. ask question

2. do research

3. form hypothesis

4. test hypothesis

5. revise

can scientists “prove” their hypotheses?

no, only support (or not support) them

history of the word oceanography

greek okearos- titan son of Gaea + Uranus

greek graphic- to describe

oceanographers job description

investigate, interpret, and model all aspects of oceanic processes through modern/sophisticated scientific methods

difference between oceanography and oceanology

oceanography is the description of the ocean, oceanology is the scientific study of the ocean

four main fields of oceanography

1. physical- how water moves, currents, waves, tides, etc.

2. chemical- salinity of the water and dissolved materials in it like pollutents

3. biological- organisms in the water

4. geological- the sea floor and sediments

four main natural sciences that apply to oceanography

1. biophysics

2. geophysics

3. biochem

4. geochem

how much of the earth is covered in ocean?

about 70.8%

how much of our surface liquid water do oceans contain?

about 97.2%

pacific facts

50.1% of world ocean, largest + deepest, minimal connections to arctic, avg 3940m depth

atlantic facts

26.0% of world ocean, second largest, most connection to arctic, avg 3844m depth

indian facts

20.5% of world ocean, mostly in the southern hemisphere, no connection to arctic, avg 3840m depth

arctic facts

3.4% of world ocean, smallest + shallowest, avg 1117m depth

oceans depths vs. land heights

• Mariana Trench (deepest ocean, NW pacific) 11022m

• Mt. Everest (tallest land, himalayas) 8850m

• avg ocean depth 3792m

• avg land hieght 840m

pre 1700s exploration characteristics

mainly just decriptions of the oceans and the “discovery” of new lands, efforts of early individuals attempts to explore and looking for the edge of the world

1700s→early 1900s exploration characteristics

scientific explorations started occurring, early systematic attempt at using pure science to investigate the ocean

early 1900s→ present day exploration characteristics

modern oceanography with modern technology

the first to ever do it (pre 1700s)

• ancestors of aboriginal people reached Australia about 40-60k years ago, living through both the glaciation and the deglaciation

• polynesians migrated to islands in the pacific on canoes in BCE

• egyptians sailed the Mediterranean sea and Nile river but stayed in sight of land about 4000 BCE

• phonecians are said to be the frist to circumnavigate Africa, they also made it to Cornwall England, all done by piloting

• the greeks were all set up and reliant on sea trade by 2000 BCE

  • Pytheas- first greek to circumnaviagte England and guestimate the length of its coast, he may have reached iceland + norway

• vikings were sailing around and created Vinland/Newfoundland in the middle ages (500→1450/60)

• Bartholemew Diaz rounded the cape of Good Hope in southern Africa (1477/78)

• Vasco de Gama went as far as india (1478)

• Ferdinand Magellan was the first to ever circumnavigate the world (sep 1519→sep 1522) SW to brazil in search of pacific passageway, sailed around south america into the pacific, went to guam, went to the philippines, got back to spain

  • started with 5 ships + 230 seamen

  • ended with one ship + 18/230 and no magellan

  • sebastian del cano actually finished the trip after magellan got himself killed in Mactan, Philippines

the second to ever do it (1700s→early 1900s)

• James Cook (1768→1780)

• Challenger expedition (1872→1876)

• Fridtjof Nansen (1893→1896)

• US Ex Ex (1832→1842)

James Cook British

• 3 total voyages

  • 68→71 set out for new zealand, australias eastern coast on HMS Endeavor

  • 72→76 rounded Good Hope + circumnavigated the globe with HMS Adventure and HMS Resolution, sticking to 60 degress south latitude

  • 76→80 went west and found Hawaiian islands, went to Bearing sea and became the first to sail into both hemispheres of the polar seas, went back to hawaii and was killed

• set out to go beyond the atlantic

• notable results

  • created early charts of coastlines and made observations about geology and biology and native peoples

  • closest european at the time to finding antarctica

  • first european to find hawaiian islands

  • searched for northwest passage

  • determined outline of the pacific

  • made europes first systematic sampling of temperatures, winds, depths, and currents

Mathew Fontaine Maury

director of US Naval Depot of Charts and Instruments, realized the need to international coorperation in oceanic explorations and measurements, published The Physical Geography of the Sea in 1855, considered the father of physical oceanogaphy

Darwin and Beagles Expedition British 1831

• HMS Beagle w/ Captain Robert Fitzroy and HMS

• darwins hypothesis they went out to test- natural selection and theory of evolution

Challenger Expedition British 1872→1876

• the first true scientific exploration of the ocean with the purpose to answer scientific questions

• HMS Challenger Captain Wyville Thomson

• purpose was to test Edward Forbes’s (british naturalist) hypothesis that life did not exist below 550m in the ocean due to temperature, pressure, and lack of light (an azoic/lifeless ocean space)

• notable results

  • “disproved” Forbes’s hypothesis

  • took the first systematic measurements of coastal and ocean currents, chemical composition of saltwater, and described the nature of the sedimentary deposits on the sea floor

  • took >360 deep sea soundings

  • discovered the mariana trench and named the deepest part “The Challenger Deep”

  • collected about 5000 sea organisms and put them in the smithsonian

  • created sea floor charts

Fridtjof Nansen Norwegian 1893→1896

• HMS Fram, a ship with a 4ft think wooden hull

• goal was to find the north pole, so he essentially froze his ship in the arctic ocean to float along the sea looking for shit

• at one point they ditched the boat and went by dogsled but it didnt work

• notable results

  • did not find north pole

  • had to be rescued by the british

  • many oceanographic observations, depths, drift paths, and water mass structure of the arctic ocean

US Exploring Expedition/USXX 1832→1842

• the united states first great voyage of discovery captained by Charles Wilke

• notable results

  • surveyed 280 pacific islands

  • created 180 national charts

  • collected thousands of specimens which were then put into the Smithsonian

  • one of the first to ever sight west antarctica

the most recent to ever do it (early 1900s0→present day)

• William Beebe and Chris Banton w/ bathysphere

• american and french scientists w/ bathyscope

• university National Oceanographic Labratory System/Unols fleet

Willian Beebe + Chris Banton’s Bathysphere

• the first manned exploration to go 1000m below ocean surface

• they basically built a steel sphere and went under the ocean

"US NAvy Bathyscope “Trieste” Jan 1960

• an american and a frenchman went 11000m into the mariana trench in was basically a slightly improved bathyscphere

• the last people to go that deep into the ocean until James Cameron in 2012

UNOLS Fleet

• fleets of ships usually appointed by coastal universities and labs for research purpose

Deep Sea Drilling Project 1968→75

• the national science foundation wanted to drill into the sediments and rocks of the deep sea to confirm seafloor spreading and global plate tectonics

• the Glomar Challenger (10.5 ton displacement vessel) was the drilling platform

• 1975 it was renamed as the Intl Phase of Ocean Drilling

global positioning system 1970s

develoepd by the us military relying on coded satellite signals, can determine lat and long and vertical posittion of a receiver to within a few meters

how many gps satellites are currently active?

24