Oceanography

Oceanography - the study of oceans

  • More the biological side

  • Composition of the ocean

  • the structure of the ocean

  • Oceanic movement/circulation

    • water on the move

    • and the consequences of that movement

Amount of water in oceans

  • 360,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons

    • An estimate

    • Largest reservoir on Earth

    • Apparently there’s 3x this much water locked up in rocks

      • LET THEM OUTTT

Seawater Chemistry

  • NaCl = salt

  • Salinity - how salty

  • Modern oceans

    • 3.5% average salinity

    • aka 35 parts per 1,000

We need dour oceans and if we destroy them for gold we may be cooked

Rivers dump water into the ocean!

  • 2.5 billion tons of dissolved load of rivers get dumped into the Ocean

  • Underwater Volcanoes

    • More than lava comes out of volcanoes

    • like chemicals

    • approximately 25,000 underwater volcanoes and they’re pretty active

  • The critters stabilize the salinity!

    • When you add fresh water you dilute the salinity

      • Making the water more and/or less crunchy

Let’s use our knowledge to connect this!

decreased salinity

  • precipitation

  • Runoff

  • Melting ice/snow

River Runoff into Ocean

Increased salinity

  • Remove freshwater

  • Evaporation

  • Make glacier or sea ice

Sea ice

P = R + E

  • this is the equation for oceans

3 zones

  • a = surface (mixed) zone

  • b = transition zone

  • c = deep zone

Density

You can’t see this but it’s there

  • Density - how heavy something is

  • high density = heavier and sinks

  • low density = lighter and floats

  • Salinity influences density

  • Lower salinity = less dense

  • Higher salinity = more dense

  • Hot water = rise

  • cold = sink

Benjamin Franklin discovered the layers in the ocean

  • known as Thermocline

  • Picture of the abc layers

Pycnocline picture

(salinity + depth chart)

Oceanic circulation

  • Oceans are dynamic because of vigorous rotation

    • twerking or wtv

  • Coriolis Effect

    • Rotating counter clockwise

    • N Hemisphere

    • S Hemisphere

    • (CW) - Gyre

Weather and Climate