Bell Activity

Answer in your journal.•What do scientist look for in oceans today?

Age of Exploration

History of Oceanography Part 41700-1900

Benjamin Franklin• Mid to late 1700s• Not only was Benjamin Franklin a founding father of

our country, he made a great deal of observations of ocean currents of the coast of the US.

• He particularly studied the Gulf Stream (fast moving current of warm surface water that sweeps up from Florida).

• His documentation improved of mail and goods as ships moving north could save a lot of time by using it.

Charles Wilkes

• Early United States Expedition (1820s-1840s)• Proved the existence of Antarctica

Charles Darwin• England 1809-1882• Sailed on the HMS Beagle as an unpaid naturalist.• Studied many different species of animals across

the world and compared the animals.• Wrote the book “On the Origin of Species” and

became the father of evolution although he never used the word “evolution” in his book.

John Murray• The Challenger Expedition (Britain)• Began modern oceanography (1872-1876)• Led an expedition to specifically gather data on a wide

range of ocean features including ocean temperature, seawater chemistry, currents and marine life and the geology of the sea floor.

• His main discovery was that they found the deepest part of the ocean- The Marianas Trench in the western Pacific.

• The data– Crew: 243– Scientist: 6– Years of exploration: 4– # of new species found: 4,700.

Matthew Maury• Mid to late 1800s. Worked for the US Navy• He found a lot of records about the ocean that

had never been compiled and compared. • He became the father of studying the ocean

(oceanography) greatly increasing our knowledge of prevailing winds and surface currents.

• He produced the 1st modern oceanography textbook.

Oceans as a Battlefield

• Oceans have always played a major role in wars. The oceans transported armies and supplies, blocked harbors, besieged cities and attacked enemy ships.

Submarines• The first functional submarines were invented

during the Civil War. • SONAR equipment was greatly improved at this

time to help the submarines navigate.– SONAR was first developed after the sinking of the

Titanic to try and keep that type of catastrophic accident from happening again.

• Scientist have used SONAR since then to measure ocean depth correctly and make accurate maps of the ocean floor.