INTRODUCTION TO OCEANOGRAPHY (226)

Instructor: Prof. ANAMARIJA FRANKIĆ

Office Number: S-1-061Office Hours: Posted on office door or by appointment

Telephone: 617-287-4415Email Address: anamarija.frankic@umb.edu

Web Page:

http://alpha.es.umb.edu/faculty/af/frankic.html

Department Website: http://www.es.umb.edu/

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…

INTRO CLASS – Chapter 1

Your Syllabus

I. The Ocean World – Life in the Oceans:• A. Ocean ecosystem • Life in coastal environments (estuaries, salt marshes,

coral reefs) – field trips• B. Plate tectonics, earthquakes, tsunamis• C. Life in open ocean environments • D. Life in the deep sea (physical and chemical

adaptations) – What is under the deep ocean? Does it matter to us?

• 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 – How

does the ocean affect weather patterns? How does it effect coastal areas, beaches and towns – e.g. Winthrop?

• B. What creates tides and waves? Why/how does high and low tide occur?

• C. Sea-level changes• D. Light, sound and oceans

III. Environmental Evolution – life and ocean evolving together (geologic and ecologic history)

• Where the ocean has been and where it might be going?• Continental Margins and Ocean Basins How land masses

were actually formed from the ocean? How do minerals in the oceans contribute to minerals on land? How are islands formed (e.g. Antigua)

IV. Humans and Oceans: Changing the natural cycles and types of pollution – “To better understand how the oceans work” – “It can help me tremendously to figure out what I want to do in life”; “I want to learn in depth about ocean resources that we need to protect and use that knowledge to make a difference”

• A. Global Climate Change• B. Fisheries (Fisheries games At the current rate, how long do you

think that the oceans fish stock will last?) and Aquaculture (why do wild fish have different nutrients than farmed ones?)

• C. Oceans and Human Health (healthy oceans – healthy humans) – What happens to waste when it gets dumped into oceans? (A. Weisman: The world without us)

• 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

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0393317552/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-3317661-1512644#reader-page jared diamond: guns, germs and steel: the fates of human societies;

Lots of historical account of earlyexplorations – (see book).

HMS Challenger

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

1985, Joides Resolution Replace G. Challenger

1968, Glomar Challenger

Theory of Plate Tectonics and much more…

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 Experiment1990-1998

http://woce.nodc.noaa.gov/wdiu/

International Programme on Climate Variability and Predictability, 1995-present

http://www.clivar.org/index.htm

http://www.wmo.ch/web/wcrp/wcrp-home.html

World Climate Research Programme

http://www.clivar.org/publications/other_pubs/clivar_transp/index.htm

US Programs:

http://www.nsf.gov/

http://www.noaa.gov/

http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/ocean/habitats/default.htm

http://science.hq.nasa.gov/oceans/

e.g. GLOBEC http://www.pml.ac.uk/globec/

http://www.whoi.edu/sbl/liteSite.do?litesiteid=7732&articleId=11610

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/coos/

U.S. Coastal Observing Systems

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  

Technologies for ocean observing

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

• 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”