This chapter introduces the course on oceanography by discussing several key points: - The ocean contains a vast amount of living space that remains largely unexplored. Studying the ocean provides insights into life in the oceans as well as processes like climate change. - Oceanography involves the interdisciplinary study of biological, chemical, geological, and physical aspects of the ocean. - The chapter outlines the goals and structure of the course, expectations for students, and several interesting facts about the ocean to pique students' interest in the subject.

1. Introduction to
Oceanography
Dr. Larry Atkinson
Chapter 1

2. What is going on here?
• Link

3. Goal of the course:
An introduction to the scientific
discipline in all its diversity.
An introduction to scientific problem
solving and discovery.
Conversational literacy of current
issues.

4. Mechanics
• Syllabus – important dates
• Lab – miss 3 and you fail
• Cheating – one strike and you’re out
• Testing – lecture, books, readings
• Office hours – by appt.: email or voice
mail.

5. How to succeed
• Attend class
• Do all assignments
• Read ahead of time
• Don’t miss any deadlines

6. Oceanography
Young science
Requires knowledge of other “traditional”
sciences
Interdisciplinary
Important for many aspects of everyday life
(that’s why we’re here)

7. Oceans
• 71% of the globe
• Influence through geopolitics, climate,
pollution, weather, recreation, food.
• Enjoyment and appreciation
• Informed citizen on environmental and
political issues that involve the earth &
ocean around you.

8. Examples of useful information
• Distribution of earthquake zones and areas most
affected by sea level rise
• Oil & mineral distribution – why & where
• Oceans & climate – ozone hole, atmospheric pollution,
greenhouse effect, coral reefs (go see them now!),
global warming (and rational debate about)
• Beach erosion & replenishment, sewage disposal,
pollution (e.g., detergents and fertilizers)
• Weather & hurricanes
• Good fishing & surfing
• Why the ocean is warm on the Atlantic beaches and cold
on Pacific beaches

9. Why study the ocean???

10. •The volume of living space in the ocean is huge
compared to that on land.
•About 71% of Earth’s surface is covered by oceans.
Land is only 29% of the earth’s surface.
•If the earth were flat, the oceans would cover it to a
depth of 2440 meters! (~ 1.7 miles)
•Avg depth of the oceans 3800 m
•Avg height of land 875 m

12. Some statistics & fun facts
• Surface area to volume argument
• Area of the earth’s surface = 510,100,934 km2
• 29% of that is land = 147,929,271 km2 land
• if the vertical living area on land is 0.1 km (100m)
deep (tip of tallest trees to depth of their roots)=
14,779,292.7 km3 life-space on land
• The volume of the oceans is 3,763 x 106 km3
• The “living space’ on land is thus only 0.39% of that
compared with the ocean.
• Next slide shows distribution of land vs ocean. Note
major differences between N and S hemispheres.

14. •The deepest trench in the ocean is
Challenger Deep in the Mariana
Trench 11020 meters
•Longest Trench is Peru-Chile
5900 km.

15. •The largest
sea is the
South China
Sea, with an
area of
1,148,500
square miles.

16. •The Caribbean
Sea is the
deepest at 8,448
ft.

17. •The largest
ocean current
is the
Kuroshio
Current. 25 -
75 miles/day,
1-3 knots, and
extends some
3300 ft deep.
The Gulf
Stream is
close to this
current's
speed.

18. •Mean depth of the ocean is 3795m
•Atlantic is shallowest - 3332m
•Extensive “shallow” areas and 20.4% is
shallower than 1000 meters.
•Indian Ocean - 3897 m
•Pacific Ocean - 4028 m
•Over 2X the volume of Atlantic

23. We study the ocean for the following reasons…
• The ocean has a vast amount of living space that we know
little about. What lives there and how do these organisms
interact? How are they adapted to their environment?

25. We also study the ocean for the following reasons…
• The ocean’s influence on weather and climate.
(CO2 (1/3 of all emissions) absorption, El Nino, hurricanes)
• There are many minerals in the sea.
(Manganese nodules, oil drilling platforms, etc…)
• Past climate research (paleoclimates) – Cores

26. We also study the ocean for the following reasons…
• Human use of the ocean.
• Fisheries, causes of fluctuations in resources,
influence of commercial & sport fishing. Fin &
shellfish etc…Aquaculture – Salmon, Mussels,
etc…
• Carrageenan from macroalgae: source of Food.
• Drugs from marine organisms.

27. Oceanographic Research is generally
broken up into sub-disciplines
•Biological: Ocean life from microbes to whales. How they
interact with physical & chemical & geological features.
Pollutant effects. Aquaculture, fisheries, etc…
•Chemical: Trace metals, salts, gases, pollutants,
distributions, transformations.
•Geological: Plate tectonics, sedimentation, volcanism.
•Physical: Currents & atmospheric interactions deep &
surface currents, rate of flow. Waves & tides. Prediction of
future changes.

28. That’s not all – hot topics cross
disciplines
• Biogeochemistry – nutrient & chemical
transformations and cycles over time
• Geophysics – seismology, paleomagnetics,
plate tectonics
• Biocomplexity – ecology in the face of
chemical & physical constraints
• Marine genomics & proteomics – census of
marine life; diversity

29. Other areas of interest
• Archaeology
• Law of the sea
• Rules of navigation
• Ocean engineering
• Resource management

30. How to study oceans
• Scientific method

31. Important to remember for this class
• Fun of the big picture – try to keep it in mind
• I’ll talk mainly in metric units. Only the US,
Liberia, Burma and Myanmar have not adopted
metric measurements.
• The importance of scales
– Temporal and spatial
– micro to mega
• Largely descriptive
• Don’t focus on numbers rather than relative
sizes
• Some numbers are important
– Age of the earth

32. General course plan
• Origin – history and planetary
• The container – ocean basins
– Structure
– Configuration (current and through time)
• What fills it
– All about water
– Ocean chemistry
• What moves it around
– Currents
– Start on physical oceanography
• Add organisms
• Throughout
– anthropogenic influence/interactions, economics, politics
-- technology & sampling gear

33. Next time:
• Voyages and discovery
– Reading – discovery is not dead
• Latitude and longitude
• The rise of oceanography

34. Take home points
• Scientific method
• Volume of living space large in ocean relative to
land
• Most land is in the N hemisphere
• Average depth of the ocean is much greater
than the average height of land
• 3 major ocean basins: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian
• Oceanography important for weather and
climate, human activities, minerals,
paleoenvironments
• Major subdisciplines of oceanography and newer
interdisciplinary topics