Intro to

Oceanography
 What is Oceanography?
Study of the ocean, its surroundings, and life
within it.

How does it differ from Marine Biology?

Marine bio studies marine organisms’

anatomy, physiology, behavior; more
individualistic.
 Introduction to Oceanography

What is Oceanography?

Oceanus = ocean
graphos = the description of

Oceanography = the description of the ocean

Originally accurate, but now much more…

Oceanus = ocean
logos = the study of

Oceanology = the science of the ocean

Why study the ocean???
•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
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?
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

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.
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.
 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
The five principal oceans

1.Pacific
2.Atlantic
3.Indian
4.Arctic
5.Southern or
Antarctic Ocean
 Earth's Oceans
Artic

Atlantic
Pacific
Indian

Southern or Antarctic
 Introduction to Oceanography

Some additional confusion of terms:

Oceans vs. ocean?

The global “conveyor belt”
 Comparison of Oceans Size
Ocean Area (square miles) Average Depth (ft) D

Pacific
64,186,000 15,215 Marian
Ocean

Atlantic
33,420,000 12,881 Puerto R
Ocean

Indian
28,350,000 13,002 Java
Ocean

Southern 7,848,300 sq. miles 13,100 - 16,400 ft deep the souther

Ocean (20.327 million sq km ) (4,000 to 5,000 meters) Trench,

Arctic
5,106,000 3,953 Euras
Ocean
Introduction to Oceanography
 Introduction to Oceanography

Some ocean factoids:

Oceans cover 70.8% of earth’ surface

Size
Atlantic - 33,429,000 mi2 (29.4% of ocean)
Pacific - 64,186,300 mi2 (50%)
Indian - 28,350,500 mi2 (20.6%)
Arctic - 5,105,700 mi2

Average Depth
Atlantic – 12,612 ft
Pacific - 12,927 ft
Indian - 12,598 ft
Arctic - 3,665 ft
Summary of the relative amount of water in various locations on or
near Earth’s surface. More than 97% of the water lies in the ocean. Of
all water at Earth’s surface, ice on land contains about 1.7%,
groundwater 0.8%, rivers and lakes 0.007%, and the atmosphere
 Ocean

Disciplines
 Physical Oceanography

How and why ocean currents flow, air-

sea interactions such as the
generation of waves by wind.
 Physical Oceanography
• How & why oceans move
• Weather
• Heat transfer
• Water cycles
• Waves, tides, currents
• Temperature
 Chemical Oceanography

Composition of sea water and the

processing controlling and altering its
composition, including marine pollution
 Chemical Oceanography
• Composition & history of seawater
• Seawater processes & interactions
• Salinity
• Dissolved gases
• Nutrients
 Biological Oceanography

Organisms that live in the ocean and

their relationship to the environment
 Biological Oceanography
• Living organisms
• Organisms relationships with each other and their environment
 Geological Oceanography

Study of rock structure in the ocean basin,

properties of rocks such as magnetism,
occurrence of earthquakes.
 Geological Oceanography
• Study of earth at edge of ocean
• Formation processes (seafloor)
• Sediments
• Rocks & minerals
• Geothermal vents
 Ocean Engineering

Design and installation of oceanographic

instrumentation and vehicles
Global/Local Monitoring

Chlorophyll

NOAA Weather
Buoy/ Tsunami
 Disciplinary Connections
BIOLOGY

BIOPHYSICS BIOCHEMISTRY

PHYSICS OCEANOGRAPHY CHEMISTRY

GEOPHYSICS GEOCHEMISTRY

GEOLOGY
Characteristics of the World's Oceans

Average depth of ocean- 4000m

Average temperature- 39oF (3.9oC)

Age of ocean- 4 billion years old

Covers 71% of the Earth’s surface
Average salinity- 35 o/oo
Jordan
Dead
Sea

Palestine

Amazon River Dead Sea

Tallest Mountain: Hawaii's Mauna Kea rises 10,203 m
(33,476 ft) from base to peak. Everest is only 8,848m.
 Deepest spot- Marianas Trench (10,912m)
http://
video.nationalgeograp
hic.com/video/
environment/habitats-
environment/habitats-
1960- Walsh & Piccard oceans-env/cameron-
how-deep/

Marianas Trench
10,912 m

Mt Everest
8,863 m
 When did the study of
oceanography begin?

It formally began in the 1800’s.

Previously, it was thought that the
deep ocean had no life below 550 m
(Edward Forbes- Azoic Theory).
Ocean Navigation
Humboldt (1800’s)- German naturalist, contributions in
geophysics, meteorology, and oceanography
 Ben Franklin (1770’s)- mapped the Gulf Stream

1996

1786
 Voyage of the HMS Challenger (1872-1876)
• collected thousands of biological and sea bottom
samples
• traveled in every ocean except arctic
• cruise directed by Charles Wyville Thompson
• 362 stations, 715 new genera, 5000 new species
• discovered Mariana Trench and
Mindarniad (34,000 ft deep)
Voyage of the HMS Challenger (1872-1876)

Deep sea Collections

HMS Challenger's
Chemical Laboratory
Late 19th century – early 20th century:

•Founding a number of important marine

laboratories, including coastal labs and open
ocean labs.

1888

Founded 1930

Founded 1903
Recent:
Meteor Expedition (1925)- introduced
modern optical and electronic
equipment (echo sounder)
Glomar Challenger (1968)- drilling for deep
sea sediments
 Rachel Louise Carson (1907-1964)

Marine biologist at U.S. Bureau of Fisheries & Fish & Wildlife

Service
Jacque Cousteau (1910-1997)
Navy officer, explorer, film maker,
inventor of scuba (1947)

"From birth, man carries the weight of gravity

on his shoulders. He is bolted to the earth. But
man has only to sink beneath the surface and
he is free.”
Bob Ballard (1942-)
Navy officer, explorer, film maker
Why coastal and marine?
COASTAL AS:
MULTIPLE-USE ZONE
MULTIPLE ECOSYSTEM
 Principal of coastal and marine resources
management

Integration among Integration of land

government levels and marine
Integration among
sectors Integration among
science

Local commmunity Integrated

acknowledgement Decentralization
coastal and marine management
resources management

Consistent
budgetting
Law enforcement

Institutional Consistent planning

design
 What is the objectives?

Integrated Management
A Legend :
B
A = Conservation
D
forest
C B = Agro Industry
C = Rice field
E D = Housing
E = Port and
F environmentally
industrial zone
G F = Brackish pond
G = Mangrove
H H = Fishing ground
I = Tourism island
I

Coastal and Marine Resources for Sustainable Used

 MAP OF INDONESIA MARINE WATERS

Archipelagic & internal water : 2.3

= 2,3 juta kmmillion
2 km2
Territorial waters : 0.8
= 0,8 juta kmmillion
2 km2
Exclusive Economy Zone (EEZ)= 2,7 juta kmmillion
: 2.7 2
km2
High sea