OCEANOGRAPHY PHYSICS RESUME INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY CHAPTER 1 AND 2
A Voyage of Discovery The topics determine what we measure, how the
measurement are made, and the geographic areas Ocean environment is unique. We often heard of of interest. Some processes are local, such as ocean and its role on weather and climate and waves on a beach, some are regional, such as the being discussed in the news. Ocean plays a big weather, and some are global, such as the role to earth and humans life without us being influence of the ocean on changing climate and aware of its huge impact. However, there is still global warming. much we dont know about the ocean. This book aims to make us become aware of "Put into a larger context, more than 1,500 some of the major theories that form the people have climbed Mount Everest, more than foundation of physical oceanography and be 300 have journeyed into space, and 12 have able to describe physical processes influencing walked on the moon, but only 5 percent of the the ocean and coastal region. ocean floor has been investigated and only 2 people have descended and returned in a single Before beginning a voyage or a journey, we dive to the deepest part of the ocean. On the usually try to learn about the places we will other hand, no part of the ocean remains visit. Same like this book, we will learn step by unaffected by human activities, such as climate step and begin with a brief overview of what is change, eutrophication, fishing, habitat known about the ocean, and then the influences, destruction, hypoxia, pollution, and species the physical process, theory and observations, introductions. Therefore, the scientific study of and also the numerical models in describing the the ocean should be an international priority." ocean. Valdes, L., L. Fonseca, and K. Tedesco, 2010. The ocean is one part of the earth system. "Looking into the future of ocean sciences: An Hence, an understanding of the ocean is IOC perspective." Oceanography, 23(3): 160 important for understanding the earth as a 175. system, especially for understanding important problems such as global change or global What is exactly the role of the ocean? Why do warming. we need to care about it? Why study the physics of the ocean? We use theory, observations, and numerical models to describe ocean dynamics. Few of important broad themes of the ocean that involve earth and humans life are: 1. Ocean processes are nonlinear and turbulent. Theories used to describe the 1. We got food from the ocean. ocean are much simplified approximations to reality. 2. We use the ocean. 2. Observations are sparse in time and space. Many processes of the time-averaged flow 3. The ocean influence the atmospheric in many region are poorly observed. weather and climate. 3. Numerical models include much more realistic theoretical ideas, they can help interpolate oceanic observations in time and Oceanography is the study of the ocean, with space, and they are used to forecast climate emphasis on its character as an environment. change, currents, and waves. While, Physical Oceanography is the study of physical properties and dynamics of the ocean. The ultimate goal is to know the ocean well enough to predict the future changes in the Eras of Oceanographic Exploration environment, including climate change or the The exploration of the sea can be divided into response of fisheries to over fishing. various eras. In the past, an oceanographer would devise a 1. Era of Surface Oceanography: Earliest theory, collect data to test the theory, and publish times to 1873. the results. Now, the task have become so 2. Era of Deep-Sea Exploration: 1873-1914. specialized that few can do it all. 3. Era of National Systematic Surveys: 1925- 1940. The Historical Setting 4. Era of New Methods: 1947-1956. 5. Era of International Cooperation: 1957- Our knowledge of oceanic currents, winds, 1978. waves, and tides goes back thousands of year. 6. Era of Satellites: 1978-1995. Polynesian navigators, Pytheas, Arabic trades, 7. Era of Earth System Science: 1995 Samaveda of The Indian Vedic, and many more have started the exploration of the ocean as the The Role of Observations in Oceanography oceanographers. At first glance, we might think that the The knowledge of ocean began with voyages of numerous expeditions mounted since 1873 discovery by Bartholomew Dias (1487-1488), would give a good description of the ocean. The Christopher Columbus (1492-1494), Vasco da result are indeed impressive. Hundreds of Gama (1497-1499), and many more. Explorers expedition have extended into all ocean. Yet, were soon followed by scientific voyage of much of the ocean is poorly explored. Our discovery led by James Cook (1728-1779), understanding of the ocean is often too simple to Charles Darwin (1809-1882), Benjamin be right. Franklin, and so on. - Selecting Oceanic Data Set th th - Designing Oceanic Experiments In the 19 and 20 century, satellites, drifters, - Accuracy, Precision, and Linearity and autonomous instruments appeared and took - Sensitivity to other variable of interest role in the observation of the ocean, air, and land. Data from these systems, when fed into Important Concepts numerical models allows the study of earth as a system. For the first time, we can study how The ocean is not well known. The basic biological, chemical, and physical system description of the ocean is sufficient for interact to influence our environment. describing the time averaged mean circulation of the ocean, and recent work is beginning to The long history of the study of the ocean has describe the variability. led to the development of various, specialized disciplines each with its own interest and Observations are essential for understanding the vocabulary. The more important disciplines ocean. Lack of observations has led to include: oceanography, geophysics, physical conceptual pictures of oceanic processes that are oceanography, geophysical fluid dynamics, too simplified and often misleading. hydrography, and earth-system science. Oceanographers rely more and more on large Almost all our observations of the ocean now data sets produces by others. Sampling errors are come from satellites, drifters, and autonomous the largest source of error in oceanography. instruments. Fewer and fewer observations come from ships at sea.