Dr Chris Parsons

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Dr Chris Parsons
INTRODUCTION TO OCEANOGRAPHY
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OCEANOGRAPHY

• OCEAN the marine environment
• GRAPHY a descriptive science
• GEOLOGY Sediments Tectonic plates Coastal
  processes
• BIOLOGY Ecology Zoology Microbiology
• GEOGRAPHY Weather Climate
• ASTRONOMY Origin of water Tidal Forces
• PHYSICS Currents Waves Sonar Temperatures
• CHEMISTRY Density Dissolved substances
  Pollution

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HISTORY OF OCEANOGRAPHY

• Prehistoric man shellfish fish bones
• Egyptians first recorded sea voyage 3200 BC
• First voyage of exploration 2750 BC by Hannu
• Phoenicians (Lebanon) 1200BC 146BC
• - Traded throughout Mediterranean
• - North coast of Europe
• - British Isles
• - Sailed around Africa (590 BC)

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PACIFIC EXPLORATION

• Polynesian ocean migrations 2500 BC
• traveling small distances between islands
• By 1100 BC long ocean voyages (1000s miles)
• New Zealand (900 AD)
• Easter Island (400 AD)
• Hawaii (450-600 AD)
• By 800 AD had colonized every island in an
  area twice that of the USA.
• Used sea maps made of sticks shells that
  showed wave patterns, island positions, or
  positions of the stars

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ANCIENT GREEKS

• Called the Mediterranean Sea Thalassa
• Believed the world was surrounded by a river
  Oceanus
• Herodontus 450 BC mapped the known world (with
  the Mediterranean (lit. Middle of the World ) in
  the center, surrounded by Oceanus.

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ANCIENT GREEKS

• Aristotle 384-322 BC realized the oceans were
  low areas of earths surface filled with water.
  Realized cycling of sea water from the surface to
  rain. First person to say the world
  was round.
• Studied marine creatures identified 100 fish
  species, 40 molluscs, 20 crustaceans annelid
  worms.
• Realized that whales dolphins were mammals.
• Pytheas 350-300 BC voyaged to England,
  Scotland, Norway and Iceland (Ultima Thule).
  Realized tides were affected by the moon.
• Eratosthenes 276-192 BC calculated the
  circumference of the world (only 119 miles out)

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ANCIENT GREEKS
Posidonius 135-50 BC measured an ocean depth of
1800m (6000) Pliny the Elder 23-79 AD measured
the currents through the strait of Gibraltar and
the effects of lunar phase on tides. Ptolemy
264-194 BC produced the worlds first atlas.
But a wrong figure for the circumference of the
world (by 6000 miles) meant that Columbus was out
in his calculations. Mentioned Terra Australis
Incognita - Australia
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THE MIDDLE AGES

• Several major voyages of exploration especially,
• the first discovery of America by..

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European Voyages of Discovery

• First voyages in 15th Century by the Chinese
• Over 300 ships explored during 7 expeditions.
• Bartholomeu Diaz 1450-1500 Sailed around the
  tip of Africa into the Indian Ocean
• Columbus 1451-1524 four voyages to find the Far
  East
• But John Cabot actually landed in N. America in
  1497
• Vasco da Gama 1469 -1512 voyaged to India.
• Amerigo Vespucci 1454 -1512 several voyages to
  the New World. Realized that South America was a
  new continent
• Juan Ponce de Leon 1460 -1521 discovered
  Florida and recognized the Florida current

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European Voyages of Discovery

• Magellan 1480-1521 Sailed around South America
  and crossed the Pacific Ocean.
• Killed in the Philippines in 1521.
• One of his ships continued - 1st
  circumnavigation.
• Frobisher 1535-1594 Three voyages to North
  America looking for the Northwest Passage
• Sir Francis Drake 1540-1596 a privateer.
  Sailed round the world 1577-1580.

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Early Ocean Scientists

• Edmund Halley
• 1656-1742 famous for discovering a comet.
• Made a voyage to measure longitude.
• Believed the age of the oceans could be
  calculated by the rate that rivers bring salt
  into the sea.

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John Harrison Invented high accuracy clocks. In
1761 invented a chronometer that allowed position
to be accurately calculated at sea. Clock was set
to London (Greenwich time) which is at 0O
longitude. Take time at noon. Difference in hours
(x15) longitude (as world spins at 15O /hour)
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Captain James Cook

• Boldly going where no one had gone before.
• Made three voyages to map the worlds oceans and
  landmasses.
• 1st voyage discovered New Zealand, Tahiti
  Australia (although the Dutch had discovered
  Australia already).
• 2nd voyage explored Southern Ocean. Discovering
  South Georgia etc.
• 3rd voyage charted the Hawaiian islands, then
  west coast of North America. Then to the Bering
  Sea. First man to sail in both polar seas
• Killed by Hawaiians on his return.

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• In addition to charting the areas
• Cook recorded information such as
• Ocean depths
• Prevailing wind directions
• Surface currents speed and direction
• Water temperatures

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While in the USA..

• Benjamin Franklin was fretting about the time it
  took for news goods to travel between America
  England.
• With Capt. Timothy Folger a whaling captain, he
  produced a map of the Gulf Stream current 1769

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Matthew Fontaine Maury Father of
Oceanography
In 1830 the government founded the US
Naval Hydrographic Office US Naval
Oceanographic Office Dedicated to exploring
the oceans and producing better charts. .
1842 Matthew Maury was assigned to the
hydrographic office. Maury thought that studying
winds/currents would help to determine the
fastest and most efficient sea routes. Using
ships logs and other data he compiled several
articles/ charts/ books including The Physical
Geography of the Seas 1st Oceanography text
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Darwins voyages

• From 1831-1836 Charles Darwin sailed with the HMS
  Beagle as Ships naturalist.
• The five year mission involved collecting
  meteorological, hydrographic and geological data
  from around the world
• Including South America, Australia the
  Galapagos Islands
• Fascinated by coral reefs he wrote 1843
• The Structure and Distribution of the Coral Reefs
• and his theory on how Atolls are formed stands to
  this day

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Other Early Oceanographers

• Alexander von Humboldt 1769-1859 studied
  animals in the Humboldt current western S.
  America
• Edward Forbes 1815-54 surveys animals around
  British Isles, Aegean Mediterranean Noticed
  different types of animals at different depths.
  Europes candidate for Father of Oceanography
• Sir John Ross 1777-1856 took deep water
  (6000) grab samples in Baffin Bay Arctic
• Sir James Clark Ross 1800-1862 took samples in
  Antarctic noticed similarities

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The Challenger Expedition

• Six scientists on 4-year mission 1872-1876 to
  study
• the chemical composition of seawater
• distribution of marine animals
• coastal and ocean currents and
• map the ocean basin.

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The Challenger Expedition

• Made 362 soundings in Atlantic, Pacific Indian
  Oceans
• Collected 7000 species
• Identified 4,417 new species 715 new genera
• Measured temperatures different locations
  depths
• Meteorological records
• Mapped major currents
• Data took 20 years to analyze
• Published as the Challenger Reports (50 volumes)

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Polar Oceanography

• Fridtjof Nansen 1861-1930
• Sailed his survey ship the Fram into the Arctic
  and froze it into the ice (1893)
• Drifted with the ice for 35 months
• Showed the Artic Ocean was a deep ocean basin
  not a shallow sea
• Collected temperature, water chemistry air data
  recorded plankton blooms
• Set off on dog sleds to North Pole (500 miles)
• Gave up 41/2 weeks later winter on the ice
• Rescued June 1896

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20th Century Oceanography

• 1902 International Council for the Exploration
  of the Seas (ICES)
• 1903 Marine Biological Association?
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography U.Cal
• 1927 National Academy of Sciences wanted an
  east coast marine lab ?
• 1930 Woods Hole Oceanography Institution,
  Massachusetts

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VOYAGES TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

• 360 BC Aristotle talks of divers using
  air-filled kettles
• 330 BC Alexander the Great descends in a glass
  diving bell
• 1620 Cornelius van Drebbel tests the first
  submarine (to 5m)
• carrying a royal passenger -James I
• 1690 Sir Edmund Halley descends into the Thames
  in a lead diving bell

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VOYAGES TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

• 1715 John Lethbridge tests the first diving
  suit (a barrel with view ports and arm holes)
• 1776 David Bushnell launches The Turtle to
  attack HMS Beagle
• 1800 Robert Fulton builds the submarine The
  Nautilus
• 1837 Augustus Sieve invents a prototype
  hard-helmeted diving suit

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VOYAGES TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

• 1930 William Beebe Otis Barton descend to
  3027 (923m) off Bermuda
• 1943 Jacques Cousteau invents the aqualung
• 1960 - Jacques Picard Donald Walsh descend to
  35,801 (10,915m)
• 1962- Ed Link stays in first undersea living
  chamber (60)
• Cousteau builds the Starfish House (40)

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VOYAGES TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

• 1963 Cousteau adds Deep Cabin (90)
• 1964 In Sealab 1 divers stay at 193 (59m) for
  11 days off of Bermuda
• 1964 A. Falco C. Wesly live for one week in
  Conshelf III at 328
• 1966 The submersible Alvin, Aluminaut and
  Cubmarine recover an atomic bomb from 2624
  (800m) off Spain
• 1969-70 Tektite I II - 12 scientific teams
  for up to 60 days at 50 (15m)

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VOYAGES TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

• 1975 Navy divers use a pressurized sphere as
  transport to and from a 1148 dive.
• 1976 Jaques Mayol free dives to 100m (328)
  while holding his breath
• The Big Blue
• 1979 Sylvia Earle dives to 1250 in Jim an
  untethered underwater diving suit
• 1981 Scientists at Duke University simulate a
  dive to 686m (2250)

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VOYAGES TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

• 1995 Japanese unmanned submersible Keiko sets a
  new depth record 10,978 m (36,017)
• 1996 Fransisco Ferreras free dives to 130m
  (428)
• 2004 After 40 years the US announces that it
  will be replacing Alvin
• The new submarine will have a maximum depth of
  6,500m (21,320) (vs 4,500) and 2x the depth
  time (8hs gt2.5km vs 4-5 hrs)

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Deep Flight Built by inventor Graham Hawkes First
tested in 2002 1000m (3280) depth capability
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