Oceanography lECTURE Notes Outline

The History of Oceanography

I. Lecture Content - Topics Covered

Early Civilizations Get Their Feet Wet

Beginnings of Ocean Science

The Age Of Discovery

Twentieth Century Ocean Exploration

Oceanographic Institutions

Modern-day Oceanography

II. Early Civilizations Get Their Feet Wet

A. Polynesian Island Hoppers

1. Starting around 3000 B.C., these people began to spread across the Southern

Pacific Ocean island groups via small sturdy sailing canoes

· Illustration of the extent of their voyages

2. Undisputed masters of open-ocean voyaging of that era.

· Mastered marine navigation without the aid of sextants or chronometers

· They made and used simple “stick” charts

3. Main purpose of voyages was for new space and resources (population pressures)

· Thousands of years of voyaging culminated in the discovery and settlement of the Hawaiian Islands

C. Early Mediterranean Civilizations (2500 B.C.? - )

1. Egyptians

· River sailors

· Mainly for commerce

2. Cretans (1500? – 1200 B.C.)

· First to move around the Mediterranean Sea in ships

· Purpose was for trading

· Ended abruptly around 1200 B.C.

3. Phoenicians (1300 – 800 B.C.?)

· Replaced the Cretans to become master sea traders

· Their sea travels took them out into the Atlantic Ocean

· Their civilization was based on sea commerce

D. Early Chinese Empire

1. River Waterway and nearshore seafaring during the time of the early

Mediterranean civilizations

· Main purpose for commerce

F. The Nordic Vikings (500 to 1200? A.D.)

1. Built very fast, sturdy, rowable sailing ships

2. Voyaged all over the Northern Atlantic, Baltic, North, and Mediterranean

Seas and up and down the major European Rivers during the Dark Ages

3. Purpose of voyaging was three-fold:

· Terrorizing and plundering to many cities

· Establish new settlements

· For the pure adventure of it

III. Voyaging Takes on a Scientific Aspect

A. The Egyptians and the Library of Alexandria

1. Founded around the 300 B.C. – Huge academic center

2. Storehouse of ship logs and sea charts

3. Created the longitude-latitude coordinate system

B. The Greeks (starting around 900 B.C.)

· Competed with and eventually replaced the Phoenicians as the leading

sea traders of the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern Atlantic Ocean

· First to make extensive recorded ship logs

· Compiled ship logs to create the very first sea charts around 800 B.C.

· These early sea charts included traces of coastlines, landmarks, cities, and ocean currents.

C. The Chinese (800?-1433 A.D.)

1. Chinese seafaring began to really take off during the Dark Ages

· Built huge seaworthy sailing ships with expert crews

· Perfected several navigation techniques

· Developed revolutionary marine technology

· Credited with the compass, central rudder, much better sails, and water-tight compartments.

3. Sailed the high seas and explored the western Pacific, Indian Ocean, and the

Atlantic Ocean.

4. Purpose was two-fold:

· Explore for resources

· Show the rest of the world their supremacy

5. Chinese abandoned their voyaging interests in 1433

IV. The Age of Discovery

A. The Europeans Take to the Sea in a Big Way

1. Renaissance-time influences spurred European leader to explore the world

by sea.

2. Purpose was two-fold:

· Open new trade routes

· Locate new resources

3. Pioneers of European ocean exploration

· Prince Henry the Navigator

· Christopher Columbus

· Ferdinand Magellan

B. Columbus’s Voyages to the New World

1. (Almost) “Re”discovered North America

2. Mistook the Caribbean region for offshore Asia

3. Underestimated the circumference of the Earth

3. Paved the way for future sea explorers

C. Magellan’s Around-the-World Voyage (1519-1522)

1. Set out to chart a western trade route to Asia

2. First circum-global ocean voyage

3. Charts were resized to show how big Earth really was.

D. The True Beginnings of Scientific Oceanography

1. The Voyages of Captain Cook and Crew

· The First Voyage (1768-1771)

· The Second Voyage (1772-1775)

· The Third Voyage (1776-1780)

· Purpose of these voyages were multi-fold

2. Tackling the longitude problem

· The problem solved with the invention of an accurate, seaworthy chronometer.

Ø Invented by John Harrison in 1760

Ø £20,000 invention prize

3. Tackling the sounding and sampling problems

· Introduction of the steam winch

· Improvements in sampling devices

Ø Mechanical grabs

Ø Trawl nets

F. First Purely Scientific Oceanographic Voyages

1. The United States Exploring Expedition (1883-1842)

· Aboard the USS Vincesses under Charles Wilkes

· The result of this expedition was a huge scientific report

2. Contributions of Matthew Maury

· Ocean data compiler

· Created impressive accurate charts showing global wind and ocean currents

· Published “The Physical Geography of the Seas” in 1855.

3. Contributions of Charles Darwin and the HMS Beagle Expedition (1831-1836)

· Very skilled observer and scientist

4. The Challenger Expedition (1872-1876)

· First pure oceanographic voyage

· Mounted by C.W. Thompson and John Murray

Ø They coined the term "oceanography"

· Worldwide, 127,600 km, four-year voyage

Ø Longest continuous scientific voyage

· Collection of huge amount of scientific data

Ø Depth readings

Ø Salinity

Ø Temperature

Ø Density

Ø Atmospheric conditions

Ø Sea life and bottom sediment samples

Ø Charted currents and landmasses

· The Challenger Report

Ø Included a 50 volume set

Ø Extremely well-written and illustrated

Ø Exposed the presence of deep sea life

Ø Discovery of manganese nodules

G. Exploration into the Twentieth Century

1. First polar oceanographic expedition

· Initiated by Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen

Ø He and crew locked in the drifting Arctic ice pack for several years aboard their ship Fram

Ø Voyage lasted from 1893 to 1896

Ø Opened the door to the "golden age" of polar science

2. Several other polar expeditions soon followed

· Peary and others explore the Arctic region

Ø First to reach the North Pole in 1909

· Amundsen's Antarctic expedition of 1910

Ø First to reach the South Pole in 1911

· Captain Scott's ill-fated Antarctic Expedition

Ø Scientific success but several die trying

3. The German Meteor Expedition of 1925

· Introduces the echo sounder instrument to measure ocean depth

and bottom contours

· First to discover the extensive ruggedness of the deep ocean basin

4. American Atlantis Expedition of 1931

· Charted the mid-Atlantic Ridge

5. The voyages of the E.W. Scripps - 1937

· Comprehensive oceanographic study of the ocean off of Southern California

V. Large Oceanographic Institutions come of Age

A. International Hydrographic Bureau (est. 1921)

1. Multinational European consortium

· Jacques Cousteau a founding member

B. Scripps Institute of Oceanography (est. 1912)

1. Based in La Jolla, California

2. Affiliated with the UC San Diego

C. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (est. 1930)

1. Based on Cape Cod, Massachusetts

2. Affiliated with MIT

D. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (est. 1949)

1. Based in Palisades, New York

2. Affiliated with Columbia University

3. First director was Maurice Ewing

F. U.S. Government Oceanographic Agencies

1. U.S. Navy Entities

· Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy

· Naval Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Lab

· Naval Ocean Systems Command

2. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA)

3. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

VI. Modern-day Oceanographic Research

A. Drilling into the Deep Ocean Bottom

1. The Glomar Challenger and Operation Moho (1968)

· Drilled in up to 6,000 meters of water

· Drilled down over 1000 meters into ocean bottom

· Tested theory of seafloor spreading

2. The JOIDES Resolution drilling ship(1985)

· Took over the GC's drilling operations

· Drilled in up to 8,000 meters of water

· Largest seagoing geological lab ever

B. Remote Sensing of Our Ocean

1. Allows researchers to accurately monitor vast stretches of ocean surface in

real time.

2. Use of satellites to monitor the physical and chemical dynamics of the ocean

· Sea surface temperature

· Water vapor

· Wind speed and direction

· Wave height and direction

· Ocean currents

· Ocean surface (height) topography

· Ocean bottom topography (indirectly)

· Chlorophyll content of ocean surface

B. Important Ocean Research Satellites

1. Seasat

· Launched in 1978

· First oceanographic satellite

2. TOPEX/Poseidon

· Launched in 1992

· Combined super accurate GPS with radar

3. SEASTAR

· Launched by NASA in 1997

· Carries a broadband color spectral analyzer

C. Submarines used as Oceanographic Platforms

1. Treiste

· Dove to bottom of Challenger Deep (36,000 feet)

2. Alvin

· Discovered mid-ocean ridge black smokers

· Explored the sunken Titanic

3. Navy nuclear subs used for oceanographic research

· 1990's Expeditions

Ø USS Pargo

Ø USS Pogy

Ø USS Hawkbill

· Focused on Arctic region

4. Present focus on unmanned submersibles

D. Where is Oceanographic Research Heading?

1. Economies, Opportunities and Money

2. Technological breakthroughs

VII. VOCABULARY