Intro to Oceanography

Question 1

What is the most prominent feature of earth?

Answer 1

the world ocean

Question 2

Oceans cover ___% of the Earth’s surface

Answer 2

70.8%

Question 3

t/f

The origin and development of life on earth are connected to the ocean

Answer 3

true

Question 4

t/f

The oceans aren’t as well studied as land, but we know more about them than all the other planets in our solar system

Answer 4

false!

we know less about the deep oceans than about some of the other plants in our solar system

Question 5

List the 6 main difficulties of studying the oceans

Answer 5

1. Inaccessibility
   - average ocean depth is ~3700m! the avg height on land is 840m. Also ships are slow
2. Pressure
   - ocean pressure increases at 1atm every 10m of depth. Instruments need to survive
3. “Seeing” Through ocean water
   - water efficiently absorbs EMR, most of the ocean cannot be seen optically. Sunlight does not penetrate below 1000m
4. Conductivity/ Corrosion/ Fouling
   - seawater conducts electricity, causes circuit shorts.
   - seawater is corrosive
   - marine organisms grow on equipment
5. Wave motion
   - hard on equipment and people! (seasickness)
6. Logistics
   - bad weather, etc

Question 6

Ocean=
Graphy=

Answer 6

ocean= greek for the seas

graphy= greek for a descriptive science

Question 7

“Oceanography” implies it’s the science of:

But, it’s much more now. It should be called:

Answer 7

describing the marine enviro

the study of all aspects of the marine enviro

Question 8

Physical oceanography is the study of:

Answer 8

waves
tides
currents
ocean-atmosphere interactions
transmission of light & sound in the ocean

Question 9

Chemical oceanography is the study of

Answer 9

the chemical composition and properties of seawater
- dissolved solids and gasses in the ocean
- effects of pollutants

Question 10

Biological oceanography is the study of

Answer 10

the various oceanic life forms, their distributions, and their relationships to one another
+ adaptations to marine enviro

Question 11

Why study the ocean? Give 4 good reasons

Answer 11

• about half of the population lives within ~100km of the oceans. So it affects a lot of people!
• source of food
• navigation
• influence on weather and climate

Question 12

To study the oceans we use theory, observations, and numerical models. Are any of these sufficient by themselves?

Answer 12

No!

Question 13

Give an issue with each of the following methods used to study the oceans
- theories
- observations
- numerical models

Answer 13

• theories: oceans are non-linear and turbulent, so theories are simplified
• observations: sparse in time and space! Cannot completely describe the oceans
• numerical models: approximations of the real system, can’t represent all small-scale processes