Introduction Course overview History of Oceanography Origin of
- Slides: 15
Introduction Course overview History of Oceanography Origin of earth, ocean, atmosphere
Interdisciplinary n n n n Biology Chemistry Physics Geology Geography Political Science Mathematics Computer Science
History of Oceanography n Early n Age of Discovery n Science and the Oceans n Modern Oceanography n Different motivations at different times
Early history n Reasons: trade, fishing, defense Self centered view of Earth n Examples – Dates included for discussion purposes – Some examples from book, others added
Early history (2) Around edges of Mediterranean Sea n Phoenicians (approx. 1000 BC) n Greeks (approx. 500 BC) – Pytheus – latitude, tides – Erasthosthenes (working in Egypt) – circumference of earth
Early history (3) n Romans – Ptolemy as example – Approx. 150 AD – Ocean more vast than thought – Used both latitude and longitude n Middle Ages: very little exploration except – Vikings (approx. 1000 AD) – Arabs n Polynesians (300 -600 AD most important)
Age of Discovery (1) n Travel for economic, political and religious reasons n Portugal: – Prince Henry – Vasco Da Gama (1498)
Age of Discovery (2) Spain n Columbus (1492) n Balboa (1513) n Magellan (1522)
Age of Discovery (3) Discovery with some science n James Cook (1768 -1780) – Endeavour, Resolution, Adventure n Ben Franklin (1769) n Matthew F. Maury (early 1800 s) n Charles Darwin (early 1800 s)
Purely scientific n Challenger Expedition (1872 -1876) n Extremely significant
More for science n Voyages of Nansen aboard Fram (end of 1800 s)
Modern Oceanography (20 th century) n International n Interdisciplinary n Scientific n Complex instruments n “Modern” technology
History of the Earth n Approx. 4. 5 billion years old n Nebular hypothesis……all of our solar system was “formed” from the same cloud of dust n Gravitational forces
Earth (cont. ) n Separation of earth’s material by density n Layered Earth…. most dense in core, less dense mantle, less dense crust…. . density stratification n Ocean and atmosphere formed as a result of out-gassing from Earth’s interior
Comparison of ocean basins n Atlantic n Pacific n Indian n Arctic n Southern n Much Ocean left to students
