Physical Oceanography
Lectures Schedule for Spring 2004

This is a general outline of the material that will be discussed each day, and we will probably deviate from it as the course progresses. It is meant to be an overview of the topics to be discussed in roughly the order they will be discussed. Some topics may take more or less time than listed.

January 20, 2004 - A Voyage of Discovery and The Historical Setting

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• Course syllabus and Goals
• The Big Picture
• Importance of measurements in Oceanography
• The sampling problem
• The Historical Setting

January 22, 2004 - The Physical Setting and Atmospheric Influences

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• The oceans, dimensions, scales, and sea-floor features
• Sound in the sea: Mapping the ocean basins
• Global bathymetric maps
• Earth in space, insolation at top of the atmosphere
• Atmospheric forcing of the ocean: Oceanic winds
• Measurement of winds

  Maps of the sea floor calculated from altimetric and ship data are available through the Marine Geology and Geophysics program of the NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center. The technique for combining satellite altimeter and ship data is described in Sandwell and Smith's papers at Global Bathymetric Prediction for Ocean Modelling and Marine Geophysics and Exploring the Ocean Basins with Satellite Altimeter Data.

  A description of reanalyzed data, and surface-flux data sets, including surface winds, is available from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis Project. Other reanalyzed data are available from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis Project.

January 27, 2004 - Oceanic Heat Budgets I

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• Terms in the oceanic heat budget
• Factors influencing insolation and net infrared radiation
• Measurement of radiation terms from space

Homework 1 Due

January 29, 2004 - Oceanic Heat Budgets II

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• Latent and sensible heat fluxes
• Direct and indirect calculation of heat fluxes

  See moisture stream from the tropics into mid-latitudes where it falls as rain in this visualization from the Visualization Group at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Other months and information about the model used to generate the visualization are at the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate Mode page.

February 3, 2004 - Oceanic Heat and Fresh Water Budgets III

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• Global heat-flux data sets and a comparison of values for Winter Latent Heat fluxes for three data sets.
• Geographical and seasonal distribution of heat fluxes
• Global transports of heat and fresh water
• Variations in solar constant

  Maps of terms in the heat budget of the ocean can be obtained from the Live Access to Climate Data maintained by the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. Here are some useful figures based on COADS from the Live Access server:

  • January Available Solar Radiation
  • January Cloud Cover
  • January Net Downward Radiation Flux
  • January Net Upward Longwave Flux
  • January Latent Heat Flux
  • January Sensible Heat Flux
  • January Net Downward Heat Flux
  • July Net Downward Radiative Flux
  • July Net Upward Longwave Flux
  • July Latent Heat Flux
  • July Sensible Heat Flux
  • July Net Downward Heat Flux

Homework 2 Due

February 5, 2004 - Temperature, Salinity and Density

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• Definition of salinity, temperature, and density
• Geographical distribution of temperature and salinity
  • Reynolds January Sea-Surface Temperature
  • Reynolds July Sea-Surface Temperature
  • Levitus Surface Salinity
• The Oceanic mixed layer

February 10, 2004 - Measurement of Temperature, Salinity, and Density

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• Potential temperature, potential density, and neutral density.
• Measurement of temperature, conductivity, and pressure
• Measurement of temperature and salinity with depth
• Determination of density from hydrographic data

  Homework 3 Due

February 12, 2004 - Quiz 1

February 17, 2004 - Film Showing Our Best Visualization of the Ocean's Circulation

Film: Temperature, salinity and currents in the ocean from eddy-resolving numerical model.

February 19, 2004 - No Class Today

February 24, 2004 - Equations of Motion

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• Introduction to physical laws and forces
• Conservation of mass and salt: The Mediterranean Sea
• The Derivative in fluid mechanics: The total derivative
• Conservation of momentum: Equations of motion

February 26, 2004 - Equations of Motion and Influence of Viscosity

No recorded lecture today due to equipment trouble.

• Conservation of mass: Continuity equation
• The Boussinesq approximation to equations of motion
• Influence of viscosity and turbulence
• Reynolds stresses, Reynolds number

  For more information about the mysterious Coriolis force see the University of Illinois, Department of Atmospheric Sciences' Online Guide to the Coriolis Force. The site includes a great film clip of children demonstrating the influence of rotation on rolling balls.

March 2, 2004 - Stability in the Ocean

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• Static stability and stability frequency
• Dynamic stability and Richardson's number
• Double diffusion
• Mixing in the ocean

  For more information on double diffusion and salt fingering, see the simple experiment by Paul Choboter, at the University of Alberta, and a description of salt fingering in the ocean by Bill Merryfield at the Institute for Ocean Sciences, Canada.

  Homework 4 Due

March 4, 2004 - Response of the Upper Ocean to Winds

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• Inertial currents
• Ekman layer and Ekman currents
• Application of Ekman's theory: Ekman transport and coastal upwelling
• Ekman pumping

March 9, 2004 - Geostrophic Currents and Satellite Altimetry

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• Hydrostatic equilibrium
• Scaling the equations of motion: The dominant terms
• Geostrophic approximation, geostrophic currents
• Satellite altimeter measurements of surface geostrophic currents

  Here is a map of surface geostrophic currents calculated by subtracting the oceanic geoid measured by GRACE from the mean sea level measured by Topex/Poseidon.Source: Byron Tapley, Center for Space Research, University of Texas Austin. A map of variability of surface geostrophic currents shows the location of turbulent eddies in the ocean. Map from the Topex/Poseidon Project.

  Homework 5 Due

March 11, 2004 - Surface Geostrophic Currents

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• Calculation of geostrophic currents from hydrographic data
• Currents seen in hydrographic sections
• Calculation of geostrophic currents from hydrographic data
• Estimating currents from ocean sections
• Measurement of ocean currents: Eulerian and Lagrangean measurements
• Barotropic & baroclinic fields

March 15, 2004 to March 19, 2004 - Spring Break!

March 23, 2004 - No class today

March 25, 2004 - Sverdrup Circulation of the Upper Ocean

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• Response of the upper ocean to wind forcing
• Sverdrup's theory of the oceanic circulation
• Westward boundary currents: Stommel's contribution
• Flow in an ocean basin: Munk's contribution

March 30, 2004 - Observed Circulation of the Atlantic

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• Circulation of the Atlantic Ocean with emphasis on the Gulf Stream
• Circulation of the Southern Ocean
• Computer analysis of the Gulf Stream and Simulations of the Gulf Stream

  Homework 6 Due

April 1, 2004 - Vorticity and Circulation of the Upper Ocean

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• Basin-scale theory: Munk's solution
• Vorticity, role of vorticity in ocean dynamics
• Ekman pumping of the interior circulation
• Western boundary currents: The role of vorticity
• Conservation of potential vorticity, topographic steering

  Watch an ocean spin up as calculated from a numerical model generated by oceanographers at Oregon State University. The output shows the stream function of the sea surface of a rectangular basin after wind is turned on, showing the development of a basin-wide circulation and a western-boundary current.

April 6, 2004 - Deep Circulation of the Ocean

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• T/S diagrams & core method, water masses, and tracers;
• Water masses: Examples from the Atlantic
• Deep circulation: the Stommel-Arons' theory
• Meridional overturning circulation and climate

April 8, 2004 - Equatorial Circulation andEl Niño

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• Why the equatorial Pacific is important for meteorology
• Equatorial currents and the equatorial undercurrent
• El Niño: Global air-sea interaction

  Additional Reading: See the on-line tutorial describing El Niño and its impacts maintained by the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory of NOAA or A Quick Guide toEl Niño maintained by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

  Homework 7 Due

April 13, 2004 - QUIZ-2

April 15, 2004 - Numerical Models of the Circulation

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• Numerical Models: General approach
• Quasi-geostrophic models
• Primitive equation models
• Global models

  Additional Reading: See the on-line tutorial on Ocean Models written by Lakshmi Kantha and Steve Piacsek and distributed by the Computational Science Education Project Electronic Textbook at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. You may also wish to look at a high-resolution model of the Gulf Stream developed by Matt O'Keefe at the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Minnesota and Prof. Rainer Bleck at the Department of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami.

  You can read about a 1/4 degree, primitive equation, global model of the ocean can be found at the Oceanography Department of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California along with information about their 1/6 degree model, and their WOCE Ocean Model.

  The World Climate Research Program has sponsored an intercomparison of atmospheric models used for studying climate change, the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project.

April 16, 2004 - QUIZ-2 for DE student

April 20, 2004 - Ocean Wave Theory and Spectra

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• Waves: Theory of surface waves
• Shallow and deep water approximations
• Phase and group velocity, energy density, wave height
• Calculation of ocean-wave spectra

  Homework 8 Due

April 22, 2004 - Ocean Waves Forecasting and Measurements

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• Typical spectra
• Generation of waves by the wind
• Wave forecasting
• Measurement of waves
• If you are interested in Rogue Waves, see the Proceedings of the Conference on Rogue Waves 2000.
• Wave Forecasting: Global forecasts and output of wave analysis models are available through the NOAA Environmental Modeling Center.

April 27, 2004 - Coastal Processes

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• Waves in Shallow Water
• Tsunamis
• Storm Surges

  Additional Reading

  Wave Power: For information on a platform to produce power from waves, see the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center site. They have developed Mighty Whale, a moored barge that converts wave power to electricity while reducing wave heights. The device serves as a breakwater and power station.Open-ocean tests show it is about 15% efficient.

Hawaiian Big Waves: National Geographic Magazine has an interesting article on surfing monster waves at Jaws, Maui Hawaii. A full description of what causes the monster waves, including information on calculating wave refraction and breaking waves at Jaws is provided by Robert A. Dalrymple at the University of Delaware.

Tsunamis:

• On-line tutorial on tsunamis maintained by the University of Washington and NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.
• Photographs of tsunamis from the National Geophysical Data Center and the 1946 Aleutian Tsunami Images, mostly of Hilo Hawaii. More photographs from the Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hawaii.
• Survey of Great Tsunamis.
• Animations of output from tsunami forecast models.
• The NOAA Lab's pages provide more information. Additional information on modeling tsunami runup is at the US Corps of Engineers Coastal Engineering Research Center.

Storm Surges: The Electronic Storm Surge Atlas shows just what a storm surge would do to buildings in various locations in North Carolina.

Homework 9 Due

April 29, 2004 - Tides

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• Theory of ocean tides
• Tidal prediction

  Additional Reading: See the on-line tutorial on the Theory of Tides, NOAA Tide Gauges in the Global Ocean Observing System Newsletter.

May 11, 2004 - FINAL EXAMINATION 3:00 - 5:00 PM

Revised on: 5 September, 2004