EOS 203: Physical Oceanography Perceptions of our Natural World (cross listed with ENV 290 and ME 290)

Instructor: Dr. Susan Lozier

This course is fundamentally concerned with how and why the ocean moves. The dynamic principles which govern ocean circulation will be introduced in an effort to understand the large scale pattern of ocean flow. You will learn why the surface waters rotate in gyres, why coastal waters upwell or downwell, why the deep waters act as a 'conveyor belt' for heat in the ocean, what sets the climate cycle of the ocean, and how the ocean affects our global climate. You will also learn how atmospheric winds drive the surface flows, how temperature differences between the equator and polar regions drive the deep ocean currents and how the rotation of our earth has profound consequences for the circulation of the ocean and atmosphere. Finally, the distribution of temperature, salinity, pollutants, and tracers in the ocean will be studied to achieve an understanding of how the ocean mixes, yet maintains, property gradients.

Grading: Homework 25%, Workshops/Discussions 25%, Midterm 20%, Final 30%

Text: Introduction to Physical Oceanography, 2nd edition, by Knauss

Offered: Spring semester of even-numbered years

Large Gyre East of Japan

Class Schedule:
Introduction
Ocean observations
Vector calculus review
Property distributions in the ocean
Workshop 1
Static stability, Water masses
Radiative balance of the ocean
Workshop 2
Conservation equations for scalar properties
Thermohaline circulation, Eddy diffusion
Workshop 3
Midterm
Winds, Coriolis effect, geostrophy
Conservation of momentum
Workshop 4
Ekman dynamics, upwelling
Sverdrup dynamics, Ocean gyres
Workshop 5
Boundary currents and vorticity dynamics
Coastal currents I
Workshop 6
Coastal currents II
Review