SMS 330/598 Section 03: Descriptive Physical Oceanography

Class location/meeting times: class meets in 335 Merrill Hall
Tuesday 11-12:15
Thursday 11-12:15

Format of the Class & Instructor Contact info

On-Line Resources


Section 1: Physical properties of seawater and calculated quantities

Week 1: Physical and chemical properties of seawater
Week 2: Advection and diffusion, turbulence / conservation of properties, fluxes.

Section 2: Estuarine and nearshore environments

Week 3: Waves / Hydrostatic equation and the HPGF
Week 4: Tides / Estuaries I / Extra lecture: Interesting effects of tides
Week 5: Estuaries II / the Coriolis force
Section 3: Coastal flows and processes
Week 6: Fall Break / Extra lecture: Inertial flow and geostrophy / Ekman flow
Week 7:  Coastal (internal) waves / circulation on the continental shelf
Week 8: Mid-term exam / No class
Week 9:  Upwelling zones / Marginal seas
Section 4: Large-scale flows and global connections
Week 10: Global thermohaline balances and forcing / Western boundary currents and subtropical gyres
Week 11:  In situ instrumentation / GOM and the Mediterranean
Week 12: Atlantic ocean circulation and water masses, NADW / Thanksgiving Break
Week 13:   Southern ocean and the ACC / AABW
Week 14:  Indian ocean / Pacific ocean
Week 15: Observations from satellites /  variability and chaos: mesoscale processes; inter-ocean fluxes.
---> Review session TBA
FINAL EXAM: (time, date, location)