Instructor: | Lisa Beal |
Time: | Tuesday & Thursday 10:30 am - 11:45 am |
Location: | MSC 343 |
Application of the laws of physics to the study of the properties and circulation of the world’s oceans. Physical description of the sea; physical properties of sea water; forcing and the equations of motion; boundary processes; waves; thermohaline circulation; variability; instrumentation and observation.
Prerequisites: the mathematics and physics required for admission to the graduate curriculum at the Rosenstiel School, or consent of the instructor. It will be assumed that you know Newton’s 3 Laws, linear and angular momentum conservation, derivatives and partial derivatives, integrals, scalars and vectors, gradient, divergence, and curl.
Course requirements: Two graded exams, midterm (25%) and final (45%); One report/project with presentation and written requirements (30%). Study questions are provided weekly and solutions led and discussed by YOU during class. Click here for details of the project
Lecture 1: Introduction - Course Overview
Lecture 2: Geography of the world’s oceans and major current systems (RS3)
Lecture 3: Physical properties of seawater I - Temperature, Salinity and Pressure (RS6,JK2,PP2)
Lecture 4: Physical properties of seawater II - potential temperature, density, potential density, static stability (JK2,PP5)
Lecture 5: Property distributions - water masses and tracers (JK8,RS6)
Lecture 6:Forcing of the Ocean: Tides, winds, and heating (RS4-5 &17,JK3,OU1-2)
Lecture 7:Mass, energy, and salt conservation: continuity equation (PP4,JK4,OU6,PP10)
Lecture 8:Equations of Motion on a rotating planet - Coriolis force and inertial oscillations (JK5,PP6,OU3)
Lecture 9:Basin budgets and two-layer exchange flows (JK11)
Lecture 10:Scaling: relative importance of the terms in the Equations of Motion (PP7)
Lecture 11:Ekman Layers and the Ekman Spiral (PP9,JK5-6,OU3,RS9)
Lecture 12:Geostrophy: Dynamic Method and Thermal Wind (RS10,PP8,JK6,OU3)
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