ATOC 5051, Spring 2010 — Notes & Calendar

ATOC 5051: Introduction to Physical Oceanography

Or, Notions for the Motions of the Oceans. This is a core course for graduate students covering the basic tools needed for oceanography. Observational, dynamical, numerical, and descriptive methods are discussed and used to get a sense of the historical and contemporary understanding of the motions of the oceans.

You can access the syllabus, proceedings, class notes, and reading.

Describe quantitatively the amount and quality of ocean data available. Some examples:

1. Subsample a dataset to estimate the sampling error in a bulk measurement, e.g., global mean temperature.
2. Compare similar measurements from two datasets (e.g., Reid & Mantyla versus eWOCE, or WOCE shipboard CTD versus WOCE drifter CTD). You can do this in a region of interest, or in a chosen bulk measurement (e.g., global temperature, Mediterranean temperature).
3. Compare similar measurements but separated in time. Is there signal above the noise? How can you estimate noise (or has someone else done it for you)?

Don't be afraid to piggyback off of other published work. Use google scholar or Web of Science to locate articles by keyword, and then see what they say.
Feel free to use the Matlab references, and refer to similar projects from 2007, Ready to Roll and What Do You Mean Mean?, and 2008 3 Kinds of Lies?.