GEOL1100, Spring 2013

Image from Siedler et al. 2001.

Global Physical/Descriptive Oceanography Or, Notions for the Motions of the Oceans. Brown Catalog Link Examines physical characteristics, processes, and dynamics of the global ocean to understand circulation patterns and how they relate to ocean chemistry and large scale climate change. Assignments address origin and distribution of water masses, heat and water budgets, thermohaline and widn-driven circulation systems, dynamics of the oceanic conveyor belt, and El Nino. You can access the syllabus, proceedings, class calendar, notes, and reading

Proceedings

Notions for the Motions of the Oceans, Volume 4

Issue 1: 3 Kinds of Lies

• Bova, S.: Variability of Antarctic Intermediate Water core depth and salinity in the Tropical Pacific
• Chen, A. K.: Southern elephant seals – How they compare with Argo floats for oceanographic data collection
• McGill, D.: Relative concentrations of nutrients in surface waters of river deltas and open ocean
• Parker, C.: Analysing the ability of satellite data products to detect sea surface temperature variability during the lifecycle of a tropical cyclone
• Segura, M.: Using ice-tethered data to study the influence of water density on the sea ice thickness in the Western Arctic Ocean region
• Thieleman, E.: An analysis of the applicability of NOAA’s AVHRR Pathfinder v5 sea surface temperature data in False Bay, South Africa
• Wei, M.: An examination of temperature gradients and data resolution in the Antarctic Circulation Current at the Drake Passage

Issue 2: I Get Around

• Bova, S.: Ekman transports in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific and their impact on regional primary production
• Chen, A. K.: The effects of seasonality and ENSO cycle on the heat budget and Ekman transport on the waters off the western coast of Peru
• McGill, D.: Upwelling caused by Ekman transport along South America’s Pacific coast and sea surface temperatures
• Parker, C.: The average and seasonal Ekman velocities in the Western South Pacific and the surface heat flux budget over the Coral Sea
• Segura, M.: Analyzing the Ekman transport and the salinity budget over the Labrador Sea
• Thieleman, E.: An analysis of the relationship between surface wind stress and the growth of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in False Bay, South Africa
• Wei, M.: An analysis of the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre

Issue 3: Swimming Upstream

• Bova, S.: Sverdrup Balance and vertical shear within the Kuroshio Current and the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
• Chen, A. K.: Analyzing the meridional flow along the Indian Ocean at the 32°S line, including both the Agulhas Current and the Leeuwin Current
• McGill, D.: Balance of meridional transport in the Atlantic along the 30°N latitudinal transect: Geostrophic and Sverdrup flows
• Parker, C.: Analysing the structure and constraints of the East Australian Current
• Segura, M.: Examining the meridional flow in the western boundary of the North Atlantic gyre
• Thieleman, E.: An Analysis of the Brazil Current across the 20°S latitude line
• Wei, M.: An Analysis and decomposition of the Florida Current

Important Note from the Editor/Instructor: These papers represent the best efforts of the students of GEOL1100 to assimilate and use the information they were learning on the fly. These papers were written under very tight time constraints. Thus, while selected for content that is generally excellent, the reader encouraged to look at these papers as works in progress and disregard typographical or other minor errors. These papers have all been peer-reviewed by the class and revised afterward.