November 2, 2009

Currents in the Ocean
Surface Currents
Wind-Driven Currents
Pressure-Driven Currents
North Atlantic Surface Currents
Coriolis & currents
Ekman Spiral
Winds
Drag from the wind on surface water
Wind-dragged & Basin-Edge Currents
Final result: a loop of current, a Gyre
Coriolis “Geostrophic” Response
Ocean Basin Circulation

Major Current Systems
1. North Atlantic gyre
2. South Atlantic gyre
3. North Pacific gyre
4. South Pacific gyre
5. Indian Ocean gyre
6. Antarctic Circumpolar Current

Currents on each edge of a Gyre have names.
Transverse Currents
Antarctic Circumpolar Current
Current flow rate in the Gulf Stream

Lecture Notes: Wind 3, Current. and Current.

1. Lecture 1: Introduction to Ocean Interactions
2. Lecture 2: Earth and the origins of our oceans
3. Lecture 3: The shape of the ocean floor
4. Lecture 4: Shape of the ocean
5. Lecture 5: Earth's morphology, magnetism and dating
6. Lecture 6: Plate Tectonics
7. Lecture 7: Plate Tectonics 4
8. Lecture 8: California tectonics, marine sediments
9. Lecture 9: Marine sediments
10. Lecture 10: Sediments and Seawater
11. Lecture 11: Sediments and Seawater
12. Lecture 12: Seawater
13. Lecture 13: Seawater, pH and Wind
14. Lecture 14: Seawater, pH and Wind
15. Lecture 15: Wind, Currents
16. Lecture 16: Currents and Winds
17. Lecture 17: Currents
18. Lecture 18: Currents and Waves
19. Lecture 19: Breaking waves, tsunami & tides
20. Lecture 20: Tides, Marine Systems, Photosynthesis and Productivity
21. Lecture 21: Photosynthesis, Respiration, Productivity, Habitats & Plankton
22. Lecture 22: Phytoplankton, Diatoms, Dinoflagellates, Coccolithophores, Radiolaria & Ostracods
23. Lecture 23: Ostracods, Copepod, Picoplankton, Migrating Plankton, Multicellular life, Origin of Animals, Nekton
24. Lecture 24: Nekton and Benthos
25. Lecture 25: Marine Resources
26. Lecture 26: Climate Change
27. Lecture 27: Climate Change

In this course, Prof. Edwin Schauble gives 27 video lectures on Introduction to Oceanography. This class provides a general introduction to geological, physical, chemical, and biological processes and history of Earth's global oceanic system.

Prerequisites
•High school science background
– Math: algebra & geometry, graphs
– Metric units
– Geography: maps, Earth's major features, longitude & latitude
– Chemistry: elements, atoms, molecules, chemical equations
– Physics: matter, density, waves, velocity, energy, gravity
– Biology: genus, species, evolution, plants & animals

Original Course Name: Earth & Space Science 15: Introduction to Oceanography.

Note: Some clips and images may have been blurred or removed to avoid copyright infringement.