ABC's to Oceanography: Exploring the Interconnected World of the Atmosphere and the Ocean

1. ABC’s to Oceanography

2. Atmosphere Buoyancy Currents Density Epipelagic Zone Food Chain Gulf Stream Hydrophones Inertia Jason-1 Knot Lead Line Meteorology Numerical Models Ocean Phytoplankton QuikSCAT Rain Sea Spray Tides Upwelling Vector Wind Stress Waves Heat Flux Oceanography Zooplankton Index of Oceanography Terms

3. A thin blanket of air that protects Earth The atmosphere is crucial to life on Earth Without the atmosphere: Organisms would die within a few minutes There would be no lakes, oceans, sounds, clouds, or red sunsets Earth would experience extremely cold temperatures at night and extremely warm temperatures during the day Did you know? If Earth were the size of a beach ball, the atmosphere would be thinner than a piece of paper Fast Fact: 99% of the atmosphere is contained within 30 kilometers of Earth’s surface Image of the atmosphere taken from a space shuttle Image of the atmosphere taken from space A tmosphere

4. Extension of Atmosphere • The atmosphere and the ocean are closely linked • The entire atmosphere holds as much heat as the top 2.5 meters (8 feet) of the ocean • The entire atmosphere holds as much water as 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) of the ocean • Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) - lowest part of the atmosphere • Wind strength and the heat flux between the air and ocean impact ABL thickness • Cloud patterns within the ABL • Cumulus & stratocumulus at the top of a humid ABL • Fog at the bottom of a stable ABL (little mixing) Fog Stratocumulus Cumulus

5. Did you know? Human bodies cannot sink in the Dead Sea because the water is so dense B uoyancy • A force created by differences in density • When two substances with different densities are mixed in a container, buoyancy causes the: • Less dense substance to rise to the top • More dense substance to sink to the bottom • Where is buoyancy visible in real life? http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea • Hot air balloons rise in the air because the warm air inside the balloon is less dense than the surrounding air • Syrup sinks to the bottom of a glass of water because syrup is more dense than water

6. Continuous, directed movement of large streams of ocean water Two major types of currents: Surface Currents Form when surface winds push the water in the direction of the wind Deep Ocean Currents Huge water masses move and mix in response to changes in water temperature and salinity Why are currents important? Currents influence the climate, ship routes, and the lives of plants and animals living on land and in oceans Fast Fact: Surface currents affect the top 10% of the ocean C urrents Fast Fact: The Gulf Stream is both a surface current and a deep ocean current http://science.hq.nasa.gov/oceans/physical/OSC.html

7. Expected path of water without Coriolis Effect Actual path of water with Coriolis Effect • Extension of Currents • Coriolis Effect - the earth’s rotation causes ocean currents to bend • Northern Hemisphere currents forced to the right • Southern Hemisphere currents forced to the left • Coriolis force is strongest at the Poles and weakest at the equator • The bending angle of currents increases with ocean depth • A deep ocean current may flow in a direction different than the surface current 20

8. A measure of how heavy something is in relation to its size (mass per unit volume) Temperature and salinity affect the density of ocean water What is salinity? A measure of the amount of salt dissolved in water Fast Fact: All the land on earth would be covered with 5 feet of salt, if the ocean’s salt content were dried D ensity • Graph shows density of ocean water based on salinity and temperature • Observations from graph: • An increase in temperature results in a • decrease in density • An increase in salinity results in an • increase in density 16

9. Extension of Density • Ocean density changes throughout • Low density water can be found near the surface • High density water can be found deep in the ocean • Pycnocline – an ocean layer where water density increases rapidly with depth • Changes in the density of surface water: • If the density of the surface water decreases • Its position will remain the same • If the surface water becomes more dense • than the water below • It will sink to a level where there is • water with the same density 18 18

10. Epipelagic Zone Mesopelagic Zone Fast Fact: Light penetrates hundreds of feet in the Caribbean, but only a few inches in the Hudson river E pipelagic Zone • Top layer of the ocean where sunlight is present • Plants take in the sunlight to complete photosynthesis • The epipelagic zone is the only zone where plants are found • What can be found below the epipelagic zone? • The mesopelagic zone, or twilight zone • The dim light found in this zone does not provide enough energy for plants to perform photosynthesis • In the 3 zones that exist beyond this zone there is zero sunlight http://www.rain.org/ocean/

11. Fast Fact: 99% of earth’s living space is contained by the oceans F ood Chain • A sequence of marine organisms that pass nutrients to one another • Sun - main source of energy for marine food chains • Producers take in the Sun’s energy to make their food • Phytoplankton – major producers in the ocean • Consumers eat other organisms since they cannot produce their own food • Does pollution harm the food chain? • Yes • If phytoplankton absorb marine pollutants, the pollutants eventually accumulate to lethal levels in larger animals • What is a food web? • Several intertwined food chains resultant of organisms belonging to more than one food chain 20