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HISTORY OF OCEANOGRAPHY Mrs. Walker – Aquatic Science THE BEGINNINGS ………

HISTORY OF OCEANOGRAPHY Mrs. Walker – Aquatic Science THE BEGINNINGS ……… The early history of Marine Science is closely associated with voyaging. Voyaging : traveling on the ocean for a specific purpose Early purposes for voyaging : a. to search for food

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HISTORY OF OCEANOGRAPHY Mrs. Walker – Aquatic Science THE BEGINNINGS ………

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  1. HISTORY OF OCEANOGRAPHY Mrs. Walker – Aquatic Science THE BEGINNINGS……… The early history of Marine Science is closely associated with voyaging. Voyaging: traveling on the ocean for a specific purpose Early purposes for voyaging: a. to search for food b. to have better access to both food supplies and resources c. advantage over competitors

  2. Indian Ocean: 1st to be used for trade (best wind conditions for yearly round-trips), but last to be explored in detail 2000 BC – 500 BC: Phoenicians and Greeks were first to form maritime colonies for expansion of trade (Mediterranean Sea) The Greeks noticed the currents in the ocean and believing only rivers had currents, named it Okeanas.

  3. 800BC: Mariners began making notes on location of rocks and other obstacles/dangers to make voyages safer and easier - Early cartographers or chart makers were traders on the Mediterranean - Charts: graphic representations that primarily depict water and water related information - Maps: primarily represent land. 500 BC: Parmenides stated that the world was round 400BC: Pytheas sailed from Greece to Ireland, observing latitude using the North Star and also proposed that tides are caused by the Moon 384 – 322 BC: Aristotle began cataloguing marine organisms

  4. Marine Science: the organized study of the ocean 300 BC: Library of Alexandria in Egypt was founded by Alexander the Great - the first “university” in the world - constituted history’s greatest accumulation of ancient writings - for 600 years, was the greatest repository of wisdom of all kinds - where first progress in applied marine science began

  5. 200 BC: Eratosthenes (librarian for the Library of Alexandria) calculated the circumference of the earth using latitude and longitude lines on a world map using 70 miles per degree (surprisingly quite accurate! 40,000 km (24,850 mi) vs. today’s 40,032 km (24,860 mi)) - Library burned down in 415 AD. 700,000 irreplaceable scrolls were lost

  6. 165-127 BC: Hipparchus divided the Earth into equal longitudinal lines totaling 360 degrees 90BC – 68 AD: Ptolemy calculated the circumference of the Earth using 50 miles per degree (smaller than actually is), and produced the first world atlas, showing the Pacific and Indian Oceans. 127 – 151 AD: Polynesians developed charts which showed the dominant ocean currents relative to key islands

  7. AND THEN……. The Roman Empire fell, trade decreased, and during the Dark Ages, exploration by southern Europe came to a halt. HOWEVER…… Arabs and Asians continued to voyage 450 – 466 AD: Polynesians were very skilled navigators, capable of reading their surroundings to help them navigate open water and find and populate the remote islands of the Pacific (including Hawaii) a. flight track of birds b. position of stars c. direction of wind relative to the sun d. sea life

  8. 900 AD: Vikings (Scandinavian adventurers and treasure seekers) a. used fast, strong, and stable ships that enabled them to row up rivers to pillage villages b. constant attack by Danish and Norwegian Vikings forced Europeans to band together for common defense c. improved defenses by the British, Irish, and French forced Vikings to begin looking west for exploration d. Iceland and Greenland were discovered by Viking ships blown off course during storms e. Iceland colonized 700 AD f. Greenland colonized 995 AD (first Europeans to reach NA)

  9. AFTER THE DARK AGES……. 1405 – 1433: Chinese voyager Zheng He commanded the greatest fleet to explore the Indian Ocean so far: 317 ships and 37,000 men (Reverse Tribute Mission) Goal: to display wealth and power of Ming Dynasty Technology developed and/or used by the fleet: compass, central rudder, water tight compartments 1492: Columbus “discovers” the New World while trying to reach India and Japan

  10. 1519 – 1522: Magellan • first to circumnavigate the globe, proving without a doubt that the earth is round. • Attempted a sounding (weighted line), in the Pacific, but his sounding line wasn’t long enough to reach bottom so he just concluded that this was the deepest part of the ocean

  11. 1760: John Harrison • 1. Developed the chronometer to find longitude for navigation (measuring the distance between the North Star and the horizon gives you latitude)

  12. 1728 – 1780: James Cook • 1. Circumnavigates the globe three separate times, doing what could be considered the first scientific exploration of the ocean. • 2. First explorer to have instruments (marine chronometer) to accurately measure longitude and latitude • 3. On his third voyage he charted broad general outlines of all ocean basins • 4. Discovered taking lime extract on his ships for his crew prevented them from getting SCURVY (vitamin C deficiency due to lack of fresh vegetables at sea)

  13. 1818: Sir John Ross 1. the first successful soundings and mud sampling of the ocean in the North Atlantic

  14. 1831 – 1836: Charles Darwin’s voyage of the Beagle • 1. findings about evolution and other aspects of the natural world stimulated other scientists to explore the ocean further. • Also made many discoveries about: • atolls: ring-shaped coral reef surrounding a lagoon. They may have low sand islands and they rest on submerged volcanic islands. • reefs: shallow rock or coral formations, often exposed at low tide. • fringing reef: forms along the shore • barrier reef: offshore coral ridge

  15. 1859: Darwin wrote On the Origin of the Species (his theories on evolution and natural selection 1855: Matthew Murray Collected information about currents and considered to be the “father of physical Oceanography”

  16. 1872-1876: Voyage of the British ship HMS Challenger a) one of the most ambitious voyages of all time b) covered the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans c) Objective 1: to probe all possible physical, chemical, and biological aspects of the ocean d) Objective 2: to investigate Edinburough professor Edward Forbes contention that life below 1800 ft. was impossible

  17. Results: • Forbes proved wrong • Samples collected from 26,850 feet • 4,717 new species discovered • temperatures, salinity, currents, and wind all recorded and logged • All info gathered was put into the Challenger Report (50 vol. set) • which became the foundation of the new sciences of oceanography • Remains history’s longest continuous oceanography expedition

  18. 1925: German Meteor expedition used sonar (echo sounding) to study the depths found ocean floor is not flat and is quite rugged 1968: Glomar Challenger expedition: did drilling into ocean floor to obtain oceanic crust and upper mantle samples for study 1985:Joides Resolution expedition Continued the drilling activities of the Glomar in waters off many different countries

  19. 1985: Robert Ballard • World’s best-known deep-sea explorer • Developed Alvin and Alvin Jr. at Woods Hole and discovered • hydrothermal vents and giant tube worms off of the Galapagos Islands • 3. Discovered the wreck of the Titantic and developed Jason Jr. • to explore and photograph the interior of the Titanic

  20. 2001: Mir 1, Mir 2, ROV Jake, and ROV Elwood • designed to further explore the Titanic and place a memorial • plaque on the ship

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