Oceanography: Difference between revisions

Although [[Juan Ponce de León]] in 1513 first identified the [[Gulf Stream]], and the current was well-known to mariners, [[Benjamin Franklin]] made the first scientific study of it and gave it its name. Franklin measured water temperatures during several Atlantic crossings and correctly explained the Gulf Stream's cause. Franklin and Timothy Folger printed the first map of the Gulf Stream in 1769-1770.<ref name="NOAA_Franklin">[http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/library/readings/gulf/gulf.html 1785: Benjamin Franklin's 'Sundry Maritime Observations'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051218185445/http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/library/readings/gulf/gulf.html |date=2005-12-18 }}</ref><ref>Wilkinson, Jerry. [http://www.keyshistory.org/gulfstream.html History of the Gulf Stream] 1 January 2008</ref>

The seminal event in the founding of the modern science of oceanography was the 1872-76 [[Challenger expedition]]. As the first true oceanographic cruise, this expedition laid the groundwork for an entire academic and research discipline.<ref name="NOAAA">[http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03mountains/background/challenger/challenger.html Then and Now: The HMS Challenger Expedition and the 'Mountains in the Sea' Expedition], Ocean Explorer website (NOAA), accessed 2 January 2012</ref> In response to a recommendation from the [[Royal Society]], [[The British Government]] announced in 1871 an expedition to explore world's oceans and conduct appropriate scientific investigation. [[Charles Wyville Thompson]] and [[John Murray (oceanographer)|Sir John Murray]] launched the Challenger expedition. The Challenger, leased from the [[Royal Navy]], was modified for scientific work and equipped with separate laboratories for [[natural history]] and [[chemistry]].<ref name="Rice">{{cite book|last=Rice|first=A. L.|title=Understanding the Oceans: Marine Science in the Wake of HMS Challenger|publisher=[[Routledge]]|date=1999|pages=27–48|chapter=The Challenger Expedition|isbn=978-1-85728-705-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5agn3NSzEoC&pg=PA27}}</ref> Under the scientific supervision of Thomson, Challenger travelled nearly {{convert|70000|nmi|km}} surveying and exploring. On her journey circumnavigating the globe,<ref name="Rice"/> 492&nbsp;deep sea soundings, 133&nbsp;bottom dredges, 151&nbsp;open water trawls and 263&nbsp;serial water temperature observations were taken.<ref>''Oceanography: an introduction to the marine environment'' (Peter K. Weyl, 1970), p. 49</ref> Around 4,700&nbsp;new species of marine life were discovered. The result was the ''Report Of The Scientific Results of the Exploring Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873-76''. Murray, who supervised the publication, described the report as "the greatest advance in the knowledge of our planet since the celebrated discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries". He went on to found the academic discipline of oceanography at the [[University of Edinburgh]], which remained the centre for oceanographic research well into the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/public/JohnMurray.html|title=Sir John Murray (1841-1914) - Founder Of Modern Oceanography|publisher=Science and Engineering at The University of Edinburgh|accessdate=7 November 2013|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528123837/http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/public/JohnMurray.html|archivedate=28 May 2013|df=}}</ref> Murray was the first to study marine trenches and in particular the [[Mid-Atlantic Ridge]], and map the sedimentary deposits in the oceans. He tried to map out the world's ocean currents based on salinity and temperature observations, and was the first to correctly understand the nature of [[coral reef]] development.

An important element for the [[skeleton]]s of marine animals is [[calcium]], but [[calcium carbonate]] becomes more soluble with pressure, so carbonate shells and [[skeletons]] dissolve below the [[carbonate compensation depth]].<ref name=Pinet>{{cite book|last=Pinet|first=Paul R.|date=1996|title=Invitation to Oceanography|pages=126, 134–135|publisher=[[West Publishing Company]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eAqQvGYap24C&printsec=frontcover|isbn=978-0-314-06339-7}}</ref> Calcium carbonate becomes more soluble at lower pH, so ocean acidification is likely to affect marine organisms with calcareous shells, such as oysters, clams, sea urchins and corals,<ref name=PMEL>{{cite web|url=http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/What+is+Ocean+Acidification%3F|title=What is Ocean Acidification?|publisher=NOAA PMEL Carbon Program|accessdate=15 September 2013}}</ref><ref name=orr05>{{Cite journal|last=Orr|first=James C.|display-authors=etal|date=2005|title=Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms|url=http://www.ipsl.jussieu.fr/~jomce/acidification/paper/Orr_OnlineNature04095.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625100559/http://www.ipsl.jussieu.fr/~jomce/acidification/paper/Orr_OnlineNature04095.pdf|archivedate=25 June 2008|journal=Nature|volume=437|issue=7059|pages=681–686|doi=10.1038/nature04095|pmid=16193043|bibcode=2005Natur.437..681O}}</ref> and the carbonate compensation depth will rise closer to the sea surface. Affected [[plankton]]ic organisms will include [[pteropod]]s, [[coccolithophorid]]s and [[foraminifera]], all important in the [[food chain]]. In tropical regions, [[coral]]s are likely to be severely affected as they become less able to build their calcium carbonate skeletons,<ref name="Cohen2009">{{cite journal|last=Cohen|first=A.|last2=Holcomb|first2=M.|date=2009|title=Why Corals Care About Ocean Acidification: Uncovering the Mechanism|journal=Oceanography|volume=24|pages=118–127|url=http://coralreef.noaa.gov/education/oa/resources/22-4_cohen.pdf|doi=10.5670/oceanog.2009.102|issue=4|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106020339/http://coralreef.noaa.gov/education/oa/resources/22-4_cohen.pdf|archivedate=2013-11-06|df=}}</ref> in turn adversely impacting other [[Coral reef|reef]] dwellers.<ref name=AboutAntarctica>{{cite web|url=http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/environment/climate-change/ocean-acidification-and-the-southern-ocean|title=Ocean acidification|date=28 September 2007|publisher=Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population & Communities: Australian Antarctic Division |accessdate=17 April 2013}}</ref>

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060211015453/http://dapper.pmel.noaa.gov/dchart/ NOAA Ocean and Weather Data Navigator]. Plot and download ocean data.