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Investigating Oceanography 2Ndb Edition Raphael Kudela Full Chapter
Investigating Oceanography 2Ndb Edition Raphael Kudela Full Chapter
INVESTIGATING
OCEANOGRAPHY
Keith A. Sverdrup
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Raphael M. Kudela
University of California, Santa Cruz
INVESTIGATING OCEANOGRAPHY, SECOND EDITION
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 RMN/RMN 1 0 9 8 7 6
ISBN 978–0–07–802293–7
MHID 0–07–802293–2
All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the copyright page.
Sverdrup, Keith A.
Investigating oceanography / Keith A. Sverdrup, University of Wisconsin – 2nd edition
Milwaukee, Raphael M. Kudela, University of California, Santa Cruz.
pages cm
ISBN 978–0–07–802293–7 (alk. paper)
1. Oceanography. I. Kudela, Raphael. II. Title.
GC11.2.S94 2017
551.46—dc23
2015027229
The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion of a website does not indicate
an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-Hill Education, and McGraw-Hill Education does not guarantee the accuracy of the
information presented at these sites.
mheducation.com/highered
Dedicated to
Barbara Sverdrup Stone and
Stephanie Fouse
and
Robert, Eleanor, and Sarah Kudela
About the Authors
P ROLO GU E
C HA P T E R
1
The Water Planet 25
C HAPTER
10
Coasts, Beaches, and Estuaries 267
C HA P T E R
2
Earth Structure and Plate Tectonics 49
C HAPTER
11
The Living Ocean 293
3
C HA P T E R
4
C HA P T E R
C HAPTER
13
5
C HA P T E R
C HAPTER
14
6
C HA P T E R
7
C HA P T E R
The Waves 217
The Oceans and Climate
Disruption 427
vii
Contents
PRE FAC E x i i i
1
2.2 History of a Theory:
CHAP T E R Continental Drift 55
2.3 Evidence for a New Theory: Seafloor
Spreading 57
The Water Planet 25 Evidence for Crustal Motion 60
1.1 Cosmic Beginnings 26 2.4 Plate Tectonics 65
Origin of the Universe 26 Plates and Their Boundaries 66
Origin of Our Solar System 27 Divergent Boundaries 66
Extraterrestrial Oceans 28 Transform Boundaries 68
Diving In: Origin of the Oceans 29 Convergent Boundaries 69
Early Planet Earth 31 Continental Margins 70
1.2 Earth’s Age and Time 31 Diving In: Recovery of Black Smokers 72
Earth’s Age 31 2.5 Motion of the Plates 74
Geologic Time 32 Mechanisms of Motion 74
Natural Time Periods 34 Rates of Motion 75
1.3 Earth’s Shape 35 Hotspots 76
1.4 Where on Earth Are You? 36 2.6 History of the Continents 78
Latitude and Longitude 36 The Breakup of Pangaea 78
Measuring Latitude 37 Before Pangaea 79
Longitude and Time 37 Summary 80
viii
Contents ix
C HA P T E R
3 C HAPTER
5
The Sea Floor and Its The Chemistry of
Sediments 83 Seawater 133
3.1 Measuring the Depths 84 5.1 Salts 134
3.2 Seafloor Provinces 86 Dissolving Ability of Water 134
Continental Margins and Units of Concentration 134
Submarine Canyons 86 Ocean Salinities 135
Abyssal Plains 90 Dissolved Salts 136
Ridges, Rises, and Trenches 91 Sources of Salt 136
Diving In: Exploring the Mariana Trench 92 Regulating the Salt Balance 137
Residence Time 139
3.3 Sediments 93
Constant Proportions 140
Why Study Sediments? 93
Determining Salinity 140
Classification Methods 94
Particle Size 94 5.2 Gases 141
Location and Rates of Deposition 95 Distribution with Depth 141
Source and Chemistry 96 The Carbon Dioxide Cycle 142
Patterns of Deposit on the Sea Floor 101 The Oxygen Balance 142
Formation of Rock 103 Measuring the Gases 142
Sampling Methods 103 5.3 Carbon Dioxide and the Ocean 143
Sediments as Historical Records 104 The pH of Seawater 143
The Marine Carbonate System and Buffering pH 144
3.4 Seabed Resources 107
Sand and Gravel 107 Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide and Ocean Acidification 145
Phosphorite 107 5.4 Nutrients and Organics 146
Oil and Gas 107 Nutrients 146
Gas Hydrates 108 Organics 147
Manganese Nodules 109 5.5 Practical Considerations: Salt and Water 147
Sulfide Mineral Deposits 109 Chemical Resources 147
Summary 110 Desalination 148
Summary 150
C HA P T E R
4 C HAPTER
6
The Physical Properties The Atmosphere and the
of Water 113 Oceans 153
4.1 The Water Molecule 114 6.1 H
eating and Cooling Earth’s
4.2 Temperature and Heat 114 Surface 154
4.3 Changes of State 117 Distribution of Solar
Radiation 154
4.4 Specific Heat 118
Heat Budget 154
4.5 Cohesion, Surface Tension, and
Annual Cycles of Solar Radiation 156
Viscosity 119 Specific Heat and Heat Capacity 157
4.6 Density 119
The Effect of Pressure 120
Diving In: Oceanography of Tidewater Glacier Margins:
The Effect of Temperature 120 Undergraduate Research on Svalbard 159
The Effect of Salt 121 6.2 Sea Ice and Icebergs 161
4.7 Transmission of Energy 122 Sea Ice 161
Heat 122 Icebergs 161
Light 123 6.3 Structure and Composition of the Atmosphere 162
Sound 126 Structure of the Atmosphere 162
Diving In: Acoustic Thermometry of Composition of Air 163
Carbon Dioxide and the Greenhouse Effect 163
Ocean Climate 129
Ozone 164
Summary 130
Diving In: Clouds and Climate 165
Confirming Pages
x Contents
6.4 The Atmosphere in Motion 167 7.11 Measuring the Currents 210
Atmospheric Pressure 167 Diving In: Ocean Drifters 211
Winds on a Nonrotating Earth 168
Summary 214
The Effects of Rotation 168
Wind Bands 169
6.5 Modifying the Wind Bands 171
Seasonal Changes 171 Oceanography
The Monsoon Effect 172
The Topographic Effect 173
from
SPACE OS-1
8
6.6 Hurricanes and Coastal Flooding 175
Hurricanes 175
C HAPTER
Coastal Flooding 175
6.7 El Niño–Southern Oscillation 179
Summary 182 The Waves 217
8.1 How a Wave Begins 218
C HAPT E R
7 Forces Influencing Waves 218
Two Types of Wind-Generated
Waves 219
Ocean Structure and 8.2 Anatomy of a Wave 220
8.3 Wave Speed 220
Circulation 185 8.4 Deep-Water Waves in
7.1 Ocean Structure 186 Detail 221
Variation of Temperature with Deep-Water Wave Motion 221
Depth 186 Deep-Water Wave Speed 222
Variation of Salinity with Storm Centers 222
Depth 187 Dispersion 222
Variation of Density with Depth 188 Group Speed 223
7.2 Thermohaline Circulation and Water Wave Interaction 223
Masses 190 Wave Height 224
Thermohaline Circulation 190 Episodic Waves 225
Water Masses 191 Wave Energy 226
7.3 The Layered Oceans 193 Wave Steepness 227
The Atlantic Ocean 193 Universal Sea State Code 227
The Pacific Ocean 194 8.5 Shallow-Water Waves in Detail 227
The Indian Ocean 194 Shallow-Water Wave Motion 227
The Arctic Ocean 194 Shallow-Water Wave Speed 228
Internal Mixing 195 Refraction 229
7.4 What Drives the Surface Reflection 230
Currents? 195 Diffraction 230
The Ekman Spiral and Ekman Transport 196 8.6 The Surf Zone 231
Ocean Gyres 196 Breakers 231
Geostrophic Flow 196 Water Transport and Rip Currents 232
7.5 Ocean Surface Currents 197 Energy Release 233
Pacific Ocean Currents 197 8.7 Tsunami 234
Atlantic Ocean Currents 198 Diving In: The March 11, 2011 Japanese Tsunami 236
Indian Ocean Currents 198
8.8 Internal Waves 238
Arctic Ocean Currents 198
Antarctic Currents 200
8.9 Standing Waves 241
The Indonesian Throughflow 200 8.10 Practical Considerations:
Energy from Waves 243
7.6 Current Characteristics 201
Current Speed 201 Summary 245
Current Volume Transport 201
Western Intensification 201
7.7 Eddies 203
7.8 Convergence and Divergence 204
C HAPTER
9
Langmuir Cells 204 The Tides 247
Permanent Zones 205
9.1 Tide Patterns 248
Seasonal Zones 206
9.2 Tide Levels 248
7.9 The Great Ocean Conveyor Belt 208
9.3 Tidal Currents 249
7.10 Changing Circulation Patterns 208
North Pacific Oscillations 208 9.4 Modeling the Tides 250
The Earth-Moon System 250
North Atlantic Oscillations 209
Contents xi
12
9.6 Tidal Bores 258
9.7 Predicting Tides and Tidal Currents 259 C HAPTER
Tide Tables 259
Diving In: Measuring Tides from Space 260
Tidal Current Tables 261
The Plankton,
9.8 Practical Considerations: Energy from Productivity, and Food
Tides 262 Webs 313
Summary 264
12.1 The Marine
10
Photoautotrophs 314
C HA P T E R 12.2 The Plankton 314
12.3 Phytoplankton 315
Harmful Algal Blooms 319
Coasts, Beaches, and 12.4 Zooplankton 321
Estuaries 267 12.5 Bacterioplankton and Viruses 325
10.1 Major Coastal Zones 268 12.6 Primary Production 328
10.2 Types of Coasts 268 Diving In: Extremophiles 329
Primary Coasts 271 12.7 Measuring Primary Productivity 331
Secondary Coasts 272 12.8 Phytoplankton Biomass 333
10.3 Anatomy of a Beach 274 12.9 Controls on Productivity and Biomass 334
10.4 Beach Dynamics 276 12.10 Food Webs and the Biological Pump 336
Natural Processes 276 Food Webs 336
Coastal Circulation 277 Biological Pump 338
Diving In: Beach Dynamics: Tracking the Marine Bacteria and Nutrients 339
Movement of Beach Sediment 279 12.11 Global Patterns of Productivity 340
10.5 Beach Types 281 Summary 342
10.6 Modifying Beaches 282
Coastal Structures 282
The Santa Barbara Story 283
The History of Ediz Hook 284
C HAPTER
13
10.7 Estuaries 285 The Nekton: Swimmers
Types of Estuaries 286
Circulation Patterns 287 of the Sea 345
Temperate-Zone Estuaries 288 13.1 The Nekton Defined 346
10.8 Regions of High Evaporation 288 13.2 Swimming Marine
10.9 Flushing Time 289 Invertebrates 347
Summary 290 13.3 Marine Reptiles 348
Sea Snakes 349
C HA P T E R
11 Sea Turtles 349
13.4 Marine Birds 349
13.5 Fish 351
The Living Ocean 293 Jawless Fish 353
Sharks and Rays 353
11.1 Evolution in the Marine Bony Fish 354
Environment 294 Deep-Sea Species of Bony Fish 355
11.2 The Flow of Energy 295 13.6 Marine Mammals 357
11.3 The Importance of Size 296 Sea Otters 359
11.4 Groups of Organisms 298 Walrus 359
11.5 Facts of Life in the Ocean 299 Polar Bears 359
Light 299 Seals and Sea Lions 360
CHAPT E R
14 Indirect Impacts 421
Fish Farming 422
Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management 423
The Benthos: Living on 15.9 Afterthoughts 423
the Sea Floor 373 Summary 424
16
14.1 The Benthic Environment 374
14.2 Seaweeds and Marine C HAPTER
Plants 374
General Characteristics of Benthic
Algae 374 The Oceans and Climate
Kinds of Seaweeds 378 Disruption 427
Marine Plant Communities 378
16.1 Earth as a Whole: The Oceans
14.3 Animals of the Rocky Shore 379
Tide Pools 382 and Climate 428
Submerged Rocky Bottoms 383 16.2 Earth’s Climate: Always
14.4 Animals of the Soft Substrates 385 Changing 429
Earth’s Past Climate 430
14.5 Animals of the Deep-Sea Floor 388 Earth’s Present Climate 430
14.6 Coral Reefs 390 Earth’s Future Climate 433
Tropical Corals 390
16.3 The Oceans in a Warmer World 435
Tropical Coral Reefs 391
Ocean Acidification 435
Coral Bleaching 392
Rising Sea Level 435
Predation and Disease 393
Winds, Waves, and Storms 436
Human Activities 393
Deep-Water Corals 393 Diving In: Arctic Sea Ice Loss, Mid-Latitude Extreme Weather,
and Superstorm Sandy 437
Diving In: Undersea Ultraviolet Radiation 394
Thermohaline Circulation 439
14.7 Deep-Ocean Chemosynthetic Communities 394 Biological Responses 440
Hot Vents 394
Cold Seeps 396
16.4 Mitigation Strategies 440
Ocean Energy 440
14.8 Symbiosis 396
Diving In: Extracting Energy Resources from the Oceans 442
Summary 398
Carbon Sequestration 444
15
The International Response 446
CHAPT E R Summary 446
xiii
xiv Preface
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3
O
ceanography is a broad field in which many During the Paleolithic period, humans developed the barbed spear,
sciences are focused on the common goal of or harpoon, and the gorge. The gorge was a double-pointed stick
understanding the oceans. Geology, geography, inserted into a bait and attached to a string. At the beginning of the
Neolithic period, the bone fishhook was developed and later the
geophysics, physics, chemistry, geochemistry, mathematics,
net. By 5000 B.C., copper fishhooks were in use.
meteorology, botany, and zoology have all played roles in The remains of shells and other refuse, in piles known as
expanding our knowledge of the oceans. Oceanography is kitchen middens, have been found at the sites of ancient shore
often broken down into a number of subdisciplines. settlements. These remains show that our early ancestors gath-
Geological oceanography includes the study of Earth ered shellfish, and fish bones found in some middens suggest
at the sea’s edge and below its surface, and the history that they also used rafts or some type of boat for offshore fishing.
The artifacts that have been found probably give us only an idea
of the processes that form the ocean basins. Physical
of the minimum extent of ancient shore settlements. Drawings on
oceanography investigates the causes and characteristics ancient temple walls show fishnets; on the tomb of the Egyptian
of water movements such as waves, currents, and tides and Pharaoh Ti, Fifth Dynasty (5000 years ago), is a drawing of the
how they affect the marine environment. It also includes poisonous pufferfish with a hieroglyphic description and warn-
studies of the transmission of energy such as sound, light, ing. As long ago as 1200 B.C. or earlier, dried fish were traded
and heat in seawater. Marine meteorology (the study of in the Persian Gulf; in the Mediterranean, the ancient Greeks
caught, preserved, and traded fish, while the Phoenicians founded
heat transfer, water cycles, and air-sea interactions) is
fishing settlements, such as “the fisher’s town” Sidon, that grew
often included in the discipline of physical oceanography. into important trading ports.
Chemical oceanography studies the composition and history Early information about the oceans was mainly collected
of the water, its processes, and its interactions. Biological by explorers and traders. These voyages left little in the way of
oceanography concerns marine organisms and the recorded information. Using descriptions passed down from one
relationship between these organisms and the environment voyager to another, early sailors piloted their way from one land-
mark to another, sailing close to shore and often bringing their
in the oceans. Ocean engineering is the discipline that
boats up onto the beach each night.
designs and plans equipment and installations for use at sea. Some historians believe that seagoing ships of all kinds are
The study of the oceans was promoted by intellectual derived from early Egyptian vessels. The first recorded voyage by
and social forces as well as by our needs for marine sea was led by Pharaoh Snefru about 3200 B.C. In 2750 B.C., Hannu
resources, trade and commerce, and national security. led the earliest documented exploring expedition from Egypt to
Oceanography started slowly and informally; it began to the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea.
The Phoenicians, who lived in present-day Lebanon from
develop as a modern science in the mid-1800s and has
about 1200 to 146 B.C., were well-known as excellent sailors
grown dramatically, even explosively, in the last few and navigators. While their land was fertile it was also densely
decades. Our progress toward the goal of understanding populated, so they were compelled to engage in trade to acquire
the oceans has been uneven and progress has frequently many of the goods they needed. They accomplished this by estab-
changed direction. The interests and needs of nations as lishing land routes to the east and marine routes to the west.
well as the scholarly curiosity of scientists have controlled The Phoenicians were the only nation in the region at that time
that had a navy. They traded throughout the Mediterranean Sea
the ways we study the oceans, the methods we use to study
with the inhabitants of North Africa, Italy, Greece, France,
them, and the priority we give to certain areas of study. To and Spain. They also ventured out of the Mediterranean Sea to
gain perspective on the current state of knowledge about travel north along the coast of Europe to the British Isles and
the oceans, we need to know something about the events south to circumnavigate Africa in about 590 B.C.
and incentives that guided people’s previous investigations Evidence from anthropology and archaeology suggests that
of the oceans. the people who first explored and populated the Pacific and
Indian Ocean Basins migrated from Asia to the island of Taiwan
and then to the main island of Luzon in the north Philippines
sometime between 4500–2500 B.C. (fig. P.1a). These people
are known as the Austronesians. Over the next 1000 years they
moved progressively south through the rest of the Philippines
P.1 The Early Times and the nearby islands of the Celebes Sea, Borneo, and Indone-
People have been gathering information about the oceans for sia. This was relatively easy because of the comparatively short
millennia, accumulating bits and pieces of knowledge and passing distances between islands in the far southwestern Pacific region.
it on by word of mouth. Curious individuals must have acquired The Austronesians would travel west into the Indian Ocean basin
their first ideas of the oceans from wandering the seashore, wad- and east further into the Pacific Ocean basin. Those who traveled
ing in the shallows, and gathering food from the ocean’s edges. west reached present day Sulawesi, Java, and Sumatra around
4
P.1 The Early Times 5
Taiwan
15
00
B.
C.
3000 200
0–15
A.D. 40
B.C. 00 B
Sumatra .C.
0
3000 B.C. 2500 B.C.
Java
0–1100
A.D. 40 Marquis Is.
.
Samoa 150 B.C
Madagascar
Fiji
1000 B.C. Society Is.
1300 B.C.
0 A.D. 300
Tonga . 95
A.D A.D
. 10
8 0 00 Pitcairn I.
. 12
Kermadec A.D Easter I.
Is.
Neuseeland
(a)
Parallel rays
from Sun
Shadow of pole
1/50 circle ~7°
Vertical pole
at Alexandria
(491 mi)
785 km
Center
of Earth
Figure P.4 Eratosthenes used geometry to calculate Earth’s circumference. By careful measurement, he was able to estimate Earth’s
circumference to within about 1% of today’s value. (The diagram is not drawn to scale.)
ocean depth of about 1800 m (6000 ft) near the island of Sar- piracy) were highly accomplished seamen who engaged in exten-
dinia, according to the Greek geographer Strabo (c. 63 B.C.– sive exploration, trade, and colonization for nearly three centuries
A.D. 21). Pliny the E
lder (c. A.D. 23–79) related the phases of the from about 793 to 1066 (fig. P.5). During this time, they journeyed
Moon to the tides and reported on the currents moving through inland on rivers through Europe and western Asia, traveling as
the Strait of Gibraltar. Claudius Ptolemy (c. A.D. ~85–161) pro- far as the Black and Caspian Seas. The Vikings are probably best
duced the first world atlas and established world boundaries: to known for their voyages across the North Atlantic Ocean. They
the north, the British Isles, Northern Europe, and the unknown sailed to Iceland in 871 where as many as 12,000 immigrants even-
lands of Asia; to the south, an unknown land, “Terra Australis tually settled. Erik Thorvaldsson (known as Erik the Red) sailed
Incognita,” including Ethiopia, Libya, and the Indian Sea; to the west from Iceland in 982 and discovered Greenland. He lived there
east, China; and to the west, the great Western Ocean reaching for three years before returning to Iceland to recruit more settlers.
around Earth to China. His atlas listed more than 8000 places Icelander Bjarni Herjolfsson, on his way to Greenland to join the
by latitude and longitude, but his work contained a major flaw. colonists in 985–86, was blown off course, sailed south of Green-
He had accepted a value of 29,000 km (18,000 mi) for Earth’s land, and is believed to have come within sight of Newfoundland
circumference. This value was much too small and led Columbus, before turning back and reaching Greenland. Leif Eriksson, son
more than 1000 years later, to believe that he had reached the of Erik the Red, sailed west from Greenland in 1002 and reached
eastern shore of Asia when he landed in the Americas. North America roughly 500 years before Columbus.
To the south, in the region of the Mediterranean after the
QUICK REVIEW fall of the Roman Empire, Arab scholars preserved Greek and
Roman knowledge and continued to build on it. The Arabic
1. Name the subfields of oceanography. writer El-Mas’údé (d. 956) gives the first description of the
2. What did early sailors use for guidance during long reversal of the currents due to the seasonal monsoon winds.
ocean voyages? Using this knowledge of winds and currents, Arab sailors estab-
3. What kind of “compass” did the Polynesians use for lished regular trade routes across the Indian Ocean. In the 1100s,
navigation? large Chinese junks with crews of 200 to 300 sailed the same
4. How long ago was Earth’s circumference first calculated routes (between China and the Persian Gulf) as the Arab dhows.
and how was it done? During the Middle Ages, knowledge of navigation increased.
5. How did Ptolemy’s atlas contribute to a greater Harbor-finding charts, or portolanos, appeared. These charts
understanding of world geography, and how did it carried a distance scale and noted hazards to navigation, but they
produce confusion? did not have latitude or longitude. With the introduction of the
magnetic compass to Europe from Asia in the thirteenth century,
compass directions were added.
P.2 The Middle Ages Although tides were not understood, the Venerable Bede
After Ptolemy, intellectual activity and scientific thought declined (673–735) illustrated his account of the tides with data from the
in Europe for about 1000 years. However, shipbuilding improved British coast. His calculations were followed in the tidal observa-
during this period; vessels became more seaworthy and easier to tions collected by the British Abbot Wallingford of Saint Alban’s
sail, so sailors could make longer voyages. The Vikings (Norse for Monastery in about 1200. His tide table, titled “Flod at London
8 Prologue The History of Oceanography
Viking Routes
Earliest Leif Eriksson
Erik the Red Ingvar
c. 1000
c. 860
85
c.
8
c. 9
00 60°N
c.a. 1 0 4
c. 800
9
3
c. 7
1
40°N
20°N
Figure P.5 Major routes of the Vikings to the British Isles, to Asia, and across the Atlantic to Iceland, Greenland, and North America.
QUICK REVIEW
1. What advances occurred during the Middle Ages that
allowed longer ocean voyages? 134 101 67 34 Meters 0
2. During the tenth century, which oceans were explored (a)
and by which cultures?
3. Where did the Vikings establish a large colony in the
North Atlantic?
From 1405 to 1433, the great Chinese admiral Zheng He con- Ceylon
ducted seven epic voyages in the western Pacific Ocean and across Africa
the Indian Ocean as far as Africa. Zheng He’s fleet consisted of Zheng He’s
route
over 300 ships. The fleet is believed to have included as many
Java
as sixty-two “treasure ships” thought to have been as much as Sumatra
130 m (426 ft) long and 52 m (170 ft) wide; this was ten times the
size of the ships used for the European voyages of discovery dur- Sofala
ing this period of time (fig. P.6). The purpose of these v oyages
remains a matter of debate among scholars. Suggested reasons
include the establishment of trade routes, diplomacy with other
(b)
governments, and military defense. The voyages ended in 1433,
when their explorations led the Chinese to believe that other soci- Figure P.6 (a) Admiral Zheng He’s “treasure ships” were over
eties had little to offer, and the government of China withdrew 130 m long. In comparison, Christopher Columbus’s flagship,
within its borders, beginning 400 years of isolation. the Santa Maria, is estimated to have been about 18 m long.
(b) Zheng He’s probable route from China along the coast of the
In Europe, the desire for riches from new lands persuaded
Indian Ocean to Africa.
wealthy individuals, often representing their countries, to under-
write the costs of long voyages to all the oceans of the world. The
P.3 Voyages of Discovery 9
–3 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
SST (°C)
Many marine scientists consider Maury’s book the first textbook Seas. He collected organisms in deep water and, on the basis of
of what we now call oceanography and consider Maury the first his observations, proposed a system of ocean depth zones, each
true oceanographer. Again, national and commercial interests characterized by specific animal populations. However, he also
were the driving forces behind the study of the oceans. mistakenly theorized that there was an azoic, or lifeless, envi-
ronment below 550 m (1800 ft). His announcement is curious,
QUICK REVIEW because twenty years earlier, the Arctic explorer Sir John Ross
(1777–1856), looking again for the Northwest Passage, had taken
1. Why was John Harrison’s clock important to open ocean
navigation? bottom samples at over 1800 m (6000 ft) depth in Baffin Bay
with a “deep-sea clamm,” or bottom grab, and had found worms
2. What did Captain James Cook’s voyages contribute to
and other animals living in the mud. Ross’s nephew, Sir James
the science of oceanography?
Clark Ross (1800–62), took even deeper samples from Antarctic
3. Why was Benjamin Franklin interested in the Gulf Stream?
waters and noted their similarity to the Arctic species recovered
4. Who was Matthew F. Maury, and what was his by his uncle. Still, Forbes’s systematic attempt to make orderly
contribution to ocean science? predictions about the oceans, his enthusiasm, and his influence
make him another candidate as a founder of oceanography.
Christian Ehrenberg (1795–1876), a German naturalist,
P.5 Ocean Science Begins found the skeletons of minute organisms in seafloor sediments
As charts became more accurate and as information about the and recognized that the same organisms were alive at the sea sur-
oceans increased, the oceans captured the interest of naturalists face; he concluded that the sea was filled with microscopic life
and biologists. Baron Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) and that the skeletal remains of these tiny organisms were still
made observations on a five-year (1799–1804) cruise to South being added to the sea floor. Investigation of the minute drift-
America; he was particularly fascinated with the vast numbers ing plants and animals of the ocean was not seriously undertaken
of animals inhabiting the current flowing northward along the until German scientist Johannes Müller (1801–58) began his
western coast of South America, the current that now bears his work in 1846. He used an improved fine-mesh tow net similar to
name. Charles Darwin (1809–82) joined the survey ship Beagle that used by Charles Darwin to collect these organisms, which he
and served as the ship’s naturalist from 1831–36 (fig. P.13). He examined microscopically. This work was continued by Victor
described, collected, and classified organisms from the land and Hensen (1835–1924), who improved the Müller net, introduced
sea. His theory of atoll formation is still the accepted explanation. the quantitative study of these minute drifting sea organisms, and
At approximately the same time, another English naturalist, gave them the name plankton in 1887.
Edward Forbes (1815–54), began a systematic survey of marine Although science blossomed in the seventeenth and eigh-
life around the British Isles and in the Mediterranean and Aegean teenth centuries, there was little scientific interest in the sea
60°N
40°N
20°N
0°
20°S
40°S
60°S
150°E 180° 150°W 120°W 90°W 60°W 30°W 0° 30°E 60°E 90°E 120 °E
Figure P.13 The voyage of Charles Darwin and the survey ship HMS Beagle, 1831–36.
P.6 Early Expeditions of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 13
The Voyage of the Fram his ideas about the direction of ice drift in the Arctic by freez-
ing a vessel into the polar ice pack and drifting with it to reach
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, ocean- the North Pole. To do so, he had to design a special vessel that
ography was changing from a descriptive science to a quanti- would be able to survive the great pressure from the ice; the 39 m
tative one. Oceanographic cruises now had the goal of testing (128 ft) wooden Fram (“to push forward”), shown in figure P.16,
hypotheses by gathering data. Theoretical models of ocean cir- was built with a smoothly rounded hull and planking over 60 cm
culation and water movement were developed. The Scandinavian (2 ft) thick.
oceanographers were particularly active in the study of water Nansen departed with thirteen men from Oslo in June
movement. One of them, Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930), a well- 1893. The ship was frozen into the ice nearly 1100 km (700 mi)
known athlete, explorer, and zoologist, was interested in the cur- from the North Pole and remained in the ice for thirty-five
rents of the polar seas. This extraordinary man decided to test months. During this period, measurements were made through
14
chemistry of ocean water constant? What was the green mud that
Ross had brought up from the depths of the Antarctic Ocean? What
was its extent on the ocean floor? And, of course, the Royal Navy
wanted to know—where did the oceanic currents flow? Where should
ships navigate to avoid hitting reefs or underwater volcanoes?
To keep the British public informed about the progress of the
three-year-long adventure into this new scientific realm, ships return-
ing to England from ports along the way toted samples, specimens,
and reports back to the motherland. As soon as the communiqués
reached London, well-established scientist and author Thomas Hux-
ley spread the facts about the new finds and their possible interpreta-
tions like a television news reporter, through newspaper essays and
lectures. Recognizing just one of the long-lasting impacts of the voy-
age’s data, in 1875, a year before the ship returned to port, Huxley
analyzed the seafloor sediments. He wrote:
holes in the ice that showed that the Arctic Ocean was a deep- on the ice, living on seals and walrus. They were found by a
ocean basin and not the shallow sea that had been expected. British polar expedition in June 1896 and returned to Norway
Water and air temperatures were recorded, water chemistry in August of that year. The crew of the Fram continued to drift
was analyzed, and the great plankton blooms of the area were with the ship until they freed the vessel from the ice in 1896
observed. Nansen becameimpatient with the slow rate of drift and returned home. Nansen’s expedition had laid the basis for
and, with F. H. Johansen, left the Fram locked in the ice some future Arctic work.
500 km (300 mi) from the pole. They set off with dogsleds After the expedition’s findings were published, Nansen
toward the pole, but after four and a half weeks, they were still continued to be active in oceanography, and his name is famil-
more than 300 km (200 mi) from the pole, with provisions run- iar today from the Nansen bottle, which he designed to collect
ning low and the condition of their dogs deteriorating. The two water samples from deep water. In 1905, he turned to a career
men turned away from the pole and spent the winter of 1895–96 as a statesman, working for the peaceful separation of Norway
15
16 Prologue The History of Oceanography
60°N
40°N
20°N
0°
20°S
40°S
60°S
150°E 180° 150°W 120°W 90°W 60°W 30°W 0° 30°E 60°E 90°E 120 °E
Figure P.15 The cruise of the Challenger, the first major oceanography research effort.
Figure P.16 (a) Fridtjof Nansen, from Sweden. After World War I, he worked with the League
Norwegian scientist, explorer, of Nations to resettle refugees, for which he received the 1922
and statesman (1861–1930), Nobel Peace Prize.
using a sextant to determine
his ship’s position. (b) The Fram
frozen in ice. As the ice pressure
increased, it lifted its specially
The Meteor Expedition
designed and strengthened hull The reliable and accurate measurement of ocean depths had
so that the ship would not be to wait until the development of the echo sounder, which was
crushed. given its first scientific use on the 1925–27 German cruise of
the Meteor. The Meteor expedition zigzagged between Africa
and South America, exploring the region from 20°N to 60°S.
(a) Measurements of water temperature, atmospheric observations,
water sampling, and studies of marine life were all conducted.
However, the expedition is best known for its first use of the echo
sounder. Over 67,000 depth soundings were made, demonstrat-
ing that the South Atlantic sea floor was not featureless, as pre-
viously thought. Instead, the depth soundings showed that the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge was a continuous feature in the South Atlan-
tic and continued into the Indian Ocean.
QUICK REVIEW
1. Discuss the significance of the Challenger expedition
and the Challenger reports.
2. What did Nansen discover about the depth of the
Arctic Ocean?
3. How was the Meteor expedition different from the
Challenger expedition?
4. What is the Meteor expedition best known for?
(b)
P.7 Ocean Science in Modern Times 17
(a) (b)
Figure P.17 (a) The Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. Established in 1903 by William Ritter, a zoologist at the
University of California–Berkeley, with financial support from E. W. Scripps and his daughter Ellen Browning Scripps. The first permanent
building was erected in 1910. (b) Aerial view of three research vessels at the Iselin dock at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Confirming Pages
Lakes states. The Sea Grant College Program encourages coop- chemical tracers to model circulation in the ocean and obtain data
eration in marine science and education among government, aca- to help predict the response of seawater circulation to long-term
demia, and industry. changes in atmospheric circulation. Ridge Interdisciplinary
The International Decade of Ocean Exploration (IDOE) Global Experiments and its successor Ridge 2000 (RIDGE/
in the 1970s was a multinational effort to survey seabed min- R2K) was a roughly twenty-year program that started in 1989.
eral resources, improve environmental forecasting, investigate It supported research into the physical, chemical, and biologi-
coastal ecosystems, and modernize and standardize the collec- cal processes that occur at the global mid-ocean ridge system.
tion, analysis, and use of marine data. This research was driven by the discovery of hydrothermal vents
At the end of the 1970s, oceanography faced a reduction in on mid-ocean ridges in 1977 and the discovery of black-smoker
funding for ships and basic research, but the discovery of deep- vents in 1979.
sea hot-water vents and their associated animal life and mineral In 1991, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commis-
deposits renewed excitement over deep-sea biology, chemistry, sion (IOC) recommended the development of a Global Ocean
geology, and ocean exploration in general. Instrumentation con- Observing System (GOOS) to include satellites, buoy networks,
tinued to become more sophisticated and expensive as deep-sea and research vessels. The goal of this program is to enhance
mooring, deep-diving submersibles, and the remote sensing of our understanding of ocean phenomena so that events such as
the ocean by satellite became possible. Increased cooperation El Niño (see chapter 6) and its impact on climate can be pre-
among institutions led to the integration of research at sea among dicted more accurately and with greater lead time. The successful
subdisciplines and resulted in large-scale, multifaceted research prediction of the 1997–98 El Niño six months in advance made
programs. This model for coordinated, interdisciplinary study of planning possible prior to its arrival.
the oceans continues to dominate oceanographic research today. An integral part of the GOOS is an international proj-
There are many additional examples of large-scale research ect called Argo, named after the mythical vessel used by the
efforts. The Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) project col- ancient Greek seagoing hero Jason. Argo consists of an array
lects real-time data from a massive array of nearly seventy of 3000 independent instruments, or floats, throughout the
moored buoys stretching across the tropical Pacific Ocean basin. oceans (fig. P.19a,b). Each float is programmed to descend to
These buoys support instruments that measure near-surface a depth of up to 2000 m (6560 ft, or about 1.25 mi), where it
atmospheric conditions and subsurface water temperature at ten remains for ten to fourteen days (fig. P.19c). It then ascends
depths in the upper 500 m (1640 ft). The first TAO buoys were to the surface, measuring temperature and salinity as it rises.
deployed in 1984 and the array was finished in 1994. The mission When it reaches the surface, it relays the data to shore via sat-
of the TAO project is to monitor tropical conditions in the Pacific ellite and then descends once again and waits for its next cycle.
in order to better predict the occurrence of El Niño (see chap- The floats drift with the currents as they collect and transmit
ter 6). The Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC) data. In this fashion, the entire array will provide detailed tem-
project measured the travel time of sound waves over distances perature and salinity data of the upper 2000 m of the oceans
of the order of 5000 km (3100 mi). Because sound speed is a every ten to fourteen days. Argo floats have a life expectancy
function of water temperature, the travel time is a measure of the of four years. Roughly one-quarter of the floats will have to be
temperature of the water along the transmission path. Changes replaced each year.
in heat content of the northeast Pacific (an important climate The United Nations designated 1998 as the Year of the Ocean.
parameter) were monitored by acoustic transmission from Goals included: (1) a comprehensive review of national ocean
sources off California and Hawaii to eleven receivers in the east- policies and programs to ensure coordinated advancements
ern Pacific over a ten-year period from 1996 to 2006. This proj- leading to beneficial results and (2) raising public awareness
ect proved to be very successful in measuring sound travel times of the significance of the oceans in human life and the impact
with great accuracy, resulting in detailed models of temperature. that human life has on the oceans. Also in 1998, the National
The project was also plagued by concerns from the public about Research Council’s Ocean Studies Board released a report
the possible adverse effects of the sound transmissions on marine highlighting three areas that are likely to be the focus of future
mammals. Detailed studies of the potential effects ultimately research: (1) improving the health and productivity of the coastal
concluded that the ATOC transmissions had “no significant oceans, (2) sustaining ocean ecosystems for the future, and
biological impact.” The U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (3) predicting ocean-related climate variations.
(JGOFS) is one of the largest and most complex ocean bio- One of the largest and most ambitious research and edu-
geochemical research programs ever organized. Begun in 1988, cation programs under development is the National Science
the JGOFS program resulted in over 3000 ship days (more than Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The OOI
eight years) of research and 343,000 nautical miles of ship travel is designed to provide up to thirty years of continuous ocean
(almost sixteen times around the globe) before ending in 2003. measurements to study such fundamental scientific problems as
The goal of JGOFS research efforts was to measure and under- climate variability, ocean circulation, ecosystem dynamics, air-
stand on a global scale the processes controlling the cycling of sea interaction, seafloor processes, and plate tectonics. The OOI
carbon and other biologically active elements among the ocean, will consist of a network of instruments, undersea cables, and
atmosphere, and land. The World Ocean C irculation Experi- instrumented moorings located in multiple regions of the West-
ment (WOCE) ran from 1990–2002. The WOCE involved using ern Hemisphere. The OOI will be one, fully integrated system
20 Prologue The History of Oceanography
Temperature-salinity probe
Argo deployed
by ship or aircraft. Up to 12 hours at surface
to transmit data to satellite
Circuit boards and Satellite sends data to weather
satellite transmitter and climate forecasting centers
around the world.
Stability disk
(b) (c)
Diving “FLIP,” the Floating
in Instrument Platform
BY GWYNNE RIFE
to turn the vessel into a buoy that can remain stable and float freely
at sea for up to 35 days. It offers a unique resource for obtaining data
Dr. Gwynne Rife is a science
and provides a stable platform for researchers to work from. To switch
educator and aquatic scientist at The
to the vertical position, FLIP is towed to a research site where ballast
University of Findlay. Her interests
tanks are flooded with 1500 tons of seawater to “flip” it while scien-
include invertebrate behavior
tists and crew literally “walk up the walls” to stay upright (box fig. 2).
and bioacoustics of the marine
environment.
Box Figure 2b FLIP in the stable vertical position, ready for a variety
Box Figure 1 Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Floating Instru- of scientific missions.
ment Platform, or FLIP, conducts sea trials off San Diego in May 2009. Continued next page—
21
Diving in Continued—
With only 55 ft (17 m) of the vessel above the This stable platform allows an incred-
surface and the remaining 300 ft (91 m) extend- ible array of precise data to be taken in
ing beneath the surface, scientists can conduct an otherwise impossible setting. Along
their research with minimal surface motion with the crew, it can support a research
disruption. team of up to eleven scientists. Two
When ballast water is pumped into the of the most valuable characteristics of
tanks, and as it flips, the crew of five oversees FLIP to these research teams are: (1) FLIP
the inner workings and checks all the equip- allows for at-sea stability that allows for
ment while it is moving. I was interested in the the deployment of extremely large sen-
bunk beds, as they hung from a swinging plat- sor arrays (one reported up to 2 miles in
form, “swivels and gimbals” I was told, so they length), and (2) FLIP provides a high-
will turn along with FLIP. Things that would not profile (25 m) observation post with 360°
rotate as easily, like sinks, are built both horizon- coverage for simultaneous visual and
tally and vertically in each room (box fig. 3). acoustical observations of marine mam-
During the flip, most things inside and mals. Other research projects supported
out slowly swing along with the change. I was by FLIP include the strange nighttime
intrigued at the refrigerator and stove combo chorusing behavior of fish, the behavior
in the galley that was also on a platform that of earthquake T-phases (P-waves that
would swing, but I was incredulous when I was travel through water) to study their prop-
told that the heads (what you call toilets on a agation through the ocean, the mirage
ship) also swiveled. With so much on the move, effect caused by bathymetry changes in
I asked if this transition always was smooth with shallow water, and the diving behavior of
all the planning and preparation for the big Box Figure 3 Two sinks at a 90° angle aboard blue whales determined by recordings
flip. The answer was that it almost always went FLIP for both vertical and horizontal use. of their vocalizations. Research studies
smoothly unless someone forgot to loosen any with titles that range from “Classifica-
of the gimbals before the flip, or, if someone forgot to re-tighten them tion of behavior using vocalizations of Pacific white-sided dolphins
afterwards. Apparently, the sound of a galley full of pots and pans (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens)” to “Dynamical coupling of wind and
spilling out of their cabinets was a tell-tale sign of a distracted crew ocean waves through wave-induced air flow” could only have been
member. And after all, who wouldn’t occasionally get distracted by accomplished with the quiet and steady FLIP and its crew to provide
the wall quickly becoming the floor? the conditions needed for arrays of hydrophones and deployment of
Each new area of FLIP showed its compact and efficient design. sensors that offer a precision no other research vessel can.
For example, the scientific instruments are built into the walls. As FLIP FLIP has reached fifty-plus years of amazing service to the Navy and
flips, so do the instruments, so that they are in a normal position when scientific community. With over 300 operations accomplished in many dif-
FLIP becomes vertical. Most rooms on FLIP have two doors—one to ferent areas of the World Ocean, FLIP shows no sign of becoming obso-
use when horizontal and one to use when flipped vertical. lete and remains the most unusual ocean research resource of its kind.
Satellite Oceanography, Remote information, but also details about Earth’s cloud cover, radiation
budget, and dynamic changes in the oceans.
Sensing of the Oceans Other satellites provide valuable information about the
The ability to collect data by remote sensing from satellites has topography and currents of the ocean’s surface. TOPEX/Posei-
increasingly allowed researchers to observe the sea surface and don (1992–2005) was launched as a joint U.S.-French mission,
ocean processes on a global scale. Currents, eddies, biological and was able to measure the surface height of 95% of the ice-free
productivity, sea-level changes, waves, sea surface temperature, ocean to an accuracy of 3.3 cm (1.3 in). A detailed understanding
and air-sea interactions are all monitored via satellite, allowing of variations in sea surface elevation provides invaluable infor-
scientists to develop computerized prediction models and to test mation about ocean circulation. A series of follow-on missions
them against natural phenomena. began with Jason-1 in 2001, Jason-2 in 2008, and the launch of
Over the past decades, satellite sensors used for oceanog- Jason-3 in 2014.
raphy have continued to evolve. NASA’s NIMBUS-7 satellite, Satellite oceanography began in 1978 and will continue long
launched in 1978, carried a sensor package called the Coastal into the future. Today, Earth is orbited by a constellation of satel-
Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), which gave us the first truly global lites providing valuable information for all aspects of oceanog-
view of the ocean’s chlorophyll distributions and productivity (fig. raphy. As the scientific community develops new and improved
P.20). Lasting until 1986, CZCS was eventually replaced by the sensors, methods, and questions, we continue to add to that con-
Sea-viewing Wide Field Sensor (SeaWiFS; 1997–2010) and the stellation, making it easier than ever before to track the pulse of
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS; launched the planet. More details can be found in the “Oceanography from
in 1999 and 2002). These sensors provide not only ocean color Space” section in the center section of the book.
22
Summary 23
QUICK REVIEW
1. Compare the U.S. government’s support of
oceanography before and after World War II.
2. Cite some examples of large-scale, direct measurement
research programs and describe their mission.
3. Why are oceanographers interested in a global
approach to ocean science?
4. Why are oceanographers interested in data collected by
satellites as well as data collected from research vessels?
5. How do we collect deep samples of marine sediment?
Summary
Oceanography is a multidisciplinary field in which geology, geo- current charts and sailing directions and then wrote the first
physics, chemistry, physics, meteorology, and biology are all used book on oceanography.
to understand the oceans. Early information about the oceans was Ocean science began with the nineteenth-century expedi-
collected by explorers and traders such as the Phoenicians, the tions and research of Darwin, Forbes, Müller, and others. The
Polynesians, the Arabs, and the Greeks. Eratosthenes calculated three-and-a-half-year Challenger expedition laid the foundation
the first accurate circumference of Earth, and Ptolemy produced for modern oceanography with its voyage, which gathered large
the first world atlas. quantities of data on all aspects of oceanography. Exploration of
During the Middle Ages, the Vikings crossed the North the oceans in Arctic and Antarctic regions was pursued by Nansen
Atlantic, and shipbuilding and chartmaking improved. In the and Amundsen into the beginning of the twentieth century.
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Dias, Columbus, da Gama, In the twentieth century, private institutions played an impor-
Vespucci, and Balboa, as well as several Chinese explorers, made tant role in developing U.S. oceanographic research, but the largest
voyages of discovery. Magellan’s expedition became the first to single push came from the needs of the military during World War
circumnavigate Earth. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, II. After the war, large-scale government funding and international
some explorers searched for the Northwest Passage, while others cooperation allowed oceanographic projects that made revolution-
set up trading routes to serve developing colonies. ary discoveries about the ocean basins. Development of electronic
By the eighteenth century, national and commercial inter- equipment, deep-sea drilling programs, research submersibles,
ests required better charts and more accurate navigation tech- and use of satellites continued to produce new and more detailed
niques. Cook’s voyages of discovery to the Pacific produced information of all kinds. At present, oceanographers are focusing
much valuable information, and Franklin compiled a chart of their research on global studies and the management of resources
the Atlantic’s Gulf Stream. A hundred years later, the U.S. as well as continuing to explore the interrelationships of the chem-
Navy’s Maury collected wind and current data to produce istry, physics, geology, and biology of the sea.
1
C H A P T ER
The Water Planet
25
Confirming Pages
S
cientists make discoveries about Figure 1.1 The water planet.
the natural world by gathering Earth as seen from space.
data through observation and
experimentation. Scientific data must
be reproducible and must include
an estimate of error. After obtaining universe as having ini-
scientific data, scientists can propose tially been concentrated
an initial explanation of the data. This in an extremely hot,
is called a hypothesis. If the hypothesis dense singularity much
is supported consistently by different smaller than an atom.
Roughly 13.8 billion years
observations or experiments it may be
ago, this singularity expe-
advanced to the level of a theory. The great rienced a cataclysmic explo-
value of a theory is its ability to predict the sion that caused the universe to
existence of phenomena or relationships that had rapidly expandand cool as it grew
not previously been recognized. larger. One second after the Big Bang,
In this chapter, you will learn about the most widely the temperature of the universe was about
10 billion K (roughly 1000 times the temperature
accepted theories for the birth of the universe and the
of the Sun’s interior). The Kelvin (K) temperature scale is an
formation of our planet, the nature and structure of Earth’s absolute temperature scale, so 0 K is absolute zero, the coldest
interior, and the methods used to measure geologic time possible temperature. At this temperature, all atoms and mol-
and calculate Earth’s age. ecules would stop moving. Room temperature is about 300 K
Earth is unique in our solar system by having a surface (see appendix B for conversions from K to °C and °F). At this
that is now covered mostly by liquid water. In this chapter, time, the universe consisted mostly of elementary particles, light,
and other forms of radiation. The elementary particles, such as
you will also investigate our water planet (fig. 1.1) by learning
protons and electrons, were too energetic to combine into atoms.
about the distribution of water, the movement of water from One hundred seconds after the Big Bang, the temperature had
one location to another, and the oceans where most of it cooled to about 1 billion K (roughly the current temperature in
is found. You will also discover how people find their way the centers of the hottest stars).
about the oceans.
The universe was now cool enough for protons and neutrons, and a diameter of about 100,000 light-years. A light-year is equal
the nuclei of hydrogen atoms, as well as nuclei of deuterium, to the distance light travels in one year, which is 9.46 × 1012 km
helium, and lithium, to begin to form. While the temperature (5.87 × 1012 mi). The observable universe contains from 10 billion to
was still very high, the universe was dominated by the radiation. 100 billion galaxies. Galaxies are preferentially found in groups
Later, as the universe cooled, matter took over. Eventually, when called clusters. A single cluster may contain thousands of galax-
the temperature had dropped to a few thousand degrees K, elec- ies. Clusters typically have dimensions of 1 million to 30 million
trons and nuclei would have started to combine to form atoms, light-years. Individual clusters tend to group in long, string-like
and strong interactions between matter and radiation ceased. It or wall-like structures called superclusters. Superclusters may con-
was then possible for small concentrations of matter to begin to tain tens of thousands of galaxies. The largest supercluster known
grow gravitationally. Denser, cooler regions pulled in additional is about 500 million light-years across. At very large scales, the
matter gravitationally, increasing their density even further. An universe looks something like a sponge, with galaxies arranged in
extraordinary composite image of the early universe is shown in interconnected lines and sheets interspersed with huge regions in
figure 1.3. This image was compiled from data obtained by the which very few galaxies are seen.
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite over a Throughout the universe, some stars are burning out or explod-
period of more than one year. It is essentially a temperature map ing; others are still forming, incorporating original matter from the
of the universe 380,000 years after the Big Bang, over 13 bil- Big Bang and recycling matter from older generations of stars. A
lion years ago. The spatial variation in temperature reflects the widely accepted model of the universe is that it consists of a com-
clumping of mass in the universe at that time. The WMAP is so bination of normal matter, which makes up atoms and the world
sensitive that it can resolve differences in temperature of only a around us; a very different substance known as dark matter; and
millionth of a degree. Roughly 200 million years after the Big an even more mysterious dark energy. Normal matter makes up an
Bang, gravity began to pull matter into the structures we see in estimated 4.6% of the universe, whereas roughly 24% of the uni-
the universe today, and the first stars were formed. verse is thought to be dark matter. Dark matter only interacts with
The universe has a distinct structure. On a small scale, there gravity; it doesn’t reflect, block, or emit light, so we cannot observe
are individual stars. Stars are responsible for the formation of it directly. The remaining 71.4% of the universe is thought to con-
elements heavier than lithium. Stars fuse hydrogen and helium in sist of dark energy, which acts like a negative gravity, causing the
their interiors to form heavier elements such as carbon, nitrogen, expansion of the universe to accelerate.
and oxygen. The higher temperatures of more massive stars con-
tinue the nuclear fusion process to create elements as heavy as Origin of Our Solar System
iron. These elements, so important in oceanographic processes, Present theories attribute the beginning of our solar system to
are created in stars and were not made by the Big Bang at the the collapse of a single, rotating interstellar cloud of gas and dust
formation of the universe. Some of these stars are at the center of that included material that was produced within older stars and
solar systems like our own, with planets that orbit them. dispersed into space when the old stars exploded. This rotating
Galaxies are composed of clumps of stars. Our galaxy, the cloud, or nebula, appeared about 5 billion years ago. The shock
Milky Way, is composed of about 200 billion stars. It is shaped wave from a nearby exploding star, or supernova, is thought to
like a flattened disk, with a thickness of about 1000 light-years have imparted spin to the cloud, pushing it together and causing
it to compress from its own gravitational pull. As the nebula col-
lapsed, its speed of rotation increased, and, heated by com-
pression, its temperature rose. The gas and dust, spinning
faster and faster, flattened perpendicular to the axis
of spin, forming a disk. At the center of the disk
a star, our Sun, was formed. Self- sustaining
nuclear reactions kept the Sun hot, but the outer
regions began to cool. In this cooler outer por-
tion of the rotating disk, molecules of gas and
dust began to collide, accrete (or stick together),
and chemically interact. The collisions and
interactions produced particles that grew from
further accretion and became large enough to
have sufficient gravity to attract still other parti-
cles. The planets of our solar system had begun
to form. After a few million years, the Sun was
Figure 1.3 The structure of the early universe about 380,000 years after the
Big Bang, as seen by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe satellite. Colors orbited by eight planets (in order from the Sun):
indicate “warmer” (red) and “cooler” (blue) spots. These patterns are extremely small Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
temperature differences within an extraordinarily evenly dispersed microwave light Uranus, and Neptune (fig. 1.4).
bathing the universe, which now averages only 2.73 K. The difference in temperature If Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are com-
between the warmest and coolest regions in this image is only 400 µK (400 × 10–6 K). pared to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune,
Silicates
Iron-nickel core
?
Mercury the four planets closer to the Sun are seen to be much smaller in
diameter and mass. (See table 1.1. Note use of metric units; see
Silicates appendix B for further information.) These four inner planets are
rich in metals and rocky materials. The four outer planets are cold
Iron-nickel core giants, dominated by ices of water, ammonia, and methane. Their
? atmospheres are made up of helium and hydrogen; the planets
?
located nearer the Sun lost these lighter gases because the higher
To same scale
It is unlikely that the ice covering the moons can account for
the induced magnetic fields because ice is a poor electrical con-
ductor. Fresh water is also a relatively poor conductor, but water
Jupiter
with a high concentration of dissolved ions, such as seawater, is
Molecular a very good conductor. The most plausible explanation for the
hydrogen gas observed magnetic effect is that Europa and Callisto have liquid
Metallic hydrogen oceans containing salts beneath their surfaces. It is believed that
Water magnesium sulfate might be a major component of Europa’s water
Silicates
rather than sodium chloride, as is the case in Earth’s oceans.
One proposed model for Europa includes a surface ice layer
15 km (10 mi) thick, covering a 100 km (62 mi) deep ocean. If
this is the case, the Europan ocean would contain twice as much
Saturn
water as Earth’s oceans, and it would be roughly ten times deeper
Molecular hydrogen gas than the greatest depths below sea level on Earth. In c ontrast, one
Water
Silicates? model proposed for Callisto is a surface ice layer 100 km (62 mi)
thick, covering a 10 km (6.2 mi) deep ocean. If such oceans exist,
Earth they may provide a possible environment for life.
for comparison Uranus
Molecular hydrogen gas
In January 2004, two robotic rovers, Spirit and Opportu-
Water nity, landed on opposite sides of the planet Mars. Their mission
Silicates? has been to probe the rocks of Mars for signs of past or current
deposits of water, and they have succeeded in collecting both
Neptune chemical and physical data that strongly support the hypothesis
Figure 1.4 The composition of the planets. The inner rocky that water was once present.
planets have an iron core surrounded by a silicate shell. The Chemical analyses have discovered various kinds of salts in
outer gas planets feature a rocky core of unknown composition some Martian rocks. On Earth, rocks that contain equally large
surrounded by a large shell of hydrogen gas. amounts of these salts either formed in water or, after formation,
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Yet I spoke forth, with a great show of anger, that I, Ammaerln, vizier
and companion to the Rthr, did but walk and speak in confidence with
my liege lord.
But they persisted, Gholad foremost among them. And then one saw
the hidden corpse and in an instant they ringed me in.
Then did I draw the long blade and hold it at the throat of Qulqlan.
"Press me not, or your king will surely die," I said. And they feared me
and shrank back.
"Do you dream that I, Ammaerln, wisest of the wise, have come for
the love of far-voyaging?" I raged. "Long have I plotted against this
hour; to lure the king a-voyaging in this his princely yacht, his faithful
vizier at his side, that the Change might come on him far from his
court. Then would the ancient wrong be redressed.
"There are those men born to rule as inevitably as the dream-tree
seeks the sun—and such a one am I! Long has this one, now
mindless, denied to me my destiny. But behold: I, with a stroke, shall
set things aright.
"Below us lies a green world, peopled by savages. Not one am I to
take blood vengeance on a man newborn from the Change. Instead I
shall set him free to take up his life there below. May the Fates lead
him again to royal state if that be their will—"
But there were naught but fools among them and they drew steel. I
cried out to them that all, all should share!
But they heeded me not but rushed upon me. Then did I turn to
Qulqlan and drive the long blade at his throat, but Gholad threw
himself before him and fell, impaled in the throat. Then they pressed
me and I did strike out against three who hemmed me close, and
though they took many wounds they persisted in their madness, one
leaping in to strike and another at my back, so that I whirled and
slashed at shadows who danced away.
In the end I hunted them down in those corners whither they had
dragged themselves and each did I put to the sword. And I turned at
last to find the Rthr gone and some few with him, and madness took
me that I had been gulled like a tinker by common men.
In the chamber of the memory couch would I find them. There they
would seek to give back to the mindless one that memory of past
glories which I had schemed so long to deny him. Almost I wept to
see such cunning wasted. Terrible in my wrath I came upon them
there. There were but two and, though they stood shoulder in the
entry way, their poor dirks were no match for my long blade. I struck
them dead and went to the couch, to lay my hand on the cylinder
marked with the vile gold and black of Qulqlan, that I might destroy it
and, with it, the Rthr, forever—
And I heard a sound and whirled about. A hideous figure staggered to
me from the gloom and for an instant I saw the flash of steel in the
bloody hand of the accursed Gholad whom I had left for dead. Then I
knew cold agony between my ribs....
Gholad lay slumped against the wall, his face greenish above the
blood-soaked tunic. When he spoke air whistled through his slashed
throat.
"Have done, traitor who once was honored of the king," he
whispered. "Have you no pity for him who once ruled in justice and
splendor at High Okk-Hamiloth?"
"Had you not robbed me of my destiny, murderous dog," I croaked,
"that splendor would have been mine."
"You came upon him helpless," gasped Gholad. "Make some amends
now for your shame. Let the Rthr have his mind, which is more
precious than his life."
"I but rest to gather strength. Soon will I rise and turn him from the
couch. Then will I die content."
"Once you were his friend," Gholad whispered. "By his side you
fought, when both of you were young. Remember that ... and have
pity. To leave him here, in this ship of death, mindless and alone...."
"I have loosed the Hunters!" I shrieked in triumph. "With them will the
Rthr share this tomb until the end of time!"
Then I searched within me and found a last terrible strength and I
rose up ... and even as my hand reached out to pluck away the mind
trace of the king I felt the bloody fingers of Gholad on my ankle, and
then my strength was gone. And I was falling headlong into that dark
well of death from which there is no returning....
I woke up and lay for a long time in the dark without moving, trying to
remember the fragments of a strange dream of violence and death. I
could still taste the lingering dregs of some bitter emotion. For a
moment I couldn't remember what it was I had to do; then with a start
I recalled where I was. I had lain down on the couch and pulled the
head-piece into place—
It hadn't worked.
I thought hard, tried to tap a new reservoir of memories, drew a blank.
Maybe my Earth-mind was too alien for the Vallonian memory-trace to
affect. It was another good idea that hadn't worked out. But at least I
had had a good rest. Now it was time to get moving. First: to see if
Ommodurad was still asleep. I started to sit up—
Nothing happened.
I had a moment of vertigo, as my inner ear tried to accommodate to
having stayed in the same place after automatically adjusting to my
intention of rising. I lay perfectly still and tried to think it through.
I had tried to move ... and hadn't so much as twitched a muscle. I was
paralyzed ... or tied up ... or maybe, if I was lucky, imagining things. I
could try it again and next time—
I was afraid to try. Suppose I tried and nothing happened—again?
This was ridiculous. All I had to do was sit up. I—
Nothing. I lay in the dark and tried to will an arm to move, my head to
turn. It was as though I had no arm, no head—just a mind, alone in
the dark. I strained to sense the ropes that held me down; still
nothing. No ropes, no arms, no body. There was no pressure against
me from the couch, no vagrant itch or cramp, no physical sensation. I
was a disembodied brain, lying nestled in a great bed of pitch-black
cotton wool.
Then, abruptly, I was aware of myself—not the gross mechanism of
clumsy bone and muscle, but the neuro-electric field generated within
the massive structure of a brain alive with flashing currents and a
lightning interplay of molecular forces. A sense of orientation grew. I
occupied a block of cells ... here in the left hemisphere. The mass of
neural tissue loomed over me, gigantic. And "I" ... "I" was reduced to
the elemental ego, who possessed as a material appurtenance "my"
arms and legs, "my" body, "my" brain.... Relieved of outside stimuli I
was able now to conceptualize myself as I actually was: an
insubstantial state existing in an immaterial continuum, created by the
action of neural currents within the cerebrum, as a magnetic field is
created in space by the flow of electricity.
And I knew what had happened. I had opened my mind to invasion by
alien memories. The other mind had seized upon the sensory
centers, driven me to this dark corner. I was a fugitive within my own
skull.
For a timeless time I lay stunned, immured now as the massive
stones of Bar-Ponderone had never confined me. My basic self-
awareness still survived, but was shunted aside, cut off from any
contact with the body itself.
With shadowy fingers of imagination I clawed at the walls surrounding
me, fought for a glimpse of light, for a way out.
And found none.
Then, at last, I began again to think.
I must analyze my awareness of my surroundings, seek out channels
through which impulses from sensory nerves flowed, and tap them.
I tried cautiously; an extension of my self-concept reached out with
ultimate delicacy. There were the ranked infinities of cells, there the
rushing torrents of gross fluid, there the taut cables of the
interconnecting web, and there—
Barrier! Blank and impregnable the wall reared up. My questing
tendril of self-stuff raced over the surface like an ant over a melon,
and found no tiniest fissure.
I withdrew. To dissipate my forces was senseless. I must select a
point of attack, hurl against it all the power of my surviving identity.
The last of the phantom emotions that had clung—for how long?—to
the incorporeal mind field had faded now, leaving me with no more
than an intellectual determination to reassert myself. Dimly I
recognized this sign of my waning sense of identity but there was no
surge of instinctive fear. Instead I coolly assessed my resources—
and almost at once stumbled into an unused channel, here within my
own self-field. For a moment I recoiled from the outer configuration of
the stored patterns ... and then I remembered.
I had been in the water, struggling, while the Red soldier waited, rifle
aimed. And then: a flood of data, flowing with cold, impersonal
precision. And I had deftly marshalled the forces of my body to
survive.
And once more: as I hung by numbed fingers under the cornice of the
Yordano Tower, the cold voice had spoken.
And I had forgotten. The miracle had been pushed back, rejected by
the conscious mind. But now I knew: this was the knowledge that I
had received from the background briefing device that I had used in
my island strong-room before I fled. This was the survival data known
to all Old Vallonians of the days of the Two Worlds. It had lain here,
unused; the secrets of superhuman strength and endurance ... buried
by the imbecile censor-self's aversion to the alien.
But the ego alone remained now, stripped of the burden of neurosis,
freed from subconscious pressures. The levels of the mind were laid
bare, and I saw close at hand the regions where dreams were born,
the barren sources of instinctive fear-patterns, the linkages to the
blinding emotions; and all lay now under my overt control.
Without further hesitation I tapped the stored Vallonian knowledge,
encompassed it, made it mine. There again I approached the barrier,
spread out across it, probed in vain—
"... vile primitive...."
The thought thundered out with crushing force. I recoiled, then
renewed my attack, alert now. I knew what to do.
I sought and found a line of synaptic weakness, burrowed at it—
"... intolerable ... vestigial ... erasure...."
I struck instantly, slipped past the impervious shield, laid firm hold on
the optic receptor bank. The alien mind threw itself against me, but
too late. I held secure and the assault faded, withdrew. Cautiously I
extended my interpretive receptivity. There was a pattern of pulses,
oscillations in the lambda/mu range. I tuned, focussed—
Abruptly I was seeing. For a moment my fragile equilibrium tottered,
as I strove to integrate the flow of external stimuli into my bodiless
self-concept. Then a balance was struck: I held my ground and stared
through the one eye I had recaptured from the usurper.
And I reeled again!
Bright daylight blazed in the chamber of Ommodurad. The scene
shifted as the body moved about, crossing the room, turning.... I had
assumed that the body still lay in the dark but instead, it walked,
without my knowledge, propelled by a stranger.
The field of vision flashed across the couch. Ommodurad was gone.
I sensed that the entire left lobe, disoriented by the loss of the eye,
had slipped now to secondary awareness, its defenses weakened. I
retreated momentarily from my optic outpost, laid a temporary
traumatic block across the access nerves to keep the intruder from
reasserting possession, and concentrated my force in an attack on
the auricular channels. It was an easy rout. I seized on the nerve
trunk, then instantly reoccupied the eye, co-ordinated its impressions
with those coming in along the aural nerves ... and heard my voice
mouth a curse.
The body was standing beside a bare wall with a hand laid upon it. In
the wall a recess partly obscured by a sliding panel stood empty.
The body turned, strode to a doorway, emerged into a gloomy violet-
shadowed corridor. The glance flicked from the face of one guard to
another. They stared in open-mouthed surprise, brought weapons up.
"You dare to bar the path to the Lord Ammaerln?" My voice slashed
at the men. "Stand aside, as you value your lives."
And the body pushed past them, strode off along the corridor. It
passed through a great archway, descended a flight of marble stairs,
came along a hall I had seen on my tour of the Palace of Sapphires
and into the Onyx Chamber with the great golden sunburst that
covered the high black wall.
In the Great Owner's chair at the ringboard Ommodurad sat scowling
at the lame courtier whose red hair was hidden now under a black
cowl. Between them Foster stood, the heavy manacles dragging at
his wrists.
Ommodurad turned; his face paled, then flushed dark rose, teeth
bared.
The gaze of my eye fixed on Foster. Foster stared back, a look of
incredulity growing on his face.
"My Lord Rthr," my voice said. The eye swept down and fixed on the
manacles. The body drew back a step, as if in horror.
"You overreach yourself, Ommodurad!" my voice cried harshly.
Ommodurad stepped toward me, his immense arm raised.
"Lay not a hand on me, dog of a usurper!" my voice roared out. "By
the Gods, would you take me for common clay!"
And, unbelievably, Ommodurad paused, stared in my face.
"I know you as the upstart Drgon, petty Owner," he rumbled. "But I
trow I see another there behind your pale eyes."
"Foul was the crime that brought me to this pass," my voice said. "But
... know that your master, Ammaerln, stands before you, in the body
of a primitive!"
"Ammaerln...!" Ommodurad jerked as though he had been struck.
My body turned, dismissing him. The eye rested on Foster.
"My liege," my voice said unctuously. "I swear the dog dies for this
treason—"
"It is a mindless one, intruder," Ommodurad broke in. "Seek no favor
with the Rthr, for he that was Rthr is no more. You deal with me now."
My body whirled on Ommodurad. "Give a thought to your tone, lest
your ambitions prove your death!"
I reeled, shocked and alone inside my skull. The brain loomed, dark
and untenanted now. I began to move, crept along the major nerve
paths, reoccupied the cortex—
"I reeled, shocked and alone inside my skull. The brain loomed,
dark and untenanted now."
Epilogue
I awoke to a light like that of a morning when the world was young.
Gossamer curtains fluttered at tall windows, through which I saw a
squadron of trim white clouds riding in a high blue sky.
I turned my head, and Foster stood beside me, dressed in a short
white tunic.
"That's a crazy set of threads, Foster," I said, "but on your build it
looks good. But you've aged; you look twenty-five if you look a day."
Foster smiled. "Welcome to Vallon, my friend," he said in English.
"Vallon," I said. "Then it wasn't all a dream?"
"Regard it as a dream, Legion. Your life begins today." Someone
came forward from behind Foster.
"Gope," I said. Then I hesitated. "You are Gope, aren't you?" I said in
Vallonian.
He laughed. "I was known by that name once," he said, "but my true
name is Gwanne."
My eyes fell on my legs. I saw that I was wearing a tunic like Foster's
except that mine was pale blue.
"Who put the dress on me?" I asked. "And where's my pants?"
"This garment suits you better," said Gope. "Come. Look in the
glass."
I got to my feet, stepped to a long mirror, glanced at the reflection.
"It's not the real me, boys," I started. Then I stared, open-mouthed. A
Hercules, black-haired and clean-limbed, stared back. I shut my
mouth ... and his mouth shut. I moved an arm and he did likewise. I
whirled on Foster.
"What ... how ... who...?"
"The mortal body that was Legion died of its wounds," he said, "but
the mind that was the man was recorded. We have waited many
years to give that mind life again."
I turned back to the mirror, gaped. The young giant gaped back. "I
remember," I said. "I remember ... a knife in my guts ... and a red-
headed man ... and the Great Owner, and...."
"For his crimes," told Gope, "he went to a place of exile until the
Change should come on him. Long have we waited."
I looked again and now I saw two faces in the mirror and both of
them were young. One was low down, just above my ankles, and it
belonged to a cat I had known as Itzenca. The other, higher up, was
that of a man I had known as Ommodurad. But this was a clear-eyed
Ommodurad, just under twenty-one.
"Onto the blank slate we traced your mind," said Gope.
"He owed you a life, Legion," Foster said. "His own was forfeit."
"I guess I ought to kick and scream and demand my original ugly
puss back," I said slowly, studying my reflection, "but the fact is, I like
looking like Mr. Universe."
"Your earthly body was infected with the germs of old age," said
Foster. "Now you can look forward to a great span of life."
"But come," said Gope. "All Vallon waits to honor you." He led the
way to the tall window.
"Your place is by my side at the great ringboard," said Foster. "And
afterwards: all of the Two Worlds lie before you."
I looked past the open window and saw a carpet of velvet green that
curved over foothills to the rim of a forest. Down the long sward I
saw a procession of bright knights and ladies come riding on
animals, some black, some golden palomino, that looked for all the
world like unicorns.
My eyes travelled upward to where the light of a great white sun
flashed on blue towers. And somewhere in the distance trumpets
sounded.
"It looks like a pretty fair offer," I said.
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