IMS 5 - History of Oceanography

Alexander – 1^st marine sc library 3^rd century BC @ Alexandria, Egypt

Eratosthenes – Earth spherical & calc. circumference

Hipparchus – Divide Earth into 360°

Claudius Ptolemy – North S.E.W. & degree division to minutes, seconds (modern latitude longitude sys.)

Aristotle – Waves & hydrological cycle

Copernicus – Sun @ centre, Earth rotates

Columbus – Founded US, tried to find Marco Polo’s fabled east, thought earth was smaller, discovered New World, not mainland

Magellan – Failed open western route to the Orient (the East), died in Philippines, 18/207 crew continued & survived

Isaac Newton – Mathematically proved tides affected by gravitational attraction

HMS Endeavor – From Plymouth Harbour, under James Cook of British Royal Navy; charted New Zealand, Great Barrier Reef, North US, Hawaiian Is.; reported marine life, geological formation, floor types

Charles Darwin – On HMS Beagle to South US & Pacific Is.; determined reef & atoll formation from volcanic activities

Rennell & Matthew Maury – Produce efficient far sailing directions on map by Benjamin Franklin (produced charts of surface winds & currents)

Matthew M. – Published The Physical Geography of the Seas

HMS Challenger 1872 – 1^st marine sc devoted expedition & check organisms @ 549m; > 4000 new species; measured salinity temperature, density, depth soundings; new info on current, meteorology, sediment distribution, coral reef, manganese nodules (deep sea mining)

William Ferrel – Earth rotation’s deflecting effects on currents (Coriolis force – clockwise left)

Ekman – Current increasingly deflected with depth (Ekman spiral)

Cousteau – Aqua-lung invention

Heiss & Dietz – Plate tectonic theory

ROV (Remote Operated Vehicles) & AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles)

Submercibles 1977 – Hydrothermal vent discoveries

Seasat 1978 – 1^st Ocean studies satellite (data for current, circulation, ice cover, temperature, colour, topography/“mapping”)

Seastar – Colour sensor (SeaWIFS Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor)

AQUA – Measure atmospheric water vapour, phytoplankton, dissolved organic matter, air/land/water temperature