Description: A descriptive treatment of ocean atmosphere interactions, water properties, general wind-driven and thermohaline circulation, waves and tides, and coastal processes. Simplified conceptual models demonstrate the important principles. Taught via distance learning, from the Dartmouth Campus.

Primary Texts: Ocean Circulation, Open University Press, ISBN 978-0-7506-5278-0
Introduction to Physical Oceanography, Bob Stewart (download pdf)

Additional course materials will be available on-line.

Prerequisites: Permission of Instructor

Evaluation:

• 30% homework assignments
• 30% mid-term exam
• 30% final exam
• 10% class participation

Lecture Schedule

Week 1: Introduction and Math Review
Week 2: Seawater Properties / Heat Flux Components
Week 3: Wind Forcing / Waves
Week 4: Tides / Field Plan
Week 5: Conservation (budgets, mass)
Week 6: Buzzards Bay Field Trip
Week 7: Newton's Laws
Week 8: Forces on Fluids / Momentum Conservation / Geostrophy
Week 9: Vorticity / Ekman Transport/Pumping
Week 10: More Geostrophy / Thermal Wind
Week 11: Turbulence & Mixing
Week 12: Watermass Formation / More Waves
Week 13: Estuaries
Week 14: Fronts / Global Heat Budgets / Climate
Week 15: Review / Final Exam