History of Oceanography
• Oceanography vs. other sciences
• Historical Periods
– Prehistoric peoples
– Discovery and Navigation
– Challenger Expedition
– Post World War II
– The GOOS Paradigm
OS101-The Marine Environment
Evolution of Scientific Disciplines
• Observation
• Hypothesis Testing
• Manipulation
• Control
OS101-The Marine Environment
1
Homer’s View of the World (~900 BC)
• The Mediterranean (Thalassa) was surrounded by
land, and in turn surrounded by a “continuous river”
• The earth was still flat
Herodotus’ View of the World (~450 BC)
• Distinct continents (3), but still has the “ocean river”
• About 325 BC, Pytheas proved that the earth was round,
and extended beyond the oceans as known….
2
Pytheas Applies Geometry….
• By measuring the difference in
the angle of the sun, Pytheas
could exactly calculate the Earth’s
circumference
• It was also obvious that the
Earth was round!
Latitude
• First defined by
Pytheas, 325 BC
• Fairly easy to
determine based on
your angle from the
North Pole (determined
by taking a sighting on
the North Star or
something similar)
3
Longitude
• Very difficult to
determine! There is no
astronomical way to
calculate longitude
(although many, many
people have tried to
find one)
Ptolemy’s Atlas (~150 A.D.)
• Ptolemy developed a “conic” projection (latitude and
longitude are accounted for), so the earth is round.
• North is on top, East is on Right, but the
circumference is only 29,000 km!
4
The Dark Ages
(for Western civilization)
• Lost Ptolemy’s map
• The world is flat again
• Lost ability to
navigate
• The world got smaller
• Knowledge recovered
during the Crusades
The World as was known in 1537….
5
Non-Western Travels
Thor Hyerdahl built a raft using the technology available to the
Pacific Islanders around 2000 BC, and demonstrated that it was
Possible to travel from the Americas to the Western Pacific….
Thor Hyerdahl on the raft Kon Tiki
6
History of Oceanography
• Oceanography vs. other sciences
• Historical Periods
– Prehistoric peoples
– Discovery and Navigation
– Challenger Expedition
– Post World War II
– The GOOS Paradigm
• West Coast Oceanography
OS101-The Marine Environment
Columbus, Cabot, Magellan
7
The Problem with Longitude
Harrison’s first clock (above) was over
two feet tall, and very heavy.
Harrison’s fourth and last clock (right)
was about 6 inches across, and used
diamond movements…it finally won the
prize, after 30 years, in 1775!
Captain Cook’s Voyages
8
HMS Beagle (1831-1836)
Scientific Hypotheses (post-Beagle)
• Edward Forbes: The “azoic hypothesis”
• Ross Brothers: deep-sea life at the
poles, and the “emergence hypothesis”
• Darwin: Natural Selection and Evolution
• 1857: T.H. Huxley describes “Bathybius
haeckllii”
9
History of Oceanography
• Oceanography vs. other sciences
• Historical Periods
– Prehistoric peoples
– Discovery and Navigation
– Challenger Expedition
– Post World War II
– The GOOS Paradigm
• West Coast Oceanography
OS101-The Marine Environment
1872-1876: The
Challenger Expedition
At each station:
- depth, bottom water temperature, and
meteorological information was recorded
- Bottom sample was collected, as well as a
sample of bottom water
- direction and rate of surface currents was
determined
At many stations:
- vertical profiles of chemistry, temperature,
and currents were determined
- bottom flora, fauna were collected
- nets were used to sample intermediate
depths
10
11
History of Oceanography
• Oceanography vs. other sciences
• Historical Periods
– Prehistoric peoples
– Discovery and Navigation
– Challenger Expedition
– Post World War II
– The GOOS Paradigm
• West Coast Oceanography
OS101-The Marine Environment
Technology and Oceanography
Scripps Institute of
Oceanography established,
1903-1910 (originally a
Naturalist society)
1925 Meteor Expedition, first
ship to map the ocean with
sonar
12
1930: William Beebe
The Journey to the Depths
13
The Glomar Explorer
• Sister ship to the Glomar
Challenger, discussed in the text.
• Supposed to be an Ocean Drilling
Ship for mining Manganese
nodules
• In reality, it was owned and
operated by Howard Hughes for
the CIA, and was designed to
salvage a Soviet nuclear submarine
that sank north of Hawaii.
The JOIDES
Resolution, Flagship of
the Ocean Drilling
Project
The Glomar Challenger
revolutionized Geological
Oceanography and Earth
Sciences…it allowed
scientists, for the first time
ever, to examine the
geological and paleostructure of the ocean
basins and to prove that
plate tectonics resulted in
sea-floor spreading.
14
From ODP to IODP
• 210 meters
long
• 38 meters
wide
• Capable of
drilling 7 km
deep in 4000 m
of seawater
Launch of the Chikyu, January 2002
15
History of Oceanography
• Oceanography vs. other sciences
• Historical Periods
– Prehistoric peoples
– Discovery and Navigation
– Challenger Expedition
– Post World War II
– The GOOS Paradigm
• West Coast Oceanography
OS101-The Marine Environment
16
Http://www.neptune.washington.edu
17
Nature, January 2004, 427: 10-12.
18