YSB 531E - Intr.to Physic.&Chemic.Oceano.

Course Objectives

The primary objective of this course is to describe the circulation of the ocean and present a theoretical basis for understanding it. The focus is on the large-scale, basin-wide features of the ocean circulation, such as: (1) the subtropical ocean gyres, which contain the wind-driven western boundary currents like the Gulf Stream; (2) the equatorial oceans, which respond rapidly to external forcing to produce phenomena like El Niño; and (3) the thermohaline circulation, which acts as a slow regulator of the earth's climate.

Course Description

This course is an overview of physical oceanography, the field which strives to understand oceanic motions over a variety of time and space scales. We will seek a better
understanding of these motions using both theoretical concepts and examination of actual
oceanographic data from a wide variety of instruments.