Structure and Motion

Marine Scientists Use 

the Logic of Science to Study the Ocean

Marine science (or oceanography) is the process of discovering unifying principles in data obtained from the ocean, its associated life-forms, and its bordering lands.  Marine science draws on several disciplines, ...integrating the fields of geology, physics, biology, chemistry, and engineering as they apply to the ocean and its surroundings.  Nearly all marine scientists specialize in one area of research, but they also must be familiar with related specialties and appreciate the linkages between them.

• Marine geologists focus on questions such as the composition of inner Earth, the mobility of the crust, the characteristics of seafloor sediments, and the history of Earth’s ocean, continents, and climate.  Some of their work touches on areas of intense scientific and public concern, including earthquake prediction and the distribution of valuable resources.

• Physical oceanographers study and observe wave dynamics, currents, and ocean–atmosphere interaction.

• Chemical oceanographers study the ocean’s dissolved solids and gases and their relationships to the geology and biology of the ocean as a whole.

• Climate specialists investigate the ocean’s role in Earth’s changing climate. Their predictions of long-term climate trends are becoming increasingly important as pollutants change Earth’s atmosphere.

• Marine biologists work with the nature and distribution of marine organisms, the impact of oceanic and atmospheric pollutants on the organisms, the isolation of disease-fighting drugs from marine species, and the yields of fisheries.

• Marine engineers design and build oil platforms, ships, harbors, and other structures that enable us to use the ocean wisely.

Marine scientists today are asking some critical questions about the origin of the ocean, the age of its basins, and the nature of the life-forms it has nurtured. We are fortunate to live at a time when scientific study may be able to answer some of those questions.  Science is a systematic process of asking questions about the observable world by gathering and then studying information (data), but the information by itself is not science. Science interprets raw information by constructing a general explanation with which the information is compatible.

Other marine specialists study the techniques of weather forecasting, ways to increase the safety of navigation, methods to generate electricity, and much more.

Scientists start with a question—a desire to understand something they have observed or measured.  They then form a tentative explanation for the observation or measurement.  This explanation is often called a working hypothesis, a speculation about the natural world that can be tested and proven right or wrong by further observations and controlled experiments.  (An experiment is a test that simplifies observation in nature or inthe laboratory by manipulating or controlling the conditions under which the observations are made.)   Hypotheses consistently supported by observation, experiment, or historical exploration often evolve to become a theory, a statement that explains the observations.

Laws, can also summarize experimental observations.  Laws are principles explaining events in nature that have been observed to occur consistently under the same conditions.  A law usually takes the form of a concise mathematical or verbal expression; a theory provides an explanation for the observations.  One is not “more true” than the other–both a law and a theory can be statements of facts.

Theories and laws in science do not arise fully formed or all at once.  Scientific thought works as a continuous progression of questioning, testing, and matching theories to observations.  A theory is strengthened if new facts support it.  If not, the theory is changed or a new explanation is sought (science is thus “self- correcting”).  The power of science lies in its ability to operate in reverse;  that is, in the use of a theory or law to predict and anticipate new facts to be observed.

This procedure, often called the scientific method, is an orderly process by which theories are verified or rejected.  The scientific method rests upon the assumption that nature “plays fair”—that the rules governing natural phenomena do not change capriciously as our powers of questioning and observing improve. We believe that the answers to our questions about nature are ultimately knowable.

There is no one scientific method. Some researchers observe, describe, and report on some subject and leave it to others to hypothesize.  Scientists don’t have one single method in common— the general method they employ is a critical attitude about being shown rather than being told, and taking a logical approach to problem solving.  The process is circular and collaborative—new theories and laws always suggest new questions. 

You’ve heard of the scientific method before but may have thought that scientific thinking was beyond your interest or ability.  Nothing could be further from the truth—you use scientific logic many times a day.  

Imagine you have your liscence and a car.

Consider your line of thinking if you try to start your car but are met only with silence.  Your first thoughts (after the frustration subsided) would likely be these:

1  So! The car won’t start!

2  Why won’t the car start? 

(That second thought—why—is a very powerful bit of Western philosophy. Its implication: The car won’t start for a reason, and that reason is knowable.)

You immediately begin to conduct a set of mental experiments:

3  You know that cars need electricity to start. You turn on the lights. They work. Electricity is present. The problem is not a lack of electricity.

4  Cars need air to combine with fuel in the engine. Is air present? You take a breath. Air? Yes. The problem is not lack of air.

5  Cars need fuel. Is there fuel? You turn on the ignition. The fuel gauge registers three-fourths full. (You also notice a fuel receipt in your pocket from yesterday.) Yes, there’s fuel.

6  Cars need all of these things to be present simultaneously in order to start. You open the hood to look for loose wires or hoses interrupting flow. AHA! A wire is loose.

7  You put the wire back into place.

8  The car starts! Science wins! The question “why” is answered!

Or you could pursue an alternative line of thinking: 

You could decide that the spirits of car starting have somehow turned against you. Once you lose their confidence, your power over cars is greatly diminished, and you will almost certainly never be able to drive again. Maybe if you shake your keys over the hood of the car, the spirits will look favorably on you and the car might start, but you can’t possibly fix anything yourself—these things are out of your hands. Your relationship with cars is over. (This line of reasoning is not very productive!)

Although clearly powerful in its implications and applications, nothing is ever shown to be irrevocably true by the scientific method.  Still, the mechanism of science has provided durable, valuable conclusions that have withstood the test of time and improved our lives.  It is the best tool we have for exploring the natural world.  Note that science is neither a democratic process nor a popularity contest.

As we examine the ocean environment we will learn about the structure and motion of the oceans from a global perspective. This global view will be integrated with frequent, relevant local examples.

Origins of the ocean bottoms and Bathymetry explore the structural features of the sea bottom and examine their formation. 

We will examine the relevant physical and chemical properties of water and seawater. 

This section involves an exploration of the major surface currents of the world's oceans and the driving forces behind them. 

And, we will also investigate the causes and properties of waves and tides as well as their impact on coastal areas.