Teaching
This unit provides an introduction to physical oceanography. The aim of this unit is to give participants a ‘feel’ for the basic physical concepts of open ocean. These physical concepts form the basis of oceanographic knowledge that carries through into areas, such as biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems. The unit covers seawater properties, instruments and observing platforms, equations of motion, geostrophic circulation, Ekman layer theory, wind driven circulation, meridional overturning circulation, circulation of the Southern Ocean, eddies, internal waves, mixing, and basics of ocean modelling.
This unit provides an introduction to the geophysical fluid dynamics governing the ocean circulations with emphasis on the large-scale ocean circulation. The unit will give an overview of the structure and dynamics of the major ocean current systems that contribute to the ocean circulation, the transport of heat, salt, and biogeochemical tracers, and the regulation of climate. Topics include the scaling of the governing equations of motion, the shallow-water system, potential vorticity, vorticity and energy budgets, Ekman layer dynamics, the wind-driven gyres and western boundary currents. On completion of this unit, students will have an appreciation of the fundamental physical processes that govern large-scale oceanic motion. They will gain quantitative understanding of the ocean circulation with substantial mathematical analyses and experience in simplified mathematical models of the ocean circulation.