Teaching

Oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth's surface, which have enabled the evolution of complex life, control the Earth's climate and weather, and provide food for a significant portion of the world's population. The human influence on the oceans is significant and growing, driving change in a range of important physical, chemical and biological ocean processes in marine and coastal environments. The unit explores the extent to which humans are driving environmental change in the ocean, and the impacts of this change.

The aim of this unit is to gain a quantitative knowledge of the fluid mechanics of environmental systems, including atmospheric and aquatic systems (from wetlands and rivers to coastal and oceanic systems).

In this unit, students learn about the influence of tectonics and continental drift on the oceans, as well as the impact of Earth's topography and basin shape on ocean circulation. The module covers thermohaline and wind-driven ocean circulation, convection, and the effect of Earth's rotation on dynamic processes such as Ekman dynamics and geostrophy. Students also explore the interaction between the atmosphere, oceans, and solid Earth, as well as the Earth's heat and radiation balance. Additional topics include the causes of the greenhouse effect, the physical and chemical properties of water, phase transitions, erosion, and the biosphere in the ocean.

In this unit, students explore the phenomenology of dynamic processes in the ocean and their mathematical descriptions. Topics covered include large-scale circulation and mixing, dynamic instabilities (barotropic and baroclinic), waves, vortices, vortex shedding, internal waves, jets, topographic effects, boundary currents, intrusions, bottom-driven density flows, and convection.