The role of the Physical Oceanography in to Marine

Sciences

By:

JUAN CARLOS ORTIZ Ph. D. in Marine Science (Physical Oceanography) of

University of Puerto Rico

Coordinador de posgrados. Departamento de Física. Uninorte

jortiz@uninorte.edu.co

http://blogs.uninorte.edu.co/jortiz.php

BARRANQUILLA, Febrero 11 of 2010

1st Colombian Caribbean Workshop on

Physics 2010

Physical Oceanography and Dynamical Oceanography

• Oceanography is the general name givento the scientific study of the oceans.

• It is historically divided in terms of thebasic sciences into physical, biological,chemical, and geological oceanography.

• Physical oceanography is historicallyapproached both descriptively anddynamically.

• The goal of descriptive physicaloceanography is to obtain a clear andsystematic description of the oceans,sufficiently quantitative to permit us topredict some aspects of their behavior inthe future with some certainty.

• The dynamical oceanography is to usephysical laws to obtain mathematicalrelations between the forces acting on theoceans.

Why Study Ocean Physics ?

• The oceans provide a vitally important avenue of transportation. They form a sink into which industrial and human waste is dumped.

• The large heat capacity of the oceans exerts a significant and in some cases a controlling effect on the earth’s climate, while the continuous movement of the currents and waves along the coast must be taken into account when piers, breakwaters and other structures are built.

History

• Physical oceanography has gone through several historical phases. Presumably sailors have always been concerned with ocean currents as they affect their ships’ courses and changes in ocean temperature or surface condition.

• The first major expedition designed expressly to study all the scientific aspects of the oceans was that of the British H.M.S. Challenger which circumnavigated the globe from 1872 to 1876

• Many early mathematicians also used their skills to study the ocean. Sir Isaac Newton didn’t directly work on problems of the ocean but his principle of universal gravitation was an essential building block in understanding the tides.

• Both LaPlace and LeGendre put a lot of work into a formal solution of the tides; LaPlace’s equation is a fundamental element in a description of the tides.

• Working with whaling Captain Folger, Benjamin Franklin published a map showing the current known as the Gulf Stream.

• In this published chart, Franklin depicted the Gulf Stream and advised ship captains to sail at certain latitudes when going east and others when going west.

• Before the Second World War a number of oceanographic institutions were founded in various parts of the world.

• In the US two very notable institutions were created. In California, what was earlier the Scripps Institution for Biological Research became in 1925 the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), while in Massachusetts the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) located in Woods Hole spun off the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in January of 1930.

•Both organizations became and continue to be the leading American institutions for the study of the ocean. Woods Hole Research Center

• At SIO, Harald Sverdrup was hired as a new director in 1936, bringing from the Bergen school an emphasis on physical oceanography.

• Sverdrup had earlier been involved with an international effort to sail a submarine under the North Polar ice cap. During a test it was discovered that the submarine, named the Nautilus, had lost a diving rudder and would not be able to cruise beneath the ice.

• Out west, at SIO, Harald Sverdrup and his student Walter Munk were studying the dynamics of wind-driven currents.

• At WHOI, Henry Stommel was also involved in these studies. Stommel’s model and its explanation of the westward intensification that closed the major ocean gyres at the western end.

• Vagn Ekman was a Swedish oceanographer and was the pioneer in the understanding of the transport of the wind. It was observed during FRAM expedition when small iceberg don’t move in the same wind direction. Ekman Dead on 1954)

BARRANQUILLA, COL

DELTA OF MAGDALENA RIVER – BOCAS DE CENIZA

ESTRUCTURES IN THE RIVER

FUENTE: INVIAS 2008

Fuente: Instituto del mar. Barcelona.

SUBMARINE CANYON

TURBIDITE SYSTEM

Fuente: Miquel Canals, Karina Miguel. Universidad de Barcelona. 2003

SUBMARINE CANYON BATHYMETRY(UNTIL 1.500 m)

Fuente: Gloria Romero. Universidad de Oklahoma. Tesis doctoral. 2009

Diciembre 2006 – Mayo 2007 Junio–Agosto 2007, Enero 2008, Abril 2009 Enero 2008, Junio 2009

ISOBATS 20 m. (2007 – 2009): MOTION OF THE CANYONCORMAGDALENA - UNINORTE

Ortiz , J.C 2008

HURRICANES

MAR CARIBE COLOMBIANO

8

10

12

14

16

-84 -80 -76 -72 -68

LONGITUD

LA

TIT

UD

JOAN 1988 H4

BRET 1993 TT

CESAR 1996 H1IRENE 1971 H1

TOR 4 1911 TT

TOR 10 1909 TT

EXTREME WAVES

HURRICANE LENNY 1999

HURRICANE WAVES LENNY 1999

Resultados cerca a la costa (Isobata 100m)

Locación As(m) DIR

(grados)

PP (s)

RIO 3.8 339 10.9

STA 2.9 326 9.8

BAQ 2.4 310 9.8

CTG 2.4 316 9.8

COLOMBIA: there is not waves due tsunamis more high than waves due storms in the

Caribbean Sea, but in the Pacific coast the situation is different. (tsunami 1979)- OSSO.

J. Caicedo, B. Martinelle, H. Mayer, R. Steer

• 88 Tsunamis in the last 500 years. 30 9.600 death. (Lader – Whiteside, 1997)

• 12 in Central America (Caribbean) (1539 - 1996)

• 37 in Central America (Pacific) (1539 – 1996) Fernández et al, 2000

•1530. (Runup 7.3 m.) Paria y Cumaná

•1755. Lisboa

•1867. (Runup 9.0 m.) Islas Vírgenes , Grenada

TSUNAMIS IN THE CARIBBEAN SEA

COASTAL MODELS (SMC-CANTABRIA, SMS)Características de la simulación

OLUCA-SP COPLA-SP MOPLA-SP

Proyecto:

Gráfico: Vectores corriente

Caso espectral: M106M1: Interior06: E H =1.5 T=7

Espectro frecuencial (TMA)Hs: 1.5 mh: 500 mfp: 0.143 Hz (Tp: 6.99301 s)

: 3Nº Comp.: 5Espectro direccional

m : 0.1° (E)

: 12° - Nº Comp.: 5

Rugosidad deNikuradseKswc: 1 m Viscosidad deremolino

: 10 m2/s

MOPLA 2.0: Universidad del

421500 422000 422500 423000

1382000

1382500

1383000

1383500

1384000

1384500

1 cm = 1.000 m/s

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N

S

W E

BEACHES RECUPERATIONSAN ANDRES Y PUERTO COLOMBIA

SAN ANDRES - MAY2009

PUERTO COLOMBIA – JUNE 2009

SOME EQUIPMENT

TSS-DMS 25

ADCP

GPS-HiperliteEcotrack

Where Study Ocean Physics ?

• Master program in applied physic with (NEW!) emphasis in Physical Oceanography. UNINORTE 2010

• Inter-institutional Doctoral program in Marine Sciences (UniValle, UniAntioquia, UNAL, UniMagdalena, UTadeo, UniNorte, Invemar, CCO y DAAD) UNINORTE 2010 (Physical Oceanography and costal engineering)

CONTACTO: jortiz@uninorte.edu.cohttp://blogs.uninorte.edu.co/jortiz.php

Some items was modified from: http://ccar.colorado.edu/asen5215/