Topic 1The History of Oceanography

GEOL 2503Introduction to Oceanography

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Early Evidence of Humansand the Sea

• By 5000 BC:– copper fishhooks– Middens– Egyptian drawings of fishnets

• By 1500 BC– Phoenicians sailed out of Mediterranean Sea to

Britain

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• Began migration from Asia 20,000 years ago

• Were sailing to mid-Pacific islands by 2,500 years ago

Polynesians

Things were happening in the Pacific early on!

Ancient Greeks

• What we now call the Mediterranean Sea was known as Thalassa (Greek goddess of the sea)

• Known lands surrounded by Oceanus an endlessly circling river

• Beyond Oceanus was monsters, whirlpools, edge of earth

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The world according to the Ancient Greeks.

Thalassa

Oceanus

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Pytheas

• 350-300 BC– sailed to England, Norway, Germany– navigated by sun, stars, wind– recognized relationship between moon and

tides– he didn’t understand the cause, but described

what we now know as tides

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Eratosthenes (264-194 BC)

• Calculated circumference of Earth at 25,000 miles

• Ptolemy didn’t believe that figure, thought the circumference was about 18,000 miles

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Vikings

• Colonized Iceland and Greenland• Knowledge of navigation increased• Made it to Mediterranean by 455 AD• Oceanic voyages by 8th century• Little Ice Age drove them from North

America

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Norse ship, circa 1200 AD

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COLD

WARM

The Medieval warm period was a time of exploration for the Vikings. With the onset of the Little Ice Age exploration became treacherous and fewer voyages were completed.

Time Line of Little Ice Age and Impact on Voyages

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• The Chinese invented the first compass about 1000 AD.

• This compass consisted of a bowl of water with a magnetized needle floating on top, pointing to the poles.

www.computersmiths.com

Early Compass

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European Great Age of Discovery

PortugalVasco da GamaPrince HenryBartholomeu Dias

EnglandFrancis DrakeHenry Hudson

SpainChristopher ColumbusFerdinand MagellanAmerigo VespucciVasco BalboaJuan Ponce de Leon

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Sent several expeditions down the west coast of Africa. He establish trade routes to India and the East. He spread Christianity to other countries.

http://www.mariner.org/age/biohist.html#princehenry

Prince Henry, the Navigator

Prince Henry of PortugalOpened first school of navigation in 1416

(b. 1394 - d. 1460)

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Christopher Columbus

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/education/fact_files/fact_columbus.html

Christopher Columbus (1455-1506)

Four voyages across Atlantic Ocean

Thought he had found Asia

Ptolemy’s mistake mislead him

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Columbus’ Ships

Replicas of the Pinta and Santa Maria, built for the 1992 quincentennial. Notice the tiny sail on the Santa Maria the flag ship of the fleet.

http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/ships.htmps

Ships of Columbus’s day average around 4 knots. Top speed for these vessels averaged 8 knots.They usually covered 90-100 miles in one day.

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Amerigo Vespucci: 1454-1512

http://oz.plymouth.edu/~lts/wilderness/explorers.html

• Spanish merchant and explorer• Prepared maps and routes to the New World• Voyages led to Argentina and Patagonia• Accepted South America as a new continent,

not Asia, thus “America” is named for him.• The New world was named after him in 1507 by

Martin Waldseemuller, a German mapmaker

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Vasco Núñez de Balboa(1475-1519), Spain

In 1511, Indians told him of a sea on the other side of the Isthmus of Panama, and stories of gold. September 1513, Balboa led an expedition of about 90 Spaniards and Native Americans to find the sea. Three weeks later, he climbed a mountain peak. From there, he sighted the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Called it the South Sea.

First European to cross Isthmus of Panama to

Pacific Ocean

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20http://library.thinkquest.org/J002678F/ponce_de_leon.htm

Juan Ponce de LeonJuan Ponce de Leon

(1460-1521)–Searching for fountain of

youth–Sailing down the coast of

Florida, caught in Florida Current and pulled northward

–Ascribed this to the devil, but his records became the first description of ocean currents

–Discovered Florida

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Juan Ponce de Leon’sSailing Route

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Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)

– Rounded South America in 1520 to Pacific– Killed in the Philippines – One of his three ships made it across Indian

Ocean and around Cape of Good Hope back to Atlantic Ocean

– Crew was forced to eat shoe leather and rats to avoid starvation

– Magellan himself didn’t make it, but his expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe

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Sir Francis Drake and the Circumnavigation

http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/SirFrancisDrake.html

On September 26, 1580, Sir Francis Drake became the second man to sail around the world. He was the first Englishman to complete the circumnavigation.

Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596)

Sir Francis Drake’s Ship:Golden Hinde

Courtesy of http://mmbc.bc.ca/source/schoolnet/exploration/images/boatchart/goldenhind.jpg

Figure 01_07

26http://www.newnetherland.org/ship.htm

He went on four voyages between 1607 and 1611:

1st Voyage – to find the NW passage to the Far East (for trade with China and Japan) by going across the North Pole2nd – Search for NW passage by way over Russia3rd – Search for western passage across North America 4th – Final voyage searched for NW Passage through theArctic.

Henry Hudson1575? -1611)

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Henry Hudson’s Ship:Half Moon

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http://www.mariner.org/age/images/hudson.gif

Died in Hudson Bay

Searching for northwest passage

Henry Hudson (1570-1611)

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Captain James Cook (1728-1779)

• 3 Pacific voyages 1761-1779• Sailed around Antarctica• Last large land mass was studied and

outlined• Killed in Hawaii 1779

31www.hawaiianeyes.com

HMS Resolution

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Ben Franklin (1706-1790)

--Made first map of Gulf Stream 1769--Worked with Capt. Timothy Folger, but Franklin gets credit--Reduced sailing times to Europe

Figure 01_11

Sea surface temperature from satellite shows flow of the Gulf Stream

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Sextant

• 18th century instrument• Measure angle of

elevation of stars, moons, and planets

• Find latitude

Polaris (North Star)

Observer at 90° N

Observer at 45°N

90°

45°Horizon (tangent line)

Polaris (North Star)

Observer at 0°

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Nautilus Robert Fulton

designed the first usable submarine in 1800

Commissioned by Napoleon

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Charles Darwin (1809-1882),

• Voyage of the Beagle (1831-1836)• Studies led to theory of evolution• Theory of formation of atolls is big

contribution to oceanography• His work led directly to the Challenger

Expedition

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Charles Darwin was the first to realize how atolls form. This was his great contribution to oceanography.

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U.S. Ex. Ex.

• Perhaps the least known investigation• Official name: The United States South

Seas Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842• Charles Wilkes (1798-1877) leader• See the Smithsonian Institution website:

http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/usexex/• See http://www.history.navy.mil/index.html

for a lot of general information

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Also known as “Wilkes Expedition”

• Traveled over 80,000 miles• Confirmed the existence of a continental

landmass in the Antarctic Ocean (Cook?)• Collected thousands of plant and animal

specimens• Charted much of the Pacific• Helped sealing and whaling industries in

the northeast.

Charles Wilkes and the ships of the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842

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Ex. Ex. Flagship: USS Vincennes

Built in 1826, 127 feet in length, crew of 190.http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h66000/h66524k.jpg

47Vincennes in Disappointment Bay, Antarctica

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Wilkes Land is named in honor of Charles Wilkes, whose surveying determined that Antarctica is a continent.

49Map of the Hawaiian Islands by James Dana

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The expedition reports comprise 20 volumes and 11 atlases, published between 1844 and 1874.

51Examples of scientific sketches from Ex. Ex.

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Matthew Maury (1806-1873)

• Officer in charge of the U.S. Navy’s Depot of Charts and Instruments

• Assembled wind and current charts as well as maps of ocean temperature and depth

• Wrote the first significant book of oceanography, “The Physical Geography of the Sea” in 1855

• Stimulated interest in oceanography

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Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, USN (1806-1873)

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Maury charted several islands and compiled bathymetric data

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Atlantic Ocean temperatures map from Maury’s book

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The Challenger Expedition (1872-1876)

• First true oceanographic research voyage (no military or colonization overtones)

• HMS Challenger was a converted warship• Chemists, biologists, physicists• Sailed to most parts of global ocean• Over 300 sampling stops • Reports in over 50 volumes took 20 years to write

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http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/marinebio/challenger.html

The Challenger at St. Paul's Rocks, Brazil

Instrument and Sampling Platform

Natural History Laboratory

Chemistry Laboratory

Bottom Samplers

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Wyville Thomson (1830-1882)

• Scientific Director of Challenger expedition• Prof. of Natural History Edinburgh Univ.• Studied life/topography of sea for cable

laying• wrote “The Depths of the Sea” 1873

– first book on sea bottom composition• John Murray, geologist, was assistant

Departed December 1872, returned May 1876

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1874

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Captain George S. Nares, R.N.Commanding Officer

Sir C. Wyville Thomson Scientific Director

Challenger Reports Online:www.19thcenturyscience.org/HMSC/

HMSC-INDEX/index-linked.htm

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Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930)• Norwegian explorer and oceanographer• Interested in currents in polar seas• Froze his ship (Fram)

into Arctic ice pack• Wanted to drift to the

North Pole• Drifted from 1893-1896• Proved Arctic Ocean

was a deep basin

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USS Albatross (1882)

First ship constructed specifically for oceanographic researchLaunched by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries vessel in 1882.

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HMS Titanic

• Terrible disaster but some good resulted• Led to founding the North Atlantic Ice

Patrol• Plot position of icebergs, studied currents of

high latitude oceans

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HMS Titanic 1912

70http://titanic.eb.com/

Titanic Underwater

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Dr. Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found Titanic in 1985, in 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) of water.

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North Atlantic Ice Patrol• Response to Titanic

disaster• Ship observations

originally, now from aircraft

• Now International Ice Patrol

http://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/iip/home.html

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Sound waves are released to the bottom and the time of return is measured then halved. First used on German ship Meteor 1925-1927.. .

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Precision depth recorder (PDR) profile

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PDR trace from off the Bahamas

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Bathyscaphe Trieste (1958-1963)

• In October 1959, Trieste participated in Project "Nekton“

• She conducted a series of very deep dives in the Marianas Trench.

• On 23 January 1960, she reached a record depth of 35,800 feet in the Challenger Deep, off Guam, the deepest point in any of the World's oceans.

77The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the deepest spot in the world.

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Trieste Photos and Diagrams

• From the Naval Historical Center• http://www.history.navy.mil/index.html

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International Geophysical Year (IGY)

• July 1957-December 1958• International project of Earth and space

study by 67 nations• Highlights:

– launching of artificial satellites– soundings of the ocean floor, which contributed

to the theory of plate tectonics.

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Modern Oceanography

• In the 20th Century oceanography changed from descriptive to quantitative

• World War II ushered in many technological advances such as radar, sonar, and wave detectors

• Year of the Ocean (1998)• http://www.yoto98.noaa.gov/

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Alvin can dive to 4,000 meters

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Inside Alvin with Dr. Conrad Neumann of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Dr. Robert Ballard’s ROV (remotely operated vehicle), like that used to find Titanic

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JOIDES Resolution used for the Ocean Drilling Project (ODP).

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Woods Hole,MA

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Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Fort Pierce, FL

R/V Seward Johnson II launching the Johnson Sea-Link submersible

Submersible Clelia