Physical and Dynamical

Oceanography
CLIM712

Class: 10:30am – 1:15pm, Thursday (Innovation Hall 338)

Office hour: 9:30pm – 10:15pm, Thursday (Research I, 362)

Bohua Huang

Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences

College of Science
George Mason University

Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies

Phone: 301-902-1246, 703-993-6084

Email: [email protected]
[email protected]

References
Text books:
•  Pond, S., and G.L. Pickard, 1983: Introductory Dynamical Oceanography. 2nd
edition, 329pp, Butterworth-Heinemann.
•  Talley, L. D., Pickard, G.L., W.J. Emery, J. H. Swift, 2011: Descriptive Physical
Oceanography, 6th edition, 555pp, ELSEVIER.

Other titles of interest:

•  Pickard, G.L., and W.J. Emery, 1993: Descriptive Physical Oceanography, 5th
enlarged edition, 320pp, Pergamon Press.
• Mellor, G.L., 1996: Introduction to Physical Oceanography, 260pp, AIP Press.
• Knauss, J.A., 1997: Introduction to Physical Oceanography, 309pp, 2nd edition,
Prentice-Hall.
• Pedlosky, J., 1987: Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, 710pp, Springer-Verlag
• McWilliams, J.C., 2006: Fundamentals of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, 249pp,
Cambridge.

More readings:
• Abarbanel, H.D.I., and W.R. Young, Eds., 1987: General Circulation of the Ocean,
291pp. Springer-Verlag.
• Pedlosky, J., 1996: Ocean Circulation Theory, 453pp, Springer.
• Siedler,G., J. Church, and J. Gould, Eds., 2001: Ocean Circulation and Climate, 715
pp., Academic Press.
• Pedlosky, J., 2003: Waves in the Ocean and Atmosphere, 260pp, Springer-Verlag.
• van Aken, H.M., 2006: The Oceanic Thermohaline Circulation, An Introduction.
326pp, Springer



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 Useful Online
Physical Oceanography Books

•  R. H. Stewart: Introduction to Physical Oceanography

(http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/ocng_textbook/contents.html)
•  M. Tomczak: Introduction to Physical Oceanography
(http://gaea.es.flinders.edu.au/~mattom/IntroOc/newstart.html)
•  B. A. Warren & C. Wunsch (Ed.,): Evolution of Physical
Oceanography (http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/resources/Wunsch/
wunschtext.htm)
•  M. Tomczak, & J. S. Godfrey: Regional Oceanography: an
Introduction
(http://gaea.es.flinders.edu.au/~mattom/regoc/index.html)

Requirement
•  Homework: 5 assignments (every other
week since Week 3, 50%)
•  Mid-term exam (Oct 20, close book, 20%)
•  Final exam (Dec 13, open book, 20%)
•  Term paper (topics in NOAA monthly
ocean briefing, research paper style, 4
pages, double space, 10%)
Slides of the lectures will be on:
ftp://grads.iges.org/pub/huangb/Fall11
before each class

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 Major Topics
•  Properties of seawater
•  Heat, freshwater and momentum fluxes and
conservation laws
•  Global T-S distribution
•  Fluid dynamics on rotating sphere
•  Description of large-scale gyres
•  Barotropic dynamics of large-scale gyres
•  Mixing, turbulence, surface layer
•  Large-scale overturning and thermohaline circulation
•  Rossby waves, instability and mesoscale eddies
•  Surface gravity waves (nonrotating and rotating)
•  Internal gravity waves
•  Tides
•  Coastal processes: currents, fronts, estuaries
•  Air-sea interaction: El Niño

Course Outline
[Numbers in brackets give chapters to read in Descriptive Physical Oceanography, 6th Ed.(Des), and Introductory
Dynamical Oceanography, 2nd Ed.(Dyn). Lectures do not cover the entirety of all chapters assigned; students will
only be responsible for material covered in lectures. For some topics, additional reading materials will be supplied
with class notes]
•  Properties of seawater [Des 2, 3]
–  composition
–  equation of state
–  measurement: T, S, pressure
• Global T-S distribution [Des 4 ]
–  surface profiles
–  vertical profiles
–  static stability
–  annual cycle and interannual variability
•  T-S Forcing and conservation laws [Des 5]
–  heat flux components
–  heat flux distribution
–  evaporation, precipitation, runoff
–  box models
–  Momentum flux, surface wind stress
•  Fluid dynamics on rotating sphere [Des 7, Dyn 6, 8, 9.1-9.4]
–  Coriolis force
–  equations of motion
–  geostrophy
–  Ekman layers
•  Description of large-scale gyres [Des 7, 9, 10]
–  wind patterns and gyres
–  western and eastern boundary currents
–  polar currents
–  equatorial currents
•  Barotropic dynamics of large-scale gyres [Dyn 9.5-9.14]
–  vorticity dynamics
–  gyres and western boundary currents
–  Sverdrup, Stommel, and Munk

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•  Mixing, turbulence, surface layer [supplied reading]
- descriptive Kelvin-Helmholtz instability
- surface mixed layer dynamics
- sources of subsurface mixing
•  Large-scale overturning [Des14, supplied reading]
- thermohaline structure and meridional overturning
- advective-diffusive balance and overturning
- Stommel-Arons patterns
- subduction and shallow cells
•  Surface gravity waves (nonrotating and rotating) [Dyn 12.1-12.8, 12.10.1-12.10.3]
- short and long nonrotating SGWs
- Poincare and Kelvin waves
•  Tides [Des8, Dyn 13.1-13.7]
- tidal forcing
- equilibrium theory
- forced response
•  Internal gravity waves [Dyn 12.9]
- two-layer fluid
- rotational effects
- continuous fluid
• Rossby waves, instability and mesoscale eddies [supplied reading]
- Rossby wave dynamics
- observations of eddies
•  Coastal processes: currents, fronts, estuaries [Des 8]
•  El Nino [supplied reading]
- air-sea feedbacks
- equatorial waveguide
- ENSO description

Introduction
What is Physical Oceanography?

Why is ocean important for climate?

How do we do it?

A brief history of physical oceanography

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 What is Physical Oceanography?
A knowledge of the circulation of the oceans; a systematic quantitative description
of the character of the ocean waters and of their movements

1). A description of the temperature, salinity, and density patterns in the

ocean, including their variability.
2). The three dimensional water movement (the circulation: currents
and vertical movements; also, waves and tides).
3). The transfer of mass, energy, and momentum between the ocean
and the atmosphere.
4). The mechanisms of these properties and processes.

Simply:
•  What temperature is the water?
•  What salinity is the water?
•  Where is the water going?
•  Why is that?

Why is ocean important for climate?

Ocean is a major
component of the
earth climate system

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 Ocean plays important roles in
maintaining the earth climate
• Ocean has large heat storage
-- Roughly, 3 meters of sea
water has about the same heat
capacity as the whole
atmospheric column above it
-- Ocean heat storage
modulates diurnal and
seasonal cycles and climate
variations
-- Maritime climate is
generally milder than
continental climate

• Ocean transfers heat and freshwater over a

wide range of time and space scales
-- The earth system is
not in local radiative heat
balance
-- The tropics gaining
and the polar regions
losing heat

-- Meridional oceanic heat

transport is comparable to
that of the atmosphere

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 Fluctuations within
the ocean affect the
climate significantly.

Sea surface temperature

(SST) changes from year-to-
year significantly.
The SST anomalies can
persist for a long time.

The SST anomalies have

serious consequences to
the weather and climate

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 Air-sea interaction is an
important source for global
climate variability (e.g.,
ENSO)

Ocean provides the memory of the

low frequency fluctuations

Global SST Anomaly (0C) and Anomaly Tendency (from CPC)

-  Negative SSTA presented in the tropical eastern and
central Pacific, consistent with La Niña conditions.

-  Negative PDO SST pattern presented in N. Pacific.

-  Positive SSTA presented in the tropical Indian Ocean

and tropical W. Pacific.

-  Tripole SST anomaly pattern persisted in North

Atlantic, and positive SSTA in the tropical North Atlantic
has been near historical high during Mar-Jul 2010.

-  SSTA continuously decreased in the central and

eastern tropical Pacific, suggesting strengthening of La
Niña conditions.

-  SST tendency was large in N. Pacific.

-  Both positive and negative SST tendency existed in

the tropical Indian Ocean.

-  Tripole SSTA tendency pattern suggested the

persistency and slightly northward shift of the tripole
SSTA pattern in North Atlantic.

Fig. G1. Sea surface temperature anomalies (top) and anomaly tendency (bottom). Data are derived from the
NCEP OI SST analysis, and anomalies are departures from the 1971-2000 base period means.

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 Atlantic Multi-
decadal Oscillation

Figure 5.1. Time series of global annual ocean heat content (1022 J) for the 0 to 700 m
layer. The black curve is updated from Levitus et al. (2005), with the shading
representing the 90% confidence interval. The red and green curves are updates of
the analyses by Ishii et al. (2006) and Willis et al. (2004, over 0 to 750 m) respectively,
with the error bars denoting the 90% confidence interval. The black and red curves
denote the deviation from the 1961 to 1990 average and the shorter green curve
denotes the deviation from the average of the black curve for the period 1993 to 2003
(IPCC Report).

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Global ocean circulation may be changed fundamentally by
climate change

And the oceanic circulation change will feedback seriously to the earth climate.

ocean circulation and marine biology

-- T and S distribution affects phytoplankton
-- Current affects the concentration and dispersion
-- Mixing and upwelling are important to provide
nutrients
-- Phytoplankton changes the ocean color
-- Phytoplankton represents the first link in the
marine food web
-- Phytoplankton has a major role in the global
carbon cycle
-- An indicator of circulation change
-- Biological feedback to circulation?

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Ocean Color and El Niño

As indicated by the red

(warm) region off the west
coast of Peru (top image), El
Niño was still going strong in
February 1998. Phytoplankton
were growing just to the north
of the equator (bright blue
green region in the image
second from top).
By February 1999 La Niña
had replaced El Niño, and the
equatorial Pacific had strong
phytoplankton production
(bottom pair of images).
Images by Robert Simmon
based on data from the
Distributed Active Archive
Centers at the JPL and GSFC

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Knowledge of ocean circulation, especially
coastal processes, is helpful for
environmental sciences
-- pollution
-- oil drilling
-- oil spills
-- sewage outfalls
-- industrial waste

How do we do it?

The approach of physical

oceanography research
• observations to get the basic phenomenon
•  applying laws of physics to explain the
features we find (hypothesis/theory)
•  theory leads us to find new information to
verify its predictions (more observation)
•  new observations test (verify, modify, or
disprove) the theory (improved theory)
•  general circulation models blurs the boundary
between traditional physical and dynamical
branches

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 Figure 1.1 Data, numerical models, and theory are all
necessary to understand the ocean. Eventually, an
understanding of the ocean-atmosphere-land system will
lead to predictions of future states of the system (From
Stuart 2007).

Gulf Stream:
An Example

Questions:

Why does the Gulf

Stream concentrate
near the western
boundary?

What determines its

width and speed?

Why are there

meanders and rings?

Any climate
significance?

…….

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 A Brief History of Oceanographic
Exploration
Surface Oceanography- major approach prior to 1873

Systematic collection of phenomena observable from

the deck of sailing ships (marine winds, currents,
waves, temperature etc.)

Examples:
Halley s charts of the trade-winds (1685);
Hadley(1735)
Franklin s map of the Gulf Stream (1769)
Maury's Physical Geography for the Sea (1847)
Pillsbury's measurements of the Florida Current (1885)

The 1786 version of Franklin-Folger map of the Gulf Stream

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 Oceanographic Expeditions
Wide range survey of surface and subsurface oceanic conditions

Examples:
Challenger Expedition (British, 1872-1876)
Main interest in marine life below 600 m but also collected large amount of
physical measurements in the Atlantic and Pacific
Fram Expedition (Norway, 1895-1896)
Leaded by Nansen, polar sea exploration
Meteor Expedition (German, 1925-1927)
Leaded first by Merz and later by Wüst, concentrated on overturning
circulation. The ship travels 67,000 miles, made 14 sections across the Atlantic, 310
hydrographic stations, 33,000 depth sounding
Other Acchivements
The Scandinavian Scientists developed the dynamical method to
derive geostropic currents from T-S observations
Reversing thermometer gives more accurate subsurface temperature
measurements

Upper panel: Track of the H.M.S.

Challanger during the British
Challanger Expedition 1872-1876.
From Wüst (1964).

Right panel: Track of the R/V Meteor

during the German Meteor
Expedition. From Wüst (1964).

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 International Programs: 1957-1978

• Multi-national surveys of oceans and studies of oceanic

processes.
Example: International Geophysical Year cruises
• Multiship studies of oceanic processes:
e.g., MODE, POLYMODE experiments

•New Technologies improve observations significantly

Bruce Hamon and Neil Brown develop the CTD for measuring
conductivity and temperature as a function of depth in the ocean (1955).
Sippican Corporation (Tim Francis, William Van Allen Clark, Graham
Campbell, and Sam Francis) invents the Expendable Bathy Thermograph
(XBT), now perhaps the most widely used oceanographic instrument
(1963).

The sections in the

International
Geophysical Year
Atlantic Program
1957-1959. From
Wüst (1964).

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 Satellite Remote Sensing (since 1978)

Global surveys of oceanic processes from space

Examples
Seasat (1978)
NOAA 6-17
(1979-2002)
NIMBUS-7 (1978-1994)
Geosat (1985-1990)
Topex/Poseidon (1992-)
ERS 1 & 2(1991-00, 1995) Topex/Poseidon tracks in the Pacific Ocean
during a 10-day repeat of the orbit. From
Topex/Poseidon Project.

Earth System Study

Global studies of the interaction of biological,
chemical, and physical processes in the ocean,
the atmosphere and the land using in situ and
space data as well as coupled models.
Oceanic examples
Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere (TOGA)
Program (1985-1995)
World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE,
1991-1996)
Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS)

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World Ocean Circulation Experiment: Tracks of
research ships making a one-time global survey of the
oceans of the world

Some Theoretical Milestones

•  1775 Laplace's published his theory of tides.
•  1800 Rumford proposed a meridional circulation of the ocean with water
sinking near the poles and rising near the Equator.
•  1905 Ekman published his paper on wind-driven oceanic boundary layer.
•  1910-1913 Vilhelm Bjerknes published Dynamic Meteorology and
Hydrography which laid the foundation of geophysical fluid dynamics.
•  1942 Publication of The Oceans by Sverdrup, Johnson, and Fleming, the
first comprehensive survey of oceanographic knowledge.
•  1947-1950 Sverdrup, Stommel, and Munk publish their theories of the wind-
driven circulation of the ocean. Together the three papers lay the foundation
for our understanding of the ocean's circulation.
•  1958 Stommel publishes his theory for the deep circulation of the ocean.
•  1969 Kirk Bryan and Michael Cox develop the first numerical model of the
oceanic circulation.
•  ……

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