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Arctic Ocean Currents
Marine and Environmental Education and Research (MEER),
University of California (UC)
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The California Current
Don Reed,
Department of Geology,
San José State University (SJSU)
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The coherent structure inside the oceanic turbulence around Japan-Islands-Chain
Tsukasa Nishimura, Ysuo Nihei & Student Staff,
Department of Civil Engineering,
Science University of Tokyo
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Draft Fact-sheet Thermohaline Circulation
Christof Appenzeller,
Climate and Environmental Physics (KUP),
Physics Institute, University of Bern
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Dynamics of Boundary Currents and Marginal Seas:
Windward Passage Experiment
William E. Johns,
Meteorology & Physical Oceanography (MPO),
Rosenstiel School of Marine &
Atmospheric Science (RSMAS),
University of Miami (UM)
(Adobe PDF file)
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Great ocean conveyor belt
Potential Impacts of Climate Change,
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
United Nations (UN)
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Introduction to the Hydrosphere: Surface and Subsurface Ocean Currents
Dr. Michael Pidwirny,
Fundamentals of Physical Geography,
PhysicalGeography.net,
Department of Geography,
Okanagan University College
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Observing and Modeling the California Current System
A. J. Miller, J. C. McWilliams, N. Schneider, J. S. Allen,
J. A. Barth, R. C. Beardsley,
F. P. Chavez, T. K. Chereskin,
C. A. Edwards, R. L. Haney, K. A. Kelly,
J. C. Kindle, L. N. Ly,
J. R. Moisan,
M. A. Noble, P. P. Niiler, L. Y. Oey,
F. B. Schwing, R. K. Shearman,
& M. S. Swenson,
Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 80
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Ocean Currents and Climate
University of Southern California (USC)
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Ocean Surface Currents
The Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS)
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On sensitivity of ocean circulation to sea surface salinity
Dan Seidov & Bernd J. Haupt,
Environment Institute, Earth System Science Center,
The Pennsylvania State University (PSU)
(Adobe PDF file)
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Thermohaline circulation
Dan Dorritie, Killer in Our Midst
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The thermohaline circulation
Tim Osborn,
CRU Information Sheet No. 7,
Climatic Research Unit (CRU),
School of Environmental Sciences,
University of East Anglia,
Norwich (UEA Norwich)
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Using Satellite Altimetry to Detect Ocean Currents
Chad Hammons (Adobe PDF file)
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Whirlpools in Your Bathtub
Dr. Sean Chamberlin, Dr. C’s Remarkable Ocean World
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Some say man’s final frontier lies not in space, but within
our oceans. For all our attempts at understanding and dominance, the
oceans, which make up over 70 percent of the Earth’s entire surface
area, remain largely unexplored. The reason for our inability to
pierce the ocean depths in more than a cursory manner can be explained by
one word — pressure. While we have been able to
overcome the vacuum of space, the crushing pressure exerted within the
depths of the oceans restricts our sojourn to the topmost layers of their
watery expanse. Only very high-tech deep submergence vehicles (DSVs) and
diving suits permit us an all-too-brief encounter with what lies within
the darkest recesses of the abyss. The irony is that, as
Earth’s most highly evolved organism, we find ourselves largely
denied the opportunity to return to the place from which modern science
believes all life on Earth derives.
Oceanography is the study of our ocean environment, just as meteorology
is the study of our atmosphere. The linkage between the two is
inescapable;
air-sea
interaction is an important area of research within both sciences.
Oceanography encompasses topics ranging from the effect of sea-surface
winds on ocean chemistry to the study of marine geology and deep-water
sediments. Between and inclusive of the upper and lower ocean regions is
a tremendously diverse biosphere and a land-sea boundary essential for its
maintenance and reproduction — these too fall within the purview of
the discipline of oceanography.
Our oceans are a key component of the planetary ecosystem; environmental
protection of these crucial assets requires that we understand them,
their interactions with the land environment on which we live, and our
effects as a species on their well-being. Damage to our oceans, which
is proceeding at an alarming rate, may very well have widespread and
irreversible consequences for all life on Earth. Can we afford to let
this happen? Central to our protection of the marine environment is our
understanding of that environment. Oceanography has become a critical
area of scientific study in the world today and will increase in its
importance as continental resources dwindle and Man focuses upon the
sea as a new source for raw material and living space.
Authored by Kenneth L. Anderson.
Original article published 26 April 2003.
Follow links to the right to learn more about surface and deep water ocean currents.
At the left margin, Related Links address topics of interest
pertaining to oceanography that may help us all better understand and
appreciate our oceans and the role oceanographers play in unlocking the
secrets of what has long remained one of the most mysterious and
foreboding habitats of planet Earth. View the
Oceanography SiteMap
for a complete list of oceanography and ocean-related topics.
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