Underwater Acoustics

• Underwater acoustics is one of the fastest growing fields of

research in acoustics.
• Every year billions of dollars are spent on the use of underwater
acoustics
– mineral industry (oil and solid mineral exploration in the sea),
– food industry (fishing),
– transportation and recreation industries (navigation and safety
devices)
– worlds navies (undersea warfare).
• A great number of industrial companies are developing and
manufacturing instruments and devices for underwater acoustics,
– inspection and mapping of the seabed,
– underwater communication,
– control of processes in off-shore activities,
– search and recovery missions etc.
Exploring Underwater Environment
• The ocean covers more than 70% of the surface of
our planet and yet it still remains largely unexplored.
• Divers and submersibles can both play important
roles in our quest to understand what lies beneath.
• Divers using traditional open circuit scuba explore
depths of up to 30 meters (about 100 feet)
• Submersibles have allowed us to study marine life
and objects down to 150 meters (500 feet).
Exploring Underwater Environment
• Underwater exploration is the relatively recent process of
investigating the depths of the sea
– to understand its physical and chemical characteristics
– to learn about the life forms that inhabit this realm.
• Underwater exploration near the surface and near the shore
is an ancient form of earning a livelihood and enjoying the
pleasures of the water.
• Deep-sea exploration is a recent phenomenon because
technological developments have been essential to the
survival of human beings in deeper water.
• Alternatively, these developments have eliminated the need
for humans to journey to these depths.
Exploring Underwater Environment
• The very earliest explorations of the sea depended on human
endurance,
– the depth a person could sustain a dive.
• Ancient human ancestors certainly explored the near shore.
• The Polynesians dived from their sea-going outrigger canoes,
but the depth they could explore was limited to relatively
shallow water.
• The women who dive for pearls in and near Japan and the
Greeks who dive for sponges have achieved phenomenal
endurance records for holding their breath.
 Exploring the Underwater
Environment
• Scientific study of the physics of the deep sea began when
French mathematician, astronomer, and scientist Pierre Simon
de Laplace (1749–1827) used only tidal motions along the
shores of West Africa and Brazil to calculate the average
depth of the Atlantic Ocean.
• He estimated this average to be 13,000 ft (3,962 m), which
scientists later proved with soundings over the ocean to be
relatively accurate.
• Investigations of the sea bottom were begun when
submarines were manufactured, and soundings were used to
lay submarine cables.
 Exploring the Underwater
Environment
• Nineteenth and twentieth century technology caused an
explosion in the exact sciences.
• The captains of sailing vessels made precise ships’ logs in the
early nineteenth century that proved valuable in early
oceanography.
• These records were compiled by Matthew Fontaine Maury,
who set documentation standards later followed by many
international congresses on oceanography and other sciences
of the sea.
• The expeditions of Captain James Cook and the polar
explorers who explored the North Pole with Sir William
Edward Parry as well as the Antarctic Region and his uncle
Sir John Ross added more information about oceanic surface.
 Exploring the Underwater
Environment
• In the mid-1800s, Norwegian scientists proved life exists in
the deep sea when they recovered a stalked crinoid from a
depth of 10,200 ft (3,109 m).
• In 1870, the British began the first expedition strictly to
explore the deep ocean.
• The H.M.S. Challenger expedition left England in December
1872 and spent four years conducting oceanographic studies
in the oceans of the world, returning to England in May 1876.
• The ship’s crew was under the command of Sir George Nares,
and Sir Charles Wyville Thomson was the chief scientist on
board.
 Exploring the Underwater
Environment
• The crew is credited with discovering 715 new genera and
4,417 new species of marine organisms.
• At about the same time, the German ship the
S.M.S. Gazelle made observations of southern waters
including the South Atlantic, South Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
• The U.S.S. Tuscarora cruised the North Pacific to make
soundings for the trans-Pacific cable line and recorded many
other scientific observations along with the soundings.
Studies of underwater acoustics before
World War I
• The Greek philosopher,. Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.) may have been
one of the first to note that sound could be heard in water as well
as in air.
• In 1490 the Italian, Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) wrote in his
notebook: "if you cause your ship to stop, and place the head of a
long tube in the water and place the other extremity to your ear,
you will hear ships at great distances".
• Of course, the background noise of lakes and seas was much lower
in his days than now, when all kinds of ships pollute the seas with
noise.
• About one hundred years later, Francis Bacon in Narural History
supported the idea, that water is the principal medium by which
sounds originating therein reach a human observer standing
nearby.
 Studies of underwater acoustics
before World War I
• In the 18th and early 19th century, a few scientists became interested in sound
transmitted in water.
• They measured the speed of sound in fresh and salt water, comparing these with
the speed of sound in air already well measured by them.
• Their sound sources included bells, gunpowder, hunting horns and human voices.
• Their own ears usually served as receivers.
• In 1743, J. A. Nollet conducted a series of experiments in order to prove that water
is compressible.
• With his head under water, he heard a pistol shot, a bell, a whistle and loud
shouts.
• He noted that the intensity of the sound decreased a little with the depth, thus
indicating that the loss mostly occurred at the surface.
• Alexander Monro, in 1780, tested his ability to hear sounds underwater.
• He used a large and a small bell, which he sounded both in air and in water.
• They could be heard in water, but the pitch sounded lower than in air. He also
attempted to compare the speed of sound in air and in water, and concluded that
the two sound speeds seemed to be the same.
 Studies of underwater acoustics
before World War I
• In September 1826 on the Lake Geneva, when the water temperature was
8 0 C, J.D. Colladon (1802-93), a Swiss physicist, and J.K.F. Sturm (1803-55),
a French mathematician, made the first widely-known measurements of
the speed of sound in water.
• A bell hanging down from a boat was used as transmitter and when
striking the bell a flash of light was made by igniting some gunpowder.
• This flash could be seen by Colladon in a boat situated at a distance of
about 10 miles from the transmitter.
• He started his watch when he saw the flash and stopped it when he heard
the signal about 10 seconds later.
• His receiver was a trumpet design with one end in the water and the other
in his ear.
• By means of this rather primitive set-up they measured the speed of
sound in water at 8 0 C to 1435 m/s, onIy about 3 m/s less than accepted
today.
 Studies of underwater acoustics
before World War I
• During the years 1830 - 1860 the scientists started thinking over
some applications of underwater sound.
• Questions like: "Can the echo of a sound pulse in water be used for
determination of the water depth or the distance between ships?"
Or: ''Can the communication between ships be improved by
underwater transmission of sound?"
• M.F. Maury's 'Physical Geography of the Sea', 6th Ed., 1859, in
which he says: "Attempts to fathom the ocean; by both sound and
pressure, had been made, but out in 'blue water' every trial was
only a failure repeated.
• The echo or reverberation from the bottom might, it be held, be
heard, and the depth determined from the rate at which sound
travels through water. But, echo was silent, and no answer was
received from the bottom.
 Studies of underwater acoustics
before World War I
• During the last half of the 19th century , when the world changed
from sail to engine driven ships, concern was expressed about the
safety of navigation in fog and the danger of collision with other
ships or with icebergs.
• John Tyndall in the UK and Joseph Henry in the USA - in spite of the
fact that they both In separate investigations found sound in the air
to be unreliable - recommended in 1876 to the lighthouse
authorities in both countries, that they should adopt high-power
siren warning installations for use in air for all major Iight houses.
• This blow to underwater acoustics did not have any serious
consequences.
• The possible advantages of signaling by sound in water were taken
up again in the late 1880s by Lucian Blake and by Thomas Alva
Edison in the USA. Edison invented an underwater device for
communication between ships.
 Studies of underwater acoustics
before World War I
• Submerged bells on lightships were introduced to a large
extent during the last years of the 19th century.
• The noise from these bells could be detected at a great
distance through a stethoscope or by means of simple
microphones mounted on a ship's hull.
• ElishaGray, working with Edison on improving the telephone,
recognised that the carbon button microphone in a suitable
water-proof container could be used as a hydrophone to
receive underwater bell signals.
• In 1899, Gray and A.J. Mundy were granted a patent for an
electrically operated bell for underwater signaling.
Studies of underwater acoustics before
World War I
• In 1912, the Submarine Signal Company hired the Canadian,
R.A. Fessenden to develop a sound source more efficient than
the pneumatically or electrically operated bell.
• Fessenden designed and build a moving coil transducer for
the emission and reception of underwater sound.
• The Fessenden oscillator, which was designed somewhat like
an electro-dynamic loudspeaker, allowed ships to both
communicate with each other by use of the Morse Code and
to detect echoes from underwater objects.
• The power level in water was around 2 kW at the resonance
frequency of 540 Hz.
• By 1914, the echo location process, known as echo ranging,
was far enough developed to locate an iceberg at a distance
of 3.2 Km.
• Maurice Ewing, professor of physics at Lehigh
University in Pennsylvania, was convinced that
it would be possible to propagate sound over
hundreds - possibly thousands - of kilometres
through the ocean if both source and receiver
were appropriately placed.
• World War II had prevented him from testing
his theory, but in 1945 he propagated sound
from small explosions over a distance of more
than 3000 Km from Eleuthera in the Bahamas
to Dakar in West Africa.
• The propagation took place in a ubiquitous permanent
sound channel of the deep ocean.
• The channel was by Ewing called the 'SOFAR' channel,
i.e. the sound Fixing And Ranging channel.
• The first application of this discovery was aimed at
providing a rescue system for downed-at-sea airmen.
• From his inflated rubber boat, the airman should drop
small cartridges over the side, set to explode on the
axis of the SOFAR channel some 1200 m deep in the
North Atlantic.
• Sound from the explosion would be refracted back
to the channel axis and the propagation would only
be influenced by cylindrical spreading.
• Receiving hydrophones positioned on the channel
axis at various positions off the continental shelves
would contribute to the pinpointing of the source.
• It should be noted that also Russian scientists were
studying the undersea sound channel, and in the
late 40ties L.M.Brekhovskikh discovered the sound
Channel in the Pacific ocean.
• Ewing together with J.L.Worzel and several other colleagues
at Woods Hole also studied long distance sound propagation
in shallow water. Based on their data, Chaim Pekeris
constructed his normaI mode propagation theory.
• This concept of elastic wave propagation has allowed
underwater acousticians to model and to understand the
complex acoustics of shallow water.
• Ewings and Worzels experiences also formed the basis of a
series of seabed geologic structure studies performed mostly
in shallow water off the East Coast of the USA.
• The co-operation between Ewings group at Columbia
University and the scientist at Woods Hole turned out to
become very fruitful for underwater seismology studies.
• The 'refraction method' and the 'Continuous Seismic Profiler'
were developed.
• A group around C. F. Eyring in San Diego had observed that
diffuse echoes were received from the volume of the water.
• These echoes were arranged roughly in horizontal layers
whose depths were of the order of 400 meter at noon, but
they migrated to the surface during twilight and the early
evening.
• At dawn, they migrated downward to complete a daily
cycle. Due to help from marine biologists it was possible to
show, that the responsible scatters were small planktonic
fish having a swim bladder and living in the deep water
regions of the oceans.
• The research in the 'deep scattering layers' peaked during
the period 1949 - 1957. Important contributions. to marine
bio-acoustics were produced during the subsequent years.
• The fast development in computer technology permitted a
great step forward to be taken in underwater acoustic
modelling.
• The ray, the normal mode and the parabolic equation
methods for underwater sound propagation modelling
were refined and a great number of computer codes - range
independent and range dependent - were developed.
• Environmental models quantifying the boundary conditions
(surface and bottom) and the volumetric effects of the
ocean environment, and ambient noise and reverberation
models have been developed.
• The development in acoustical modelIing now seems to
accelerate the model development in fields like
oceanography, seismology and global meteorology.
• It is an impossible task in a few lines to give credit
to all the important aspects of underwater
acoustics developed during the last 40 years.
• However, the most important achievements are
reported in several books treating Acoustical
Oceanography published more recently.
• The list of references comprises some of the most
essential publications on the history of
underwater acoustics and its applications and on
the recent developments in acoustical
oceanography.
 Historical Highlights
• “If you cause your ship to stop and place the head of a long tube in the water and place the outer
extremity to your ear, you will hear ships at a great distance from you.”
Leonardo da Vinci, 1490.
• Aristotle (384–322 BC) was among the first to note that sound could be heard in water as well as in
air.
• Nearly 2000 years later, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) made the observation quoted above that
ships could be heard at great distances underwater.
• Almost 200 years after da Vinci’s observation, the physical understanding of acoustical process
was advancing rapidly with Marin Mersenne and Galileo independently discovering the laws of
vibrating strings, which Mersenne published in his work L’Harmonie Universelle in the late 1620’s.
• Mersenne’s remarks regarding the nature and behavior of sound and his early experimental
measurements on the speed of sound in air during the mid to late 1600’s are considered to provide
the foundation for acoustics.
• Several decades later, in 1687, Sir Isaac Newton published the first mathematical theory of how
sound travels, in his great work, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
• Although Newton focused on sound in air, the same basic mathematical theory applies to sound in
water.
• In 1743, Abbé J. A. Nollet conducted a series of experiments to settle a dispute about whether
sounds could travel through water.
• With his head underwater, he reported hearing a pistol shot, bell, whistle, and shouts.
• He also noted that an alarm clock clanging in water could be heard easily by an underwater
observer, but not in air, clearly demonstrating sound travels through water.
 Pioneers of Underwater Acoustics
• The Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
awards a silver medal honoring five Pioneers
of Underwater Acoustics:
– H. J. W. Fay, Reginald A. Fessenden, G. W. Pierce,
Paul Langevin, and Harvey C. Hayes
Pioneers of Underwater Acoustics
 Pioneers of Underwater Acoustics
• Harold J. W. Fay was long associated with the Submarine
Signal Company (SSC), which was founded in 1901 to
develop commercial products in submarine signaling
pertinent to ship navigation for avoiding hazards.
• Fay became SSC president in 1942 and led it through its
merger with the Raytheon Company in 1946.
• He made creative strides, including a very early system
whereby two carbon-button hydrophones in water-filled
“sea chests,” one on each side of the vessel, could be used
to steer the ship toward a bell (Fay, 1912; Reynhout, 2002;
Howarth, 2015).
• He is credited with leadership in underwater acoustics over
almost 50 years.
 Pioneers of Underwater Acoustics
• Reginald Fessenden joined SSC as a consultant a few months after the
April 1912 loss of the Titanic.
• At SSC, he began development of active sonar with a device called the
Fessenden oscillator.
• Although a transducer and not an oscillator, it utilized a vibrating faceplate
exposed on one side to seawater and driven by a voltage applied to an
electromagnetic coil that moved in an induced magnetic field.
• This created underwater acoustic signals in the form of tone bursts, and it
also received echoes.
• Sea trials began in 1914, demonstrating underwater communications and
iceberg detection.
• Experiments on submarine detection were done in 1917, and the US Navy
began installing Fessenden oscillators for communication on new
submarines in 1918.
• Commercial “Fessenden fathometers” came into use in 1924
 Pioneers of Underwater Acoustics
• The pioneering electronic efforts of George Washington Pierce
greatly supported advances in underwater acoustics.
• Pierce served at the Naval Experimental Station in New London, CT,
during WWI and developed sonar circuitry, including phase-delay
“compensators,” to enable a binaural listener to determine the
bearing of a signal from two or more external sensors on one’s own
ship.
• He later capitalized on vacuum tube technology and developed
many profitable ideas, including the famous Pierce oscillator, which
remains significant to this day.
• He was also a pioneer in magnetostrictive transducers.
• These devices utilize the sound-generating expansion and
contraction of certain metals when exposed to alternating
electromagnetic fields, a process that also permits signal reception
(Pestorius and Blackstock, 2015).
 Pioneers of Underwater Acoustics
• The early 20th century was a time of great advances in the physical
sciences, including the development of relativity and revolutionary
discoveries in atomic physics.
• The great French physicist Paul Langevin was at the center of these
exciting developments.
• His professor (Pierre Curie) had codiscovered piezoelectricity, which is the
ability of certain crystals, such as quartz, to expand and contract in an
electric field and to generate an electric charge when acoustically excited.
• WWI motivated Langevin to utilize this effect to develop ultrasonic sonar.
• Quartz crystals, mass loaded on both sides to lower their resonance
frequencies, were used to develop high-resolution, narrow-beam sonars.
• The war ended before they saw service, but Langevin was able to
demonstrate ultrasonic echo ranging for submarine detection and depth
finding (Centre National de la Researche Scientifique [C.N.R.S.], 1950;
Zimmerman, 2002; Sabra, 2015).
 Pioneers of Underwater Acoustics
• Harvey Hayes was the first Director of the US Navy Torpedo
Station in New London, CT, during WWI.
• He became the first Superintendent of the Acoustics
Division of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in
Washington, DC, on its founding in 1923.
• For the next 25 years, he supervised a huge variety of
benchmark research projects, establishing this organization
as a world leader in underwater sound.
• This successful laboratory became a model for the
development of subsequent underwater acoustics
laboratories worldwide.
• Hayes was also the first recipient of the ASA Pioneers in
Underwater Acoustics Medal in 1959 (Erskine, 2013, 2015).
Oceanography
 What is oceanography??
• Oceanography is an interdisciplinary science
where math, physics, chemistry, biology and
geology intersect.
 Oceanography
• Physical oceanography involves the study of the properties
(temperature, density, etc.) and movement (waves, currents, and
tides) of seawater and the interaction between the ocean and the
atmosphere.
• Chemical oceanography involves the study of the composition of
seawater and the biogeochemical cycles that affect it.
• Biological oceanography involves the study of the biological
organisms in the ocean (including life cycles and food production)
such as bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton and extending to the
more traditional marine biology focus of fish and marine mammals.
• Geological oceanography focuses on the structure, features, and
evolution of the ocean basins.
 Why study the physics of
Ocean?
• We build structures on the shore or just offshore
– Transport
– obtain oil and gas
– recreation, swimming, boating, fishing, surfing, and diving.
• Processes that influence these activities:
– waves, winds, currents, and temperature.
• The oceans influence the atmospheric weather and climate.
• The oceans influence the distribution of rainfall, droughts, floods,
regional climate, and the development of storms, hurricanes, and
typhoons.
• Air-sea interactions
– fluxes of heat and water across the sea surface
– the transport of heat by the oceans
– the influence of the ocean on climate and weather patterns
 Oceanography
Oceanography is greater than the sum of these specific
branches.
Oceanographers use a variety of tools to study the ocean, and
many of these studies involve more than one branch.
Oceanographers collect discrete water, sediment and
biological samples using ships (Research Vessels).
They deploy autonomous sampling systems such as buoys and
gliders to collect data over time and space scales that cannot
be done with a ship.
Remote sensing from aircraft and satellites allows
oceanographers to get a global view of some parameters.
Modeling allows oceanographers to look at the past and
predict the future state of the ocean (e.g circulation, air-sea
interactions, sustainability of fisheries, quality of water, etc.).
 Oceanography
The knowledge gained from all of these types of
measurements allows oceanographers to do many
things including, but not limited to:
• better predict (using models) changes in weather and
climate improve the forecast for hazards; natural
(e.g. hurricanes) or man-made (e.g. oil spills)
• assess the impact of pollutants on the quality of
water in the ocean
• protect the quality of the water in the ocean in the
face of increasing human demands (e.g. fisheries,
tourism, shipping, offshore oil & gas, offshore wind
farms, etc.)
 Biological Oceanography
• understand what controls the distribution of different types of
marine life
• how living organisms influence and interact with processes in the
oceans.
• Biological oceanographers study all forms of life in the oceans, from
microscopic plants and animals to fish and whales.
• Biological oceanographers examine all forms of oceanic processes
that involve living organisms.
• These include processes that occur at molecular scales, such
as photosynthesis , respiration, and cycling of essential nutrients ,
to large scale processes such as effects of ocean currents on marine
productivity.
 Biological Oceanography
• Heuristic models are used to help to understand and
explain an existing set of observations.
• Lasers, fiber optics, high-speed digital video imaging
and DNA microarrays are some of the high-tech
"gadgets" that are used to study biological processes
in the oceans.
• Robotic underwater vehicles reduce the risk and
expense of manned submersibles while providing
spectacular views of undersea communities.
 Chemical Oceanography
• Chemical oceanography is a broad and complex study of the
metamorphosis that the chemicals within oceans, living marine
organisms, and the ocean floor undergo.
• The ocean contains a multitude of chemicals; some are natural, and
others are man-made.
• Rivers and streams bring freshwater into the ocean along the coast
line.
• Freshwater brings the chemicals which have been dissolved into it from
natural weathering and human activities.
• Examples of this would be the weathering of rocks or soils, industrial
sources like agriculture, power plants, or manufacturing facilities,
and pollution from nearby towns and cities.
• Chemicals can also enter the oceans through the atmosphere by
dissolving or dissipating.
• Substances like aerosols and pesticides can enter this way.
• Other ways chemicals can enter the ocean are through ocean
exploration, the shipping industry, and the harvesting of oil.
 Chemical Oceanography
• Chemical Oceanography is fundamentally
interdisciplinary.
• The chemistry of the ocean is closely tied to ocean
circulation, climate, the plants and animals that live
in the ocean, and the exchange of material with the
atmosphere, cryosphere, continents, and mantle.
•
Chemical Oceanography
Chemical pollution is a threat to the health of the ocean and the
organisms that rely on it.
• The presence of chemical pollution can destroy ecosystems, leaving
them inhabitable and killing the organisms that live in them.
• The introduction of chemical pollution to an ecosystem creates an
unsafe environment for the organisms living there.
• Many chemicals pollutants come from oil pollutants in the ocean can
also have a negative effect on spawning grounds, lowering the fish
count; this happens with other marine animals as well.
• Of the oil found in the ocean, 47 percent of it has entered naturally by
slowly seeping in through the crack in the sea floor.
• This means that the other 53 percent has entered unnaturally and at
the hands of humans.
• The key difference here between natural oil and unnatural oil entering
the ocean is that seepage flows very slowly, allowing the environment
to adapt.
• Unnatural oil enters the ocean at a high flow rate with a dense
concentration.
 Chemical Oceanography
• Chemical Oceanographers study the interactions
between different chemicals found in the ocean.
• They utilize instruments like a pH meter, electrical
conductivity meter, and dissolved CO₂ meter as tools
to measure the dissipation rates of chemicals into
the water.
• They can measure the particle matter from the
atmosphere, coastlines, and seafloor, in the ocean as
well.
 Chemical Oceanography
• This diversity of influences on the chemistry of the
ocean is represented by the research interests of the
Chemical Oceanography faculty at the University of
Washington, listed below:
– Carbon Cycle
– Paleoclimatology
– Geochemistry of rivers and estuaries
– Biogeochemistry
– Sediment Geochemistry
 Geological Oceanography
• Geological oceanography is the study of Earth beneath the oceans.
• A geological oceanographer studies the topography, structure, and
geological processes of the ocean floor to discover how the Earth
and oceans were formed and how ongoing processes may change
them in the future.
• Geological oceanography is one of the broadest fields in the Earth
Sciences and contains many subdisciplines, including geophysics
and plate tectonics , petrology and sedimentation processes, and
micropaleontology and stratigraphy.
• Geological oceanographers study many features of the oceans such
as rises and ridges, trenches, seamounts, abyssal hills, the oceanic
crust, sedimentation (clastic, chemical, and biological), erosional
processes, volcanism , and seismicity.
 Geological Oceanography
• The structure and topography of the ocean floor are studied through
the use of satellite mapping, which measures the level of the ocean
surface to estimate the shape of the ocean floor.
• A detailed study in 1978 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) involved the Seasat satellite which produced
frequent, short pulses of microwave radiation to measure the level of
the surface of the sea with great accuracy (within 3 centimeters or 1
inch).

Underwater mountains and valleys cause subtle variations in Earth's

gravitational field.
• The stronger gravity near high massive formations attracts more water
molecules, raising the level of the ocean slightly.
• Similarly valleys on the ocean floor produce weaker areas of gravity, so
the level of the ocean will be lower.
• Using this technique, a complete survey of the ocean floor was
accomplished.
 Geological Oceanography
• Seismic techniques are used to measure the subsurface structure.
• This type of study is carried out by teams of two ships:
– one fires an explosive in the water
– the other uses sensitive instruments to record the sound waves as
they reach the second ship.
• Some waves travel directly to the second ship; others travel to the
ocean floor, are refracted (bent) within the layers of sediment, and
then travel to the second ship.
• By measuring the time it takes for the energy to arrive and the
distance between the boats, the thickness of sediments and other
features can be determined.
• Structures may also be analyzed by studying natural earthquake
waves that travel through deeper oceanic rocks and may be
recorded at stations around the world.
 Geological Oceanography
• Dredging processes and deep-sea exploration projects such as the Ocean
Drilling Program (ODP), obtains samples of seafloor sediment from the entire
world.
• Universities and private individuals, as well as governments, have established
institutions and programs for the study of the ocean.
• Examples include the Ocean Drilling Program, funded by the U.S. National
Science Foundation and 22 international partners to conduct research into the
history of ocean basins and the nature of the crust beneath the ocean floor
• Sea Grant, a university-based program that receives support from the U.S.
Department of Commerce through NOAA and that studies all aspects of the
ocean, including geological, chemical, and physical processes;

• RIDGE (Ridge Interdisciplinary Global Experiments), a program funded by the

National Science Foundation whose the primary objective is to understand the
geological, chemical, biological, and physical oceanographic interactions
between the oceans and the midocean ridge system, which forms the plate
tectonic boundaries between diverging plates.
 What do Oceanographers measure in
ocean?
• The physical properties of seawater include both
‘thermodynamic properties’ like density and freezing point, as
well as ‘transport properties’ like the electrical conductivity
and viscosity.
• Density in particular is an important property in ocean science
because small spatial changes in density result in spatial
variations in pressure at a given depth, which in turn drive the
ocean circulation.
• Physical properties can be measured directly.
• The table or formula that is used is usually derived
from careful laboratory measurements.
Temperature
• "There exists a scalar quantity called temperature, which is a
property of all thermodynamic systems (in equilibrium states)
such that temperature equality is a necessary and sufficient
condition for thermal equilibrium.“
• Objects in contact with one another will tend toward thermal
equilibrium by an exchange of heat between them.
• Thus, if we know the temperature of one object (call it a
thermometer), and it is in thermal equilibrium with water
around it, which will occur after enough time has passed, we
also know the temperature of the water
Salinity
• Salinity is a measure of the ‘saltiness' of seawater, or more
precisely the amount of dissolved matter within seawater.
• Operationally, dissolved matter is that which remains after
passing the seawater through a very fine filter to remove
particulate matter.
• Historically, a glass fiber filter with a nominal pore size of
0.45 μm was used.
• More recently, filters with 0.2 μm pores have become
standard, since filters with this pore size will catch the
smallest bacteria.
•
Density
• The most important thermodynamic property of seawater
for studies of oceanic circulation is its density (denoted ρ).
• It is therefore conventional in discussions of the ocean to
use a derived variable σ for density, where
• σ = ρ/(kg/m3 ) - 1000
• so that the leading '10', virtually always present in
numerical values of density, is dropped.
• For example, a density of 1027.534 kg/m3 would usually be
written as a σ-value of 27.534 kg/m3.
• Density depends on heat content and salinity.
• Since seawater is not perfectly incompressible, it also varies
slightly with pressure
Depth Variations
 Depth Variations
• The ocean is divided into different depth zones.
• The epipelagic extends from the water surface down to a
depth of 200 metres.
• The word comes from the Greek terms pélagos (open sea)
and epí (upon).
• This upper layer, which is influenced by light, is especially
productive because the primary producers (algae,
cyanobacteria and seagrass) produce biomass here through
photosynthesis.
• This primary production is the foundation of life in the sea.
 Depth Variations
• Below the epipelagic zone lies the mesopelagic,
extending down to around 1000 metres (Gr.: mésos =
middle).
• Below this, the bathypelagic zone encompasses
depths from 1000 to 4000 metres (Gr.: bathýs =
deep).
• Many deep-sea species live within this zone,
including fish, crustaceans and snails.
 Depth Variations
• And even deeper, between 4000 and 6000 metres, lies the
abyssopelagic (Gr.: ábyssos = bottomless), where the
prevailing temperatures are near the freezing point.
• Even here specialized animal species can be found, including
crustaceans.
• The deepest regions of the sea are called hadopelagic (Gr.:
hades = underworld).
• The hadopelagic extends into the deep-sea trenches, down to
a depth of 11,000 metres.
• The inhabitants of this deepest marine region include bristle
worms.
• The ambient pressure here is around 1000 times greater than
at the water surface.