MET-O 1

METEOROLOGY AND
OCEANOGRAPHY 1
2/M JONATHAN M. LOGOC, OIC-NW
INSTRUCTOR
COURSE OUTCOMES
 Interpret information obtained from shipborne
meteorological instruments while vessel is underway;
 Discuss various weather systems, reporting procedures,
and recording systems; and
 Use appropriate meteorological information and
observations in determining expected weather
conditions.
PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION:

Overview of the history and elements of

meteorology in relevance to the maritime
studies.

Different Weather Elements

Shipborne Meteorological Instruments

METEOROLOGY
 Meteorology is the science that studies atmospheric
phenomena, especially those that relate to weather.
 It is the branch of science concerned with the processes
and phenomena of the atmosphere, especially as a means
of forecasting the weather
 Meteorologists who forecast the weather rely on
thousands of weather stations located around the world,
both on land and at sea.
APPLICATION TO MARITIME INDUSTRY
 MARITIME METEOROLOGY
 deals with air and wave forecasts for ships operating at sea.
 a subfield of meteorology that deals with overarching
weather and climate systems, while more specifically
honing into the associated oceanographic conditions in
marine environments and the interactions between the ocean
and atmosphere.
 serves the practical needs of surface and air navigation
over the oceans. Phenomena such as heavy weather, high
seas, tropical storms, fog, ice accretion, sea ice, and icebergs
are especially important because they seriously threaten the
safety of ships and personnel.
WHY METEOROLOGY?
 In Aristotle's time, anything that was suspended in or fell
from the sky was called a “meteor,” including rain, snow,
hail, rainbows and meteoroids. Therefore, meteorology
technically does study “meteors.”
BRIEF HISTORY
 Book of Genesis- 3rd Day of Creation (separation of land
and sea)
 In Bible times - "˜You are able to interpret the
appearance of the sky but the sign of the times you
cannot interpret.” Book of Matthew
 METEOROLOGICA- Book of Aristotle that first
attempted to provide scientific and logical explanations
for the atmosphere, the ocean and the various
phenomena they engender
BRIEF HISTORY
 1441 -King Sejong’s son, Prince Munjong,
invented the first standardized rain gauge
 1450 - Leone Battista Alberti developed a
swinging-plate anemometer, and is known as the
first anemometer .
 1607 - Galileo Galilei constructs a thermoscope
BRIEF HISTORY
 1643 -Evangelista Torricelli invented the
barometer,Torricelli noticed that air pressure
changes in accordance with changes in the
weather. In fact a drop in pressure would often
signal that a storm was coming.
 1644 - hygrometer was invented

 1662 - Sir Christopher Wren invented the

mechanical, self-emptying, tipping bucket rain
gauge.
BRIEF HISTORY
 17th century onwards- the invention and
gradual refinement of scientific instruments
 1714 – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the
mercury thermometer
 1742 - Anders Celsius, a Swedish astronomer,
proposed the 'centigrade' temperature scale, the
predecessor of the current Celsius scale
BRIEF HISTORY
 1765 - daily measurements of air pressure,
moisture content, wind speed and direction
began to be made. This was first done by French
scientist Laurent Lavoisier who stated,"With all
of this information it is almost always possible
to predict the weather one or two days ahead
with reasonable accuracy.”
 1783 - the first hair hygrometer is demonstrated
by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure.
BRIEF HISTORY
 1806 - Francis Beaufort introduced his system
for classifying wind speeds
 1849- the first use of the newly invented electric
telegraph to transmit weather observations in
Britain
 1854 - French warship and 38 merchant vessels
sank in a fierce storm off the Crimean port of
Balaklava
BRIEF HISTORY
 International Meteorological Conference of 1873-
development of International Meteorological
Organization (World Maritime Organization today)
 Sinking of the Titanic in 1911- led to the establishment
of the International Ice Patrol in the North Atlantic and,
in 1914, the adoption of the first International
Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS)
 April 1960 - launch of the first successful weather
satellite, TIROS-1, marked the beginning of the age
where weather information became available globally.
OCEANOGRAPHY 
 Oceanography is the science that studies the oceans
along with marine organisms and ecosystem
dynamics, ocean currents and waves, plate tectonics
and the geology of the sea floor, and the chemical
substances and physical properties of the world
oceans.

 Also known as Oceanology

OCEANOGRAPHY 
Branches:
 Ecosystem dynamics 

 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics

 Ocean currents

 Plate Tectonics 

 Geology of the sea floor

 Waves

 Fluxes of various chemical substances and

physical properties within the ocean and across
its boundaries.
ELEMENTS OF METEOROLOGY
Temperature
Humidity
Atmospheric pressure or Air
pressure
Wind
Cloud
Precipitation
TEMPERATURE
 A measurement of the amount of kinetic energy present
in the air, which manifests itself physically through the
experience of heat or cold.
 A very important element of weather and clearly
influences other weather elements like wind,
precipitation, clouds, and more.
 Is measured by Wet & Dry Bulb Thermometer or
Hygrometer in:
 Degree Celsius (°C),
 Degree Fahrenheit (°F); or
 Degree Kelvin (°K)
HUMIDITY
 The presence of water vapor in the atmosphere at a
specific time and measured in percentage (%) or grams
per cubic meter (g/m3). 
 The more water evaporates and the more water vapor in
the atmosphere, the higher the percentage of humidity in
that area will be.
 Humidity affects weather in a lot of different ways such
as cloud formation, thunderstorm and hurricanes, and
coastal and mountain climate zones.
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE OR AIR
PRESSURE
 The result of the pressure created by the weight
of the air in the Earth's atmosphere.
 Is measured by the Ship’s Aneroid barometer
expressed in millibars (mb), hectoPascals (hPa),
or millimeters of Mercury (mmHg)
 The force per unit area exerted by an
atmospheric column (that is, the entire body
of air above the specified area).
WIND
 The wind is defined as the large-scale movement of air
from areas of high air pressure to areas of low pressure
in the atmosphere.
 It is air in motion.

 It is usually the natural horizontal motion of the

atmosphere.
 Winds are produced by differences in atmospheric
pressure
 Measured by the ship’s Anemometer & Wind Vane to
acquire the Apparent and True Wind Speed &
Direction
CLOUD
 A large collection of tiny water droplets or ice crystals
that formed after water reached condensation level and
not remaining in gaseous form anymore.
 The cloudy part of the atmosphere lies below an
invisible ‘lid’ called the tropopause. Clouds cannot
penetrate this top that is put on the weather and about the
only time when we actually can see its effect is when
thunderclouds spread their anvils under it.
 The layer below the tropopause is called the troposphere
and all weather processes of interest to us occur in the
troposphere.
HOW DO CLOUDS FORM?
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK_UOLsN72Q
PRECIPITATION
 Is water in its different states, which form after
condensation turned water vapor into its liquid or solid
form, which falls to the ground after it becomes too
heavy to stay suspended in the air.
 is any liquid or frozen water that forms in the
atmosphere and falls back to the Earth. It comes in
many forms:
 Rain
 Sleet
 Hail
 Snow
HOW PRECIPITATION OCCUR
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFgnymK7pJA
TYPES OF PRECIPITATION
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw6AWVCdEtM
SHIPBORNE METEOROLOGICAL
INSTRUMENTS

 Dry & Wet Bulb Thermometer or Hygrometer

 Aneroid Barometer

 Vane Anemometer & Wind Indicator

 DRY & WET BULB THERMOMETER OR
HYGROMETER
 The Wet and Dry Bulb Thermometer is also a hygrometer,
which is simply an instrument used to measure the relative
humidity of the atmosphere.
 It consists of two thermometers, one with a bulb that is
kept dry and one that is kept moist.
 The relative humidity is calculated from the difference in
readings of the thermometers when water evaporates from
the wet bulb, decreasing its temperature.
 Readings are graduated in Celsius -20° to +50° (in 1°C
increments) and Fahrenheit 0° to +120° (in 2°F increments)
HOW TO READ TEMPERATURE
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AZWGyoa2HM
HYGROMETER
HOW TO READ THE HYGROMETER OR
DRY & WET BULB THERMOMETER
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJawe6DMR_s
ANEROID BAROMETER
A device used to measure atmospheric
pressure

 It contains a flexible-walled evacuated capsule,

the wall of which deflects with changes in
atmospheric pressure. This deflection is coupled
mechanically to an indicating needle. 
ANEROID BAROMETER
mmHg Conversion

MEASURING HAND

SETTING HAND
HOW TO ACQUIRE ATMOSPHERIC
PRESSURE
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe2HQoCfDYQ
VANE ANEMOMETER
 An anemometer is an equipment which measures both
wind speed and wind direction, simultaneously.
 This equipment shows on display the relative direction
and relative speed of wind flowing above a travelling
vessel.
 A device for measuring the speed of airflow in the
atmosphere.
 It can be used on a wide variety of vessels – small boats,
fishing boats, and work ships.
VANE ANEMOMETER &WIND
INDICATOR
HOW TO ACQUIRE TRUE WIND SPEED &
DIRECTION
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO4DR2yZf0Q
SOURCES
 https://www.imarest.org/membership/education-careers/careers-in-the-marine-professi
on/how-about-oceanography-or-marine-meterology#:~:text=Marine%20meteorology
%20is%20a%20subfield,between%20the%20ocean%20and%20atmosphere
.
 https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/precipitation/
 https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/wet-and-dry-bulb+thermometer#:~:text=
The%20dry%2Dbulb%20thermometer%20shows%20the%20current%20temperature
%2C%20whereas%20the,relative%20humidity%20of%20the%20air
.
 https://tamaya-technics.com/en/marine/#:~:text=An%20anemometer%20is%20an%2
0equipment,flowing%20above%20a%20travelling%20vessel
.
 https://www.britannica.com/technology/anemometer
 https://www.britannica.com/technology/barometer#ref108935
 https://www.britannica.com/science/atmospheric-pressure#ref128230