| "The Sea Around Us," is a 3-credit General Education Course making extensive use of multimedia. This main web page provides links to course information, resources and related internet sites. It is intended mainly for students in Geosciences 40 and access to the lecture notes is restricted to those enrolled in the course. |
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Fall 2008: You may attend either lecture section.
01: T R 11:15-12:05, 26 Hosler Bldg. 02: T R 12:20-1:10 26 Hosler Bldg. |
| Lecture Notes | Grading and Grade Calculator |
The world ocean covers nearly 71% of Earth's surface. Below the sea surface are mountains as rugged and imposing as any on land, extensive featureless plains, and trenches deeper than the world's highest mountains. Much of this seafloor is totally unexplored and holds mysteries to delight even the most jaundiced observer. The oceans contain a tremendous diversity of organisms adapted to a great range of temperature, saltiness, and pressure. In places, the sea teems with life, while other regions are "deserts." The Earth's climate and its temporal variations are intimately connected to the ocean and its water masses. Thoreau expressed it best when he wrote..."All that is told of the sea has a fabulous sound to an inhabitant of the land, and all of its products have a certain fabulous quality, as if they belonged to another planet, from seaweed to a sailors yarns or a fish story. In this element the animal and vegetable kingdoms meet and are strangely mingled."
So, why take a course in oceanography? Because the ocean is more important to each of us than one would guess. It is a great but fragile resource, susceptible to deleterious changes as the result of our neglect and abuse. It is a source of inspiration for artists and of wonder to us all. Come and partake of a practical knowledge and appreciation of the sea.
The Sea Around Us introduces the student to the basic workings of the ocean --the origins of its rock-walled boundaries, the evolution of its coastlines, the motion of currents waves and tides and their destructive power, the source and composition of the vast mass of seawater and its importance to local and global climate and resources, and the fantastic array of marine life and its interdependence with the ocean environment, all with a bit of sea lore and historical perspective. Laboratories feature experiments, films, discussion and simple problem sets that aid in understanding and amplifying important lecture topics.
"The more we learn about the world, and the deeper our understanding, the more conscious, specific and articulate will be our knowledge of what we do not know, our knowledge of ignorance. for this, indeed, is the main source of our ignorance--the fact that our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite." ---Karl Popper (philosopher of science)
