The Earth’s Oceans (ESE 102), Fall 2015
Jess Adkins, Linde-Robinson 122, x8550, jess@gps.caltech.edu
Adam Subhas, Linde-Robinson 101, x8647, asubhas@gps.caltech.edu
Main Text (Must be purchased or have electronic access): Ocean Dynamics and the
Carbon Cycle, Williams, R.G. and Follows, M.J. (2011, Cambridge U. Press)
Books with helpful chapters:
Emerson and Hedges, Chemical Oceanography and the Marine Carbon Cycle
Sarmiento and Gruber, Ocean Biogeochemical Dynamics
Broecker, Tracers in the Sea
The Open University, Ocean Circulation
Marshall and Plumb, Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics
Vallis, Climate and The Oceans
Grading: 60% problem sets (about 4-5), 30% Final Exam, 10% class participation
Syllabus/Topics
-Note: topics do not have to correspond to a single class. Some are longer, some
shorter (maybe).
Topics
Introduction: A 2-Box View of the Ocean
-ocean stratification and the equation of state
-notion of the thermocline and profiles
-the interplay of chemistry, physics, and biology
-rivers/vents and sedimentation (inputs and outputs)
-residence time and chemical reactivity
-chemical composition of the ocean, elemental classification
-Redfield Ratios
-0-D and 1-D models of the ocean.
Reading in W+F
1, 2, 12, 5.5-5.6
Physical Oceanography
-mean winds and mean currents
-heat and salt balance
-seasonal profiles of T and S
-Coriolis and Ekman
-Sverdrup balance
-Western boundary currents
-Overturning circulation and tracers
3, 4, 8, A.1, A.2
Aqueous Chemistry, Total Carbon, and Alkalinity
-acids and bases in seawater
-total carbon (and total anything)
-charge balance and alkalinity
6, A.3
-carbonate equation of state and the control of pCO2
-ionic strength of seawater
Weathering, Rivers, and Estuaries
-weathering of rocks into solutes, the origin of alkalinity
-global river fluxes
-estuaries as ‘filters’ between river and ocean
Berner, Chpt. 4.
Biogeochemistry
-Redfield ratios revisited and preformed nutrients
-Upper ocean nutrient cycling
-New and Export production
-Food webs, preditor-prey interaction
-The bacterial loop
-The viral shunt
-Nitrogen fixation and denitrification
5.1-5.4, 11