History of Oceanography – Prologue I
Early Times
Overall - Information about the sea/oceans
collected by explorers and traders
Paleolithic / Neolithic Periods - fossil evidence
of fishing
(5000 BC - 51 AD)
-1500 - 600 BC Phoenicians big traders,
navigators and sailors
(Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic coast, Red Sea,
Persian Gulf
-1500 - 500 BC Arabs traded in the Pacific
and Indian Oceans; little recorded information
-325 BC - 51 AD - Greeks called
Mediterranean “Thalassa” surrounded by land
which was surrounded by a river “Oceanus”
Alexander the Great - explored oceanus
Nearchus (commander) took first Greek
ships into the ocean to explore the coast and
return safely
Pytheas - navigator, geographer,
astronomer, contemporary of Alexander, made
one of earliest recorded voyages from
Mediterranean to England. Recognized
relationship between tides and moon, tried to
relate latitude and longitude together
Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) - deep ocean
parts, water cycle and cataloged marine
organisms
Eratosthenes (264 - 194 BC) - calculated
the circumference of Earth
Posidonius (135 - 50 BC) - measured
deepest ocean depth 1800 m. near Sardinia
Pliny the Elder (AD23 - 79) - related
moon phases with tides and learned of currents
in Straits of Gibraltor
Ptolemy (AD127 - 51) produced the first
world Atlas and established world boundaries
Middle Ages
Shipbuilding and extended voyages, regular trade
routes established, navigation improved along
with charts (AD 700 - 1400)
-Vikings (AD700 - 1000) - colonized Iceland,
settled Greenland, and NE N. America,
-Arabs established regular trade routes
across the Indian Ocean
-1200’s - detailed charts and compass, tide
tables
-1300’s - Europeans established trade routes
-1416 - Prince Henry of Portugal founded a
school of navigation for mariners and craftsmen
to develop and improve instruments, charts and
ship designs
Voyages of Discovery
Chinese - 15th century made 300 ships, 7 voyages
to explore Pacific and Indian oceans, thought
others had little to offer so began the 400 years
of isolation
Europeans - (1487 - 1596)
Dias - sailed around Cape of Good Hope
into Indian Ocean (1450-1500)
Columbus - 4 voyages across Atlantic (14511506)
Amerigo Vespucci - several voyages to new
world for Spain and Portugal, explored 6000
miles of S. America, continent named after him
((1454-1512)
Ponce de Leon - discovered Florida and
Florida current (1460-1521)
Magellan - Straits of Magellan, crossed
Pacific, Indian around Cape of Good Hope for
first circumnavigation of the earth. Established
length of a degree of latitude and measured the
circumference of earth
(late 1500’s) numerous failed attempts to
find sea passage around N. America
Francis Drake (1540-1596) - showed English
flag around, circumnavigation completed in 1580,
returned with Spanish gold
Beginnings of Earth Science
Experimental science flourished, specific
properties of substances, pamphlets written,
societies formed to discuss discoveries.
Kepler (planetary motion), Galileo (mass,
acceleration, weight), Newton (gravity), Halley
(longitude, compass)
Importance of Charts & Navigational
information
1720 first hydrographic office established for
mapping the oceans
1735 John Harrison made first chronometer
(seagoing clock) but 4th design was most
accurate
1772 Captain James Cook used the chronometer
to produce accurate charts of new areas and
correct previous chart positions. Charted
Pacific Ocean, one of founders of
oceanography (soundings, observations of wind,
currents and water temperatures)
1769 Ben Franklin - Franklin Folger chart for Gulf
Stream, sail in it going to Europe and avoid on
return.
1802 Nathan Bowditch published a navigation
book available for all sailors (US Navy bought
copyright and still published today), set stage for
US Supremacy of seas during Yankee clippers
1807 US congress formed whats today the Nat’l
Ocean Survey, US Naval Oceanographic Office
dedicated to exploring oceans and producing
accurate ocean and coastal charts.
1842 Matt Maury collected wind and current
data from ships logs and produced first charts
-1st atlas of sea conditions and sailing
directions to help seaman save time
-1st true oceanographer - 1st book on
oceanography
Ocean Science Begins
1799-1804 Alexander von Humboldt 5 yr. journey
to S. America, observed animals inhabiting the
current on west coast of S. America, bears his
name,
1831-1836 Charles Darwin classified organisms
from land and sea, first to describe atoll
formation
1815-1854 Edward Forbes surveyed marine life
around British Isles and Mediterranean and
Aegean Seas
-another founder of oceanography
Late 19th century Britian laid trans-Atlantic
telegraph cables which improved deep sea
knowledge
1873 Wyville Thomson published “The Depths of
the Sea” first oceanography book
Challenger Expedition
1872 - 1876 A steam powered sailing vessel
undertook most comprehensive trip ever taken
all over the oceans conducting science research.
Took 20 years to compile all the data.
-John Murray edited all reports and became
known as 1st geology oceanographer
-sparked other countries to try expeditions
Oceanography as Science
1800 - 1900’s - Changing from a descriptive to a
quantitative science - tested hypothesis and
gathered data; models of ocean circulation and
water movement were developed.
-1893-1896 Fridtjof Nansen studied the Arctic
ocean by building a vessel that was to be frozen
in ice to drift to the north pole. Became frozen
for 36 months but studied ocean depth (Arctic
was deep ocean basin), water chemistry, water
and air temperature, plankton blooms.
Laid foundation for modern oceanography
-1911 Roald Amundsen had the first successful
expedition to the south pole and made a
northwest passage entirely by water from
Norway to Alaska
Technology
-1872 Lord Kelvin produced tide tables
1925-1927 ocean depth after echo sounder
developed
US Oceanography Moves into the Twentieth
Century
-1800’s government agencies gathered
information for commerce, fisheries and the
Navy. After Civil War, steam powered boats
turned interest away from study of winds,
currents and ocean floor. so turned private
-1882 Alexander Agassiz led and financed
expeditions for deep sea biology, first ship built
(Albatross) for scientific ocean exploration.
-1927 National Academy of Science established
first committee on oceanography
World War II
Military needed all oceanography input to help
with the war, men had to travel long distances
over seas, needed to know shore conditions,
behavior of explosives in seawater, destroy
submarines.
Ocean Science expands in the US
After war new instruments (sonar, radar,
automated wave detectors and temp-depth
recorders) were available along with government
funding for research and education.
-1950 - earth science and oceanography as
sciences grew
government agencies took off
-Office of Naval research ONR funded research
vessels and programs
-National science foundation NSF wrote basic
research
-Coast and geodetic survey began seismic sea
wave warning system
-1970 reorganized National oceanic and
atmospheric administration NOAA under the
Dept. of commerce which aids in economic
growth by increasing exports and becoming
competitive in world market.
-National weather service
National marine fisheries service
Oceanography of the recent past
-1957-1958 international cooperationInternational geophysical year IGY 67 nations to
explore ocean floor
-1963-64 Indian ocean expedition
-1960’s giant strides in programs and equipment,
special research vessels and submersibles built
for gov and univ. Deep sea drilling program
sampled earths crust below ocean, computers on
board of vessels to help organize and analyze
data (ocean chemistry, water motion, air-sea
interaction)
-1970’s International decade of ocean
exploration IDOE multinational effort to survey
seabed mineral resources, improve environmental
forecasting, investigate coastal ecosystems,
modernize and standardize the gathering and
use of data
-Funds and interest faded until the discovery of
deep sea hot water vents - animals, minerals
renewed interest; deep diving submersibles, deep
sea moorings, remote sensing (satellites)
encouraged large scale research programs
-1970-80 satellite images allowed observation and
model comparison on a global scale (currents,
eddies, plant production, sea level, waves,
thermal properties, air-sea interactions)
Present and future
-1990’s studies ocean circulation and climate,
management of resources, transport of
materials, chemistry,dynamics, energy sources,
gas exchanges, ocean transport, food availability.
-US global changes research program wants to
understand oceans role in our atmosphere,
provides data for models and predictions of
future changes
-World ocean circulation exp WOCE studies
computer models of present ocean state and
predict future changes
-US joint global ocean flux study JGOFS studies
relationshiips between ocean plant production
and solar radiation
-Global ocean atmosphere-land system GOALS
understands EL Nino and climate predictions
-Deep Ocean drilling program DODP, Ridge
Interdisciplinary global exp RIDGE explores
ocean floors and margins of continents,
investigate structure and history of earth