The School of the Physical Universe · physics, chemistry, earth & sky
Oceanography & Hydrology
The ocean's physics, chemistry, and life, together with the fresh water that moves through river, aquifer, and sky.
Basins, currents, chemistry, and life — a first full picture of the seventy percent of Earth that is sea.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~18 hours
Unit I — The Shape of the Sea
Ocean basins and bathymetry · The mid-ocean ridge · Mapping by sounding and by satellite · Continental shelves
Unit II — Seawater
Salinity and where the salt comes from · Temperature and density layering · Dissolved gases · Light in the water column
Unit III — Motion
Surface currents and gyres · The deep circulation · Waves · Tides
Unit IV — Life and the Sea Floor
Plankton and the marine food web · Life by depth zone · Hydrothermal vents · People and the ocean
Wind, salt, and the spin of the Earth — the forces that set the ocean in motion and carry heat around the planet.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~24 hours
Unit I — The Forcing
Wind stress and Ekman transport · The Coriolis effect, properly understood · Pressure gradients in the sea
Unit II — The Surface Ocean
The great gyres · Western boundary currents: the Gulf Stream · Upwelling and why some coasts are rich · El Niño as a circulation change
Unit III — The Deep Ocean
Density and water masses · Thermohaline circulation · The meridional overturning · How it is measured: floats and moorings
Where fresh water is, how it moves, and how much can honestly be taken — the accounting behind every well and reservoir.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~22 hours
Unit I — The Water Cycle, Quantified
Precipitation and its measurement · Evaporation and transpiration · The watershed as the unit of account · Water budgets
Unit II — Surface Water
How rivers flow: discharge and stage · Floods and recurrence intervals · Reservoirs and their trade-offs
Unit III — Groundwater
Aquifers and the water table · Darcy's law · Wells and drawdown · Contamination and recharge
Why the sea is salty but not getting saltier, where its oxygen goes, and how it absorbs a quarter of our carbon.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~20 hours
Unit I — The Composition of Seawater
Major ions and the constancy of proportions · Residence times · How salinity is measured
Unit II — Gases and Nutrients
Oxygen: production, consumption, minimum zones · Nutrient cycles and limitation · The biological pump
Unit III — The Carbon Question
The carbonate system · Ocean uptake of carbon dioxide · Acidification and the shell builders · Monitoring the change
How swells are born, why tides differ from port to port, and what surf does to a shoreline over a decade.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — Waves
How wind builds waves · Swell and fetch · Breaking waves and the surf zone · Rogue waves and tsunami, distinguished
Unit II — Tides
The pull of Moon and Sun · Spring and neap tides · Why timing varies by coast · Reading a tide table
Unit III — The Coast
Longshore drift · Beaches in profile: seasonal change · Erosion and sea walls · Estuaries, where fresh meets salt