Department of Marine Sciences

Descriptive Physical Oceanography

(1) General

School:	Of the Environment
Academic Unit:	Department of Marine Sciences
Level of studies:	Undergraduate
Course Code:	191ΘΔ4Υ	Semester:	B
Course Title:	Descriptive Physical Oceanography
Independent Teaching Activities		Weekly Teaching Hours	Credits
		Total credits	6
Course Type:
Prerequisite Courses:	Officially, there are not prerequisite courses. However, the student needs to have essential knowledge of Physics (Classical Mechanics, Waves, Radiation), Calculus and Chemistry
Language of Instruction and Examinations:	Greek (tutoring can be offered in English for Erasmus students)
Is the course offered to Erasmus students:	Yes, however it is advisable that they choose our Anglophone courses instead
Course Website (Url):	https://www.mar.aegean.gr/index.php?lang=en&pg=3.1.1&lesson=1031

(2) Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Aim of this course is the familiarization of young students with the properties, characteristics and variability of the natural environment in which the marine ecosystem develops and survives.

The successful completion of this course by a student provides him/her with the necessary background to

(a) be able to combine biogeochemical processes knowledge provided by other courses with the physical background processes in order to compose the interdisciplinary knowledge represented by the B.Sc. in Marine Sciences.

(β) to recognize the basic functioning of a marine basin from a simple overview of its basic characteristic exchanges with the atmosphere, the land or the ocean, and to be able to extract fundamental conclusions regarding its physical and biogeochemical character,

(γ) to combine the wider knowledge regarding the Ocean’s hydrology and circulation emanating from this course with the additional knowledge of geophysical fluid dynamics, vector analysis and air-sea interaction from other courses in order to be able to compose an integrated comprehension (and develop future synthesis capabilities) of natural marine processes.

(δ) through the laboratory of this course, a student develops basic expertise of widely and freely available oceanographic and general tools for the processing, analysis and presentation of marine information (i.e. Excel with an oceanographic library, Seabird Data Processing, Ocean Data View).

General Competences

Search for, analysis and synthesis of data and information, with the use of the necessary technology

Decision-making

Working independently

Team work

Working in an interdisciplinary environment

Production of new research ideas

Respect for the natural environment

Criticism and self-criticism

Production of free, creative and inductive thinking

(3) Syllabus

Physical Properties of water and their effects
The seawater as an electrolyte, Marcet principle and its effects
Definition of salinity, state equation of seawater.
Conservation of basic thermodynamic properties of the sea (Temperature and salinity).
Compression effects, introduction of potential temperature and density.
Water types and masses, T/S diagrams, cabelling effect.
Light propagation in the sea
Sound propagation in the sea, SOFAR wavechannel
Spatiotemporal distribution of temperature and salinity in the world ocean, thermocline and halocline, relation of surface waters to the heat and mass exchanges with the atmosphere.
Thermohaline conveyor belt, heat fluxes and the results from WOCE experiment.
Thermohaline functioning of semi-enclosed basins (LOICZ-type approach) - residence times.
Thermohaline functioning of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, reference to other basins.
Elementary wave kinetics– long wave propagation speed
Basic elements of geophysical fluid dynamics –Coriolis force, geostrophy and wind-forced currents, coastal upwelling
Subtropical and subpolar ocean circulation
Equatorial circulation
Large scale variability (Monsoons, El Niño Southern Oscillation)
Astronomical Tides
Instruments and Methods, Lagrangian and Eulerian methods.

(4) Teaching and Learning Methods - Evaluation

Delivery:

Face–to-face delivery.

All the necessary material, plus supplementary material is provided electronically through the e-class platform.

Use of Information and Communication Technology:

The e-class platform is used extensively, both for delivery of the material to the students, as well as for examining their progress and grading their performance.

Teaching Methods:

	Activity	Semester workload
	Lectures	39
	Seminars	7
	Laboratory exercises	6
	Independent study	100
	Final exam	4
	*Course total*	156

Student Performance Evaluation:

The Language of evaluation for Greek Students is Greek, for foreign student is English.

The method of evaluation used to be a conclusive final written examination. However, as in the past there have been plenty of indications of students cheating on the final exam, starting in 2015-2016 the student performance evaluation is the following:

The Internet Platform eclass is used extensively to evaluate the students’ performance. In order to maintain the students’ interest throughout the semester, three tests are given via the eclass platform, accounting to a total of 60% of the grade.

The rest 40% of a student’s grade is provided by the final written exam.

In order to eliminate cheating, and obtain a better assessment of the student’s understanding of the material, we use the approach of multiple choice questionnaires, combined with random selection of a large number of questions is.

In order to give another opportunity to the students to improve their grades another chance is given if they obtain a passing grade during the final written exams.

Due to the relatively low percentage of students that will follow a physical oceanography career, the laboratory exercises are optional.

The evaluation criteria are described in the text preceding each test, as well as in the first lecture in class (and the corresponding notes)..

(5) Attached Bibliography

- Suggested bibliography:

Theodorou A., 2017. Oceanography. UNIBOOKS IKE, Athens, ISBN: 9786188281226 (in Greek)
Zervakis, V., 2016. Notes on Descriptive Physical Oceanography, University of the Aegean (in Greek).
Open University, 2001: Ocean Circulation. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd; 2nd Revised edition, ISBN-10: 0750642815.
Talley L. D., Pickard, G. L., Emery, W. J. and Swift, J. H., 2011. Descriptive Physical Oceanography: An Introduction. Academic Press, 6th edition, ISBN: 0080939112, 9780080939117.
Knauss, J. A., 2005. Introduction to Physical Oceanography. Waveland Press Inc, ISBN: 1577664299, 9781577664291.
Albanakis, K., 1999: Oceanography Lectures. University Studio Press, Thessaloniki. (in Greek)
Pickard, G. L., και Emery, J. W., 1982: Descriptive Physical Oceanography. Pergamon Press, Oxford, England.

- Related academic journals:

Progress in Oceanography - https://www.journals.elsevier.com/progress-in-oceanography
Journal of Physical Oceanography - https://www.ametsoc.org/ams/index.cfm/publications/journals/journal-of-physical-oceanography/
Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans - http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/jgr/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2169-9291/
Journal of Marine Systems - https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-marine-systems

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