|
Department
of Marine Science | Academics
| Courses | MAR 561L
MAR
561L:
PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY LAB
Fall 2003, 15 classes (16 week semester)
Instructor: Dmitri Nechaev; office hours are by appointment
OVERVIEW:
The objective of the Physical Oceanography Lab is to familiarize
the students with working with different types of oceanographic
data and to obtain a basic understanding of the data acquisition,
processing, visualization and interpretation. During the course
students are supposed to perform the review of the hydrographic
data available for some region of the World Ocean and choose a
particular data survey in the region. Next, students will study
the documentation of the cruise to understand the main oceanographic
objectives of the survey, the measurements made and the equipment
used. The hydrographic data will be acquired from the web, processed
and plotted. Analysis of the data will include comparison with
historical data available in the region, description of the major
processes responsible for the observed distributions of the oceanographic
fields, simple balance calculation based on the observed data.
I will encourage the team work of the students, but by the end
of the course students must provide individual final reports.
The final reports should contain general oceanographic overview
of the area of study, summary of the data survey, description
of data processing and oceanographic interpretation of the data.
The classes are intended to provide a guide for the students
and to solve the problems arising during the students' team
work on the project outside the class. The LAB will require moderate
computer programming skills and acquaintance with graphic and
data processing software.
ADA Compliance: If a student has a disability
that qualifies under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
and requires accommodations, he/she should contact the Office
for Disability Accommodations (ODA) for information on appropriate
policies and procedures. Disabilities covered by ADA may include
learning, psychiatric, physical impairments, or chronic health
disorders. Students should contact ODA if they are not certain
whether a medical condition/disability qualifies. Box 8568; Telephone
(601) 266-5024; TTY (601) 266-6837; Fax (601) 266-6035.
GRADING: presentations in the class (30%), participation
in team work on the project (30%), final report (40%).
COURSE OUTLINE:
| Week |
Topic |
| 1-2 |
Introduction. Physical Oceanography sites on the web |
| 3 |
Oceanographic data on the web, climatological data library
and oceanographic data servers |
| 4-5 |
WOCE program, WOCE public data web site, WOCE sections ships
data |
| 6 |
Extracting section data from WOCE data base |
| 7 |
Reading the standard hydrographic station data file |
| 8-9 |
Fortran and Matlab hydrographic subroutines, calculation
of different sea water properties |
| 10-11 |
Visualization of the data, data profiles, T–S diagrams,
section plots |
| 12-13 |
Interpretation of the data, water mass analysis, comparison
with climatological fields, description of the physical processes
leading to the observed distribution of the hydrographic fields |
| 14-15 |
Preparation of the final report |
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Last
modified:
August 1, 2005 11:49 AM
| The University of Southern Mississippi
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