59933_CH01_001_029.qxp 10/1/08 2:04 PM Page 1 © Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION. 1 The Growth of Oceanography What is the sense of owning a good boat if you hang PREVIEW around in home waters? A COMPLETE HISTORICAL account of oceanographic —George Miller, exploration and research would be a massive Oyster River undertaking. The record stretches back over several millennia to the time when ancient mariners built boats and ventured boldly onto the sea to explore the unknown. However, a brief sketch of maritime history is needed in a book that deals with the physical, chemical, geological, and biological processes of the ocean in a scientifically rigorous manner. First and foremost, this reminds us that for eons there have been people in the field of “oceanography”—people with an insatiable desire to make the unknown familiar. Knowledge that is commonplace today 1 59933_CH01_001_029.qxp 10/1/08 2:04 PM Page 2 © Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION. required painstaking investigations by numerous 1-1 seafarers throughout centuries of exploration. Many intended to become rich by exploiting resources Oceanography: What Is It? and by controlling sea routes for commerce. All were driven by a yearning to understand the mysteries of the Earth and its seas. efore delving into the science of oceanogra- phy, we should understand exactly what the Today’s oceanographers (modern sea explorers) B word means. The first part of the term is carry forward this quest to satisfy humankind’s coined from the Greek word okeanos, or Oceanus, curiosity. They owe a huge debt to the courage and the name of the Titan son of the gods Uranus and vision of earlier mariners, who by slow increments Gaea, who was father of the ocean nymphs (the replaced ignorance and myth with knowledge. Oceanids). Eventually oceanus was applied to the sea beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the North Atlantic Ocean. The second part of the term comes from the Greek word graphia, which refers to the act of recording and describing. In fact, the word oceanography is inadequate to describe the science of the seas, because scientists do much more than merely record and describe the ocean’s physical, chemical, geological, and biological characteris- tics. Oceanographers investigate, interpret, and model all aspects of ocean processes, using the most modern and sophisticated techniques of sci- entific and mathematical enquiry. The term oceanology (the suffix ology meaning “the science of”) is etymologically more accurate. The distinc- tion between oceanography and oceanology is sim- ilar to that made between geography (the physical description of the world and its biota) and geology (the scientific study of the Earth and its processes). The word oceanology has not, however, displaced oceanography, because the latter term is solidly entrenched in the minds of the laypeople as well as the Western practitioners of the science. Hence, this book will follow convention, using the more familiar term to denote the scientific study of the oceans. A common misconception is that oceanography is a pure science in its own right, practiced by women and men who are specifically and narrowly instructed in its investigative methods. Most oceanographers are, in fact, trained in one of the traditional sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, and geology) or a related field (engineering, meteo- rology, mathematics, statistics, or computer sci- ence) and choose to apply their research expertise to the study of the oceans. After obtaining under- graduate training in a traditional science, they gain 2 1 THE GROWTH OF OCEANOGRAPHY 59933_CH01_001_029.qxp 10/1/08 2:04 PM Page 3 © Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION. BIOCHEMISTRY BIOLOGY CHEMISTRY BIOPHYSICS OCEANOGRAPHY GEOCHEMISTRY PHYSICS GEOLOGY GEOPHYSICS FIGURE 1-1 The field of oceanography. This diagram organizes oceanography into four principal categories—biological, geological, physical, and chemi- cal oceanography—that are linked to one another by cross-disciplines. experience conducting oceanographic research in deductions of prior generations of ocean explorers graduate school or at a marine institute. Recently, and scientists. Marine scientists are well aware of new career opportunities in oceanography have the fact that all of their work rests on the contri- developed in marine policy and management, butions of the innumerable investigators that marine law, resource and environmental assess- came before them. But, obviously, this does not ment, and other related fields. Marine studies com- mean that all the conclusions of those early inves- monly rely on collaboration among many types tigators have been validated. Rather, as the sci- of scientists, mathematicians, engineers, techni- ence of oceanography has matured and as research cians, and policymakers. vessels, sampling devices, and electronic instru- It is customary to subdivide oceanography into mentation have become increasingly sophisticated the four fields of physical, geological, chemical, and more widely applied to probe the ocean’s and biological oceanography (Figure 1–1). These secrets, many beliefs of the past have been dis- fields are in turn linked to one another by the cross- proved. The lesson from history is clear-cut. Our disciplines of geochemistry, biochemistry, geo- ideas of the oceans today, which seem so appeal- physics, and biophysics. ingly final and are written about and taught with so much fervor and certainty, will be refined by 1-2 the findings and thoughts of future generations of marine scientists. The history of oceanography has not always Historical Review been the gradual and systematic development of a body of thought. Rather, bold concepts and opin- of Oceanography ions have often burst onto the scene, necessitating critical reexamination of the wisdom of the past, and stimulating fresh insights into the workings of ur perception and understanding of the the oceans. Ooceans have changed markedly over A practical means of organizing the historical time. Although this book stresses the record of oceanography is to arrange the events into most current ideas championed by marine scien- three broad stages. The first includes the early tists, these attitudes and impressions did not sud- efforts of individual mariners as they attempted to denly appear out of an intellectual vacuum. They describe the geography of the Earth’s oceans and grew out of—and evolved from—the ideas and landmasses. During this time of ocean exploration, www.jbpub.com/oceanlink 3 59933_CH01_001_029.qxp 10/1/08 2:04 PM Page 4 © Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION. the very limits of the world were sought. The recitation of epic poems. Polynesian seafarers second includes the early systematic attempts to could depend on accurate, detailed lore of local use a truly scientific approach to investigate the wind, wave, current, and weather patterns as well oceans. The third covers the growth of modern as on the position of key navigational stars in mak- oceanography that has resulted from the wide- ing a planned landfall after a deep-sea crossing of spread application of state-of-the-art technology hundreds, even thousands, of kilometers. and the international collaboration of scientists. The ability to explore and chart the seas safely We will conclude this historical review with an depends on navigation. Records of sailing vessels assessment of future prospects and try to predict indicate maritime activity in Egypt as far back as the nature of oceanographic investigations in the 4000 B.C. It is likely that the extent of these voy- middle part of the twenty-first century. ages was restricted, with mariners remaining well A limited number of the innumerable events that in sight of land, probably in the immediate vicinity contribute to the rich history of oceanography can be of the Nile River and the shores of the eastern highlighted in a single chapter. Although the details Mediterranean Sea. By the sixth century B.C., how- of only a few of the many important research cruises ever, Phoenicians had established sea routes for and studies are elaborated here, synopses of many trading throughout the entire Mediterranean others are cataloged chronologically in Table 1–1. region and had even ventured westward into the Also, books that discuss the historical context of Atlantic Ocean, sailing as far north as the coast of ocean exploration and the science of oceanography Cornwall in England. Historians suspect that are listed at the end of the chapter. Phoenicians, around 600 B.C., were probably the first to circumnavigate the continent of Africa. True ocean navigation was difficult at the time. Navigators charted the courses of their vessels OCEAN EXPLORATION according to the stars. Undoubtedly, sailors steered their craft in sight of the coastline whenever possi- Humans have been going to sea for tens of thou- ble, relying on distinctive landmarks to find their sands of years. Anthropologists suspect, for exam- way and establish their position. This process is ple, that the ancestors of aboriginal people reached called piloting. Australia by sea-going vessels some 40,000 to By the third century B.C., the flourishing Greek 60,000 years ago, an incredible feat requiring civilization, plying the Mediterranean for trade as courage, skill, and determination. They lived it established its influence and control over the through a glaciation and deglaciation, following entire region, was highly dependent on its mar- the shoreline as sea level dropped and then rose to itime prowess. A notable sea adventurer of the its present position. These events are recorded in time was Pytheas, the first Greek to circumnavi- their powerful myths and art. gate England and gauge the length of its shoreline. In many respects the Polynesian migration to Although his travels are not documented by first- the many large and small islands of the Pacific hand accounts, some historians believe that Pyth- Ocean (Figure 1–2), completed well before the birth eas may have voyaged as far north as Norway and of Christ, ranks as one of the most spectacular as far west as Iceland.