Talk:Physical oceanography

Coriolis computation seems wrong
Coriolis section mentions that "A slope of one part in one million in sea surface height, for example, will result in a current of 1 cm/s at mid-latitudes. " I get that it should be 10cm/s as follows: Use geostrophic relation fu=(1/rho) dp/dy To get that u = (1/f*rho) dp/dy And at the surface pressure is given by p=rho g eta where g is gravity and eta is sea surface height. Substitute in above expression to get current as u = (g/f) d eta / dy = 10^5 10^{-6} = 0.1 m/s

Here f is a mid latitude Coriolis parameter such that g/f =10^5. I'm pretty sure this is correct so I am changing the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.30.6.72 (talk) 21:04, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

Unsigned comment in talk and edit in article are mine, I hadn't signed in so my ip was used instead. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Oc iduro (talk • contribs) 05:56, 25 December 2015 (UTC)

a note
Re-instated article. Re-write or expand as needed, don't just re-direct to a category. -Vsmith 14:15, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Collab. of the week - nominee
OK - so it just got nominated, mis-read that one. Anyway, I've added an outline of sorts for your filling or chopping or whatever.

I feel the Chemical oceanography article could easily be merged here, but this if developed via this collab. should be separate from the Oceanography overview article. Enjoy - I may be back later to do some fill-in, providing no one strenuously objects to the organization. Vsmith 00:54, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Suggest that we remove the seafloor spreading. This belongs in geological oceanography.--Agnana 03:03, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

Geological oceanography or marine geology, the study of the geology of the ocean floor including plate tectonics; RJBurkhart 17:56, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

Ocean currents
This section seems to be getting a bit too tactical in nature, and I though it would be better to merge the specific current entries with the Ocean current page. This section could then just be a general overview of what is in the main article. Thoughts? &mdash; RJH 20:24, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Possibly ... This sub-domain article lacks high-impact visual learning graphics and it's already included by cross-referencing.

What's the optimum length for an overview article?

RJBurkhart 19:12, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
 * ocean currents, including:
 * wind-driven surface currents (see Upwelling)
 * geostrophic currents (see Coriolis effect, secondary circulation)

Dimensions
Removed the following from section:
 * The biosphere concept concerns life-supporting zones impacted by physical oceanography factors. The thickness of the biosphere on earth is hard to measure. Birds typically fly at altitudes of 650 to 2000 meters and fishes that live deep underwater can be found down to -8,372 meters in the Puerto Rico Trench. 

Not sure that it fits here - esp with the depth limit of the PR trench. Seems more appropriate for Marine biology. Vsmith 01:40, 20 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes. This is *physical* oceanography! William M. Connolley 10:01, 20 January 2006 (UTC).


 * This was added for interdisciplinary middle school (8th grade) earth science programs to help answer SO WHAT challenge questions and make static tabular ocean basin facts more memorable or personally relevant!

RJBurkhart 18:58, 20 January 2006 (UTC)


 * We're not writing a curriculuum for 8th grade science. We're writing an encyclopedia. Those 8th grade teachers need to provide the so what challenges. Not for us to write in riddles. Vsmith 19:47, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

SLR
I took out:


 * Rejecting some IPCC assumptions, Mörner (2004) has argued that sea level rise will not exceed 200 mm, within a range of either +100±100 mm or +50±150 mm depending on assumptions. and These sea level rises could lead to difficulties for shore-based communities: for example, many major cities such as London already need storm-surge defences, and would need more if sea level rose. TAR chapter 11.

Morner is a definite minority (of about one) viewpoint and doesn't deserve to be in a summary like this ( plus the abs of Morner 2004 doesn't support the text ). The communities stuff I removed on the grounds that this is *physical* oceanography. William M. Connolley 18:58, 20 January 2006 (UTC).
 * Hmmm... OK, so I got the wrong Morner 2004. The correct one is and its totally wacky. William M. Connolley 19:04, 20 January 2006 (UTC).


 * I agree! Thanks for simplifying this section's abstract! However, what's memorable and relevant to a middle-school student that relates (ramaining) factoids to global impacts or causes to consequences?  RJBurkhart 22:04, 22 January 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree! Thanks for simplifying this section's abstract! However, what's memorable and relevant to a middle-school student that relates (ramaining) factoids to global impacts or causes to consequences?  RJBurkhart 22:04, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Well done!
Congratulations to everyone involved. This article has really amazingly improved since becoming Science Collaboration of the Week. Keep it smart, and let us know when you come across other articles similarly needing help! Best, Samsara contrib talk 10:18, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

Oceanography WikiProject ?
Oceanography is an important subject requiring attention on Wikipedia. Many articles require cleaning up and expansion, and there are many missing articles. Some standardization would be helpful. Is there any interest in forming an Oceanography WikiProject? It would be an undertaking, so it's important that there be enough interest to maintain it, but it is something that should happen when possible. Looking to other WikiProjects for ideas and for illustrating the power of projects to improve areas is helpful, some related WikiProjects I'm involved in that have improved things greatly are Meteorology, Tropical cyclones, and Climate change. Evolauxia 06:28, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

The project is proposed at WikiProject Council/Proposals. Evolauxia 06:28, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Ocean temperatures
Does anyone have information over the different temperatures at different depths in oceans near the equator?

AdrianAbel 09:09, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Ocean currents map
This article would benefit from a map showing major ocean currents and gyres. I'll put sources at Talk:Gyre. -- Beland (talk) 00:38, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

physical features and geographical locations
hello there i was just wondering if you could answer so some questions what are the physical features of tropical oceans and what is the geographical locations of tropical oceans —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.42.151.123 (talk) 09:47, 29 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Sorry, it is not part of your job to do your homework for you. Invertzoo (talk) 23:34, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

Heat Flux
Here is a bibliography I've worked up for editors interested in expanding this section: https://www.worldcat.org/profiles/greycloud/lists/3461529 Some of the references have online content availability and users of WorldCat can toggle the bibliography to show the latest publications first.Church of the Rain (talk) 00:20, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

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Interior water
At Sea level rise one primary source under review uses the concept of "interior water". Can any page editors here explain what that is? Thanks. The source is this one NewsAndEventsGuy (talk) 12:12, 8 September 2018 (UTC)


 * I cannot locate a technical meaning in a glossary. However,the meaning is the subsurface.SeeScripps website In Carl Wunsch'

Modern Observational Physical Oceanography on p. 83 he writes "The surface and near-surface ocean are complicated places...Surface waves which dominate the kinetic energy at the sea surface, span scales from millimeters to kilometers..." For him the interior water might mean the ocean below a mile to the benthic.Here the meaning of interior water is that which is below the air-sea interface. Church of the Rain (talk) 02:38, 28 September 2018 (UTC)


 * I must be misreading Wunsch. The subsurface is not a mile down even though Wunsch confines the sea surface temperature to meteorology rather that oceanography. The interior waters mean waters below a couple hundred meters or 600 feet. See NASA website Quoting (Wunsch, 2015, p. 84): "The ocean surface layer is subject to forcing by the atmosphere via winds, atmospheric pressure loads, evaporation, and precipitation.These processes also transfer gases...important in biology and climate. In high winds, such as hurricanes, the air-sea interface itself can vanish, becoming a continuum of air and water." I think oceanographers speak of the interior waters as those beyond the reach of these atmospheric processes.Church of the Rain (talk) 12:37, 28 September 2018 (UTC)