History of Oceanography. Unit 2

Transcription

1 History of Oceanography Unit 2

2 I. Prehistoric man 1 st concern of ancient man was for survival Archeological digs of coastal areas have found shells in refuse piles along with bones of some deep sea creatures. Fishing in some form must have occurred and therefore boats and nets must have been used. (Not to suggest that this was the only way to acquire fish.)

3 I. Prehistoric man 2 nd concern was for travel Boats probably made of wood, skin, reed These materials rarely preserve so there is little physical evidence with the exception of pictographs.

4 I. Prehistoric man

5 II. Early Exploration 1000 B.C AD (This means 3000 to 1000 years ago )

6 Phoenicians 2000 BC Traveled extensively throughout Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Indian Ocean. They discovered the Canary Islands and established trade with Eastern Asia.

7 Phoenicians In 590 BC the Phoenicians circumnavigated Africa and sailed the North Atlantic as far as European Coast and British Isle where they were known to trade for tin which is used in making bronze.

8 Polynesians Had enough ships to carry supplies for colonization of Pacific Islands, including Hawaii Skillful and experienced navigators Unclear history, not written down Navigated by watching wave patterns; made maps made of shells and sticks New Guinea g Samoa g New Zealand g Hawaii 2000 BC 1000 BC 800 BC 500 AD

9 An illustration of a Polynesians catamaran.

10 Polynesians 2000 B.C. to 500 A.D.

11 Chinese 7 Voyagers outside China to spread Chinese culture 37,000 men and 317 ships Very large ships; 400 feet long; 9 masts Magnetic compass (load stone) & charts Did not collect wealth, spread religion, or conquer Chinese could not continue this trend due to extraordinary cost.

12 An illustration of an early Chinese sailing ship.

13 Contributions of the Greeks Herodontus constructed a map of the Mediterranean Sea in 490 BC. Pytheas sailed northward from Greece to Iceland in 325 BC and worked out a method for determining latitudes and using astronomical measurements proposed that tides were a product of lunar influences.

14 Contributions of the Greeks Pytheas is also responsible for contributions to early navigation methods that we still use today. He measured the angle between the horizon and the North Star (Polaris is located directly above the North Pole). The maximum latitude is 90 and all points on the equator are 0. Latitude North of the equator is the angle between two sightings. Lines of latitude run parallel to the equator. The same thing can be done for the southern hemisphere using the Southern Cross in place of Polaris.

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16 Greeks Continued Eratosthenes in BC first determined the world s circumference by using observations obtained while looking down a well on the summer solstice, when the sun is directly over head at the Tropic of Cancer. He noticed that the well was totally illuminated at noon and made several mathematical assumptions and calculations based on distances of two cities, angles, and circumference of a circle.

17 Greeks Continued Today s more precise measurements show the Earth as having a 40,032 km or 24,875 miles circumference. He was only off by 25 miles!

18 Vikings Eric the Red During a period of Climatic warming - similar to today s Global Warming - the Vikings of Scandinavia conquered Iceland 982 A.D. Eric the Red sailed westward from Greenland and discovered Baffin Island. 995 A.D. Eric s son, Leif Ericson, discovered what was then called Vineland and spent the winter in an area of North America we call Newfoundland. Beginning in the 13 th century the climate again began to cool and the North Atlantic began to clog with ice throughout most of the year once again isolating the Viking colonies north where they were unable to move into the new territories they had found.

19 III. European Exploration 1400 s 1870 s

20 Portuguese Early to mid 1400 s Prince Henry The Navigator established a marine observatory to improve the Portuguese sailing endeavors and conquered one of the greatest trades problems-getting around the tip of Africa The Cape of Good Hope was finally rounded by Bartholomeu Diaz in 1486 Explored canary isles, African coast (Columbus 1492) Vasco de Gama rounded Africa and continued on to India in 1498 This event was followed by Spain, England, & other Europeans searching for new lands. The Pacific ocean was not seen until 1513 when Vasco Nunez de Balboa attempted a land crossing of the Isthmus of Panama and sighted the Pacific Ocean from atop a mountain.

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22 Magellan ( A.D.) In 1513 the Spanish captain, Ferdinand Magellan, circumnavigated the globe through a passage way at 52 S latitude now called the Straights of Magellan.

23 Magellan s Voyage

24 European Search to Increase Scientific Knowledge James Cook ( ) Using Astronomy and Mathematics he began calculating Longitudes and published his findings in the royal Society s Philosophical transactions for 1767 which gained him notoriety and several more voyages charting New Zealand, East coast of Australia, southern India Ocean. South Pacific, rediscovered Easter Island and many others along the way. Cook was noted for preserving the health of his crew by requiring them to drink Lime Juice regularly preventing scurvy and developing a chronometer which is used to determine longitudinal locations. Cook discovered Hawaiian group in 1778 and determined the outline of the worlds largest ocean and the first person known to cross the Atlantic circle.

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26 Voyage of Beagle English Naturalist, Charles Darwin, investigated the whole of nature leading him to make one of the most outstanding contributions to biology while on his voyage aboard the H.M.S Beagle. December 27, 1831 Under Captain Robert Fitzroy a 5 year trip surveyed the coast line resulted in Darwin Publishing several papers the most famous ones being his papers Natural Selection and The Origin of the Species.

27 Voyage of Beagle

28 IV. United States Early Involvement AD

29 Benjamin Franklindeputy postmaster general for the colonies Determined that it took mail ships coming from Europe. Discovering Surface currents and therefore in 1777 published the first map of the Gulf Stream. Suggested use of thermometers to locate warm waters of G.S. Eastbound stay in G.S. Westbound avoid G.S.

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31 Matthew Fontaine Maury US Navy officer who compiled Navel Charts and Instrumentations that when used, logged, and compiled allowed sailors to avoid catastrophic weather conditions, currents, and tides. In 1853 established uniform methods of making nautical and meteorological observations at sea. This standardization greatly increased the dependability of such data summarized in his publication The Physical Geography of the Sea.

32 H.M.S. Challenger

33 Challenger Expedition First large-scale voyage with the purpose of increasing knowledge of the distribution of life in the ocean and of the chemical and physical properties of the ocean. December 1872 to May year trip Most ambitious ocean exploration project at the time Traveled 109,000 km (68,000 miles)

34 H.M.S. Challenger ( )

35 Challenger Expedition Took 23 years to write reports, filling 50 large volumes Four major questions were to be answered: 1. physical conditions of the deep sea in the great ocean basins 2. the chemical composition of seawater at all depths in the ocean 3. the physical /chemical characteristics of the deposits of the sea floor and the nature of the origin 4. The distribution of organic life at all depths in the sea, as well as the sea floor.

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