History of Oceanography Lightning Round

History of
Ocean
Exploration
and Marine
Science

Subtitle

Couple of quick questions for you

• How many continents are there? How many oceans are there?

History of Oceanography – Why Study
it?

Word Cloud

Why DID people study the ocean? Tell me the main reasons you found.

Ancient Uses and Explorations

(5000 BC – 800 AD)

Prehistory and the Rise of Seafaring

•Three primary reasons for early
civilization to interact with the ocean;

• To obtain food
• Trade with other cultures.
• To discover new lands

•And one extra reason was fighting.

•The earliest recorded sea voyage
appears to be 3200BC under the
supports of Egyptian Pharaoh Snefru

Ancient Phoenician Explorations

and Discoveries

•The Phoenicians
contributed to ocean
exploration by
establishing the first
trade routes
throughout the
Mediterranean, even
as far north as Great
Britain.

Polynesian Exploration

Ancient Greek Explorations and

Discoveries

•Pytheas noted that he could
predict tides in the Atlantic based
on the phases of the moon.

• He could determine how far North
or South one was from the North
Star by measuring the angle
between the horizon and the North
Star.

• This was a significant improvement
in navigation.

Ancient Greek Explorations and

Discoveries

•Eratosthenes (264-194
BC) is credited with two
contributions:

• He calculated the Earth’s

circumference.

• He invented the first

latitude/longitude system.

Ancient Greek Explorations and

Discoveries

•In 100-168 AD., Ptolemy
developed the first known
map to show a portion of
the Earth as a sphere on
flat paper.

• It showed latitude/longitude by

dividing the grid into degrees,
minutes, and seconds on the
arc.

Latitude/Longitude System

Latitude Lines:

Also called parallels
Run East-West
0o parallel is also
called the equator

Latitude/Longitude System

Longitude Lines:

Also called meridians
Run North-South

Latitude/Longitude System

Prime Meridian is
located on the
longitude of the Royal
Naval Observatory in
Greenwich, England

The Middle (or Dark) Ages (800 A.D. – 1400)

Viking Explorations and Discoveries

The Vikings were the only people with significant
exploration taking place in Europe during the
Dark Ages:

�They established trade routes throughout Britain,

Ireland, Southern Europe, North Africa, and
Central Asia.

�In the 9th century, there was a global warming

that freed the North Atlantic of ice allowing the
Vikings to explore westward discovering Iceland,
Greenland, and North America.

Viking Explorations and Discoveries

Leif Eriksson Designated part of eastern
Canada as Vinland (now known as
Newfoundland) in 995 A.D.
Greenland, Vinland settlements were
abandoned by 1450 A.D. due to climatic
cooling.
No notable technology, but some pretty cool
names came from the Vikings.

Erik the Red; Leif Erikson

Viking Explorations and

Discoveries

Chinese Explorations and

Discoveries

Chinese Explorations and

Discoveries

The main time frame for travel was 1400’s

They traveled mainly to obtain land and riches

They also built what was considered “large ships”
with a length of 120 meters or more in length. They
also had 4 tiers of decks.

Zheng He was the name to know during this time.

Chinese Explorations and

Discoveries

The Chinese were very active explorers during
the Middle Ages and were responsible for
many important contributions.

� Probably the most important of their discoveries

was the magnetic compass dating about 1000
A.D. and in widespread use about 1125.

� Europe’s first reference to the compass was in 1190

in a poem, but was not widely used until the 1400’s

Chinese Explorations and

Discoveries

By the mid 1400s in China,
shipbuilding was well
established.

�Chinese ships from that

period had central
rudders and watertight
compartments – these
are part of today’s
modern ships.

European Voyages of Discovery

(1400-1700)

The End of the Middle Ages and a

Route Around Africa

The period of 1400-1700 is called the
Renaissance. A new interest in long ocean
expeditions and travel in the 15th century was
motivated by economics, politics and
religion. Break it down and you get riches,
colonies, trade and maps/routes
Three explorers tried to establish a route to
the East around Africa.

The End of the Middle Ages and a

Route Around Africa

�The second was Bartolomeu Dias who

completed a voyage around the Cape of
Good Hope in 1487, but did not make it all the
way to India. This did open trade routes
between Europe and Asia.
First was Prince Henry the Navigator

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under
CC BY-SA

The End of the Middle Ages and a

Route Around Africa

�The third was

Vasco da Gamma
(1469 – 1524). He
led the first
expedition around
the Cape of Good
Hope all the way
to India.

Exploration of the New World

Like other explorers of the time, Christopher
Columbus was seeking a route to Asia for trade
with Europe.

�Columbus’s estimate of the world’s size was too

small because he used Ptolemy’s estimates. This is
why he thought he could reach India easier by
sailing west instead of sailing east.

�When he landed on a Caribbean island, he

thought he’d reached India. It was later realized
he’d found a continent unknown to Europeans.

Columbus Route

Exploration of the New World

Between 1454 – 1512, Amerigo Vespucci
voyaged to South America.

�He explored much of the east coast, the

mouth of the Amazon River, and is credited as the first European to recognize that South
America was a new continent.

Fill in the Blank

What did we name after Amerigo Vespucci

Vespucci’s route

Exploration of the New World

In the early 1500s, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa led
an expedition that crossed the Isthmus of
Panama and discovered the Pacific Ocean.
Balboa was the first European to sail in the
Pacific.

�News that the Pacific lay beyond the

Americas renewed the hope that one could
sail around the world west-to-east.

Balboa’s route

Exploration of the New World

In 1519, Portuguese explorer
Ferdinand Magellan led the
first expedition to
circumnavigate the world. He
had five ships and about 260
men.

� Magellan died in the

Philippines in a fight with
islanders.

� One ship and 18 men

completed the journey in
1522

Exploration of the New World

The second successful circumnavigation of
the world was made in 1577 by Francis Drake.

�He left England for the New World with the

purpose of raiding Spanish ships and
settlements for treasure.

�Drake returned to England in 1580 where he

was knighted for his exploits and we as for
bringing back treasure and spices worth a
fortune.

Francis Drake Route

The Birth of Marine Science

(1700 – 1900)

Cook’s Expeditions

The voyages of Captain James
Cook receive credit as the first sea
expeditions devoted to methodical,
scientific oceanography:

�His reports changed the western

view of the world.

�He discovered Australia, New

Zealand, many islands in the South
Pacific, the Hawaiian Islands, the
West Coast of the US and Canada,
the Bering Strait and the Antarctic
Circle.

Cook’s Expeditions

Cook’s Expeditions

A major contribution to Cook’s voyages was
the invention of the chronometer:

�In 1735, John Harrison invented a clock that

runs accurately at sea. This made it possible
to determine the longitude accurately.

The United States Exploring

Expedition

Under command of Lt. Charles
Wilkes, it was one of the first
significant scientific expeditions
launched by the US:

�The objective was to explore the

southern Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans, to collect specimens,
and to map, illustrate and
provide text to document their
discoveries. He set sail from
Norfolk, VA

The United States Exploring

Expedition

The most outstanding
achievement of the
US Exploring
Expedition was
proving the existence
of Antarctica.

Matthew Maury:

Father of Physical Oceanography

Between 1842 – 1855, Matthew Maury
published many detailed works on sea
navigation. He earned global acclaim
for his work and his data was adopted
worldwide:

�In 1855, he published The Physical

Geography of the Sea, which is now
considered the first textbook on
modern oceanography and he is
remembered today as the father of
physical oceanography.

Matthew Maury:

Father of Physical Oceanography

...A lot of his book is totally wrong.

�He thought the Arctic was a

tropical warm sea because of
warm currents from Japan

�Tons of people died trying to get

to the North Pole because of
this.

Darwin and the H.M.S. Beagle

The Beagle began its five-year voyage with
Charles Darwin as the ship’s naturalist in 1831.
The H.M.S. Beagle ultimately circled the Earth.

Darwin and the H.M.S. Beagle

Darwin noted that coral grows
in relatively shallow, warm,
upper depths:

�But, coral reefs extend deeper

than coral grows. Darwin
observed the massive reefs
must form when the sea floor
slowly sinks and coral grows
upward from its base to
remain in shallow water.

The Challenger Expedition

The Challenger expedition (1872 –
1876), is known and recognized as
the first devoted entirely to marine
science.

�The two men responsible for the

mission were Scottish professor, Sir
Charles Wyville Thomson and
British naturalist, Sir John Murray.

Twentieth-Century Marine Science

​Its development significantly pushed the advancement of knowledge about the ocean floor topography, currents, and sediment composition

TransAtlantic Cable

A ping of sound goes through the water at measured speed, and when it comes back helps us determine depth and topography

Sonar

Mapping the floor of the atlantic ocean and proving the existence of the mid-atlantic ridge... and therefore seafloor spreading!

German Meteor Expedition

US Atlantis Expedition

Mapped the depth of Pacific and Indian Oceans, as well as Marianna's Trench

Challenger II

TRANSIT

Before GPS...

TRANSIT

Predicts Storms and fish

Temperature

​Predicts storms and waves

Height

Predicts phytoplankton (algae)

Color