Daniela Di Iorio
Associate ProfessorUniversity of Georgia
Department of Marine Sciences
250 Marine Sciences Building
Athens, GA, 30602Office phone: 1 (706) 542-7020
Lab phone: 1 (706) 542-3731
Fax: 1 (706) 542-5888
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Physical oceanography applies the laws of physics to the ocean environment. Energy is received from the sun and heat is distributed from the equator to the poles creating the major wind systems. Friction causes a transfer of momentum to the water column causing motion; conduction, radiation and advection transfer heat causing thermal variations (there is also heat flow from the mid ocean ridges to the ocean interior). Fresh water is added (and removed) thereby changing the salinity. Different water masses coming together are mixed by diffusion thus raising the potential energy of the water column. Changes in sea level height and density cause a gravity force. The Earth-Moon-Sun system creates tide producing forces; flow over the ocean bottom slows the flow down, and the rotation of the Earth alters the direction of the flow. Finally, energy of the motion is eventually transfered down to the microscale where viscosity eventually dissipates the kinetic energy into heat. For a given environment and scale of study some or all of these processes will need to be taken into account to understand our observational measurements. |
| Acoustical oceanography is using sound in the ocean to understand some of the physical, biological, and geological processes within the ocean. We use sound in two different ways. We either transmit at one location and listen at another. Variability in the ocean medium creates acoustic fluctuations which can be inverted to give a measure of flow and temperature variability. Sound can also be transmitted at one location and biomass, ranging from plankton to fish, will reflect and scatter the sound back to the source. The received signal strength can then be used to quantify fish biomass and to visualize the water column since planktonic biomass tends to accumulate at density interfaces. This same signal will also be Doppler shifted so that detailed measurements of the flow velocity from small to large scales can be made |  |
Last updated September 2007