GEOL1520, Spring 2017 — Proceedings

GEOL1520. Ocean Circulation and Climate

Or, Notions for the Motions of the Oceans.
Examines physical characteristics, processes, and dynamics of the global ocean to understand circulation patterns and how they relate to ocean biology, chemistry, and climate change. Assignments address ocean's role in the climate system; ocean observations and models; the origin, distribution, and dynamics of large-scale ocean circulation and water masses; energy and freshwater budgets; and variability of the coupled system on seasonal to centennial timescales e.g. El Niño. Intended for geological and physical sciences undergraduate and graduate students with quantitative skills and an interest in oceans, climate, paleoclimate. Pre-requisite: GEOL0350 or PHYS0720 or APMA 0340. Offered alternate years, previously offered as GEOL1100.

Baylor taught this class in Spring 2017, Spring 2015, Spring 2013.

Proceedings volumes: Spring 2017, Spring 2015, Spring 2013, Spring 2010, Spring 2008, Spring 2007.

You can access the syllabus, proceedings, class calendar, notes, and reading.

Notions for the Motions of the Oceans, Volume 6

Issue 1: 3 Kinds of Lies or Inside Joke

• Berkowitz, E.: Long-term Salinity Behavior in the Amazon Plume
• Bourguet, S.: Salinity of the Norwegian Sea Surface in 1958-1982, 2000, and 1990-2010
• Carpenter-Urquhart, L.: Salinity Anomaly in the Gulf of New Mexico 'Dead Zone'
• Chang, A.: Determining mean monthly salinity budgets for the Persian Gulf
• Clay, J.: On the Relationship Between Phosphates and Oxygenation Levels in the Surface Ocean
• O'Mara, N.: Discerning the viability of estimating the productivity response to El Niño and La Niña in the Southern California Current
• Orenstein, P.: Contribution of evaporation and precipitation to the salinity budget of the mixed layer in the equatorial Atlantic
• Palmer, J. L.: A comparison of Lagrangian and Eulerian daily bulk mean sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico
• Situ, H.: Investigating the seasonal variability and flow of surface salinity in the Fram Strait using the ECCOv4r2 interpolated climatology dataset
• Wu, M.: Volume transport of the Kuroshio and its seasonality
• Zhu, J.: Seasonal Atlantic Potential Temperature Change due to Advection, Diffusion and Solar Radiation

Issue 2: I Get Around

• Berkowitz, E.: Analyzing the Ekman Balance in the Bay of Bengal Using the ECCO Dataset
• Bourguet, S.: The Impact of the Seasonal Variability of Wind Stress on Ekman Transport in the California Current
• Carpenter-Urquhart, L.: Strength of Ekman Transport in the Equatorial Pacific
• Chang, A.: A monthly comparison of coastal upwelling, mixed layer depth, and surface chlorophyll in the Peruvian upwelling system
• Clay, J.: Thermal upwelling at the lower bound of the mixed-layer around the Galapagos; the influence of zonal and meridional wind stresses
• O'Mara, N.: Seasonal wind stress-driven variability of Ekman and meridional transport off southern Baja California: effects on regional heat budget
• Orenstein, P.: Significance of Ekman transport to upwelling in the Benguela current
• Palmer, J. L.: Influence of upwelling strength, mesoscale eddy activity, and mixed layer depth on net primary production along the Canary Current
• Situ, H.: Examining the seasonal variation of zonal Ekman transport and resultant upwelling and downwelling in the Fram Strait
• Wu, M.: Ekman transport and the Kuroshio intrusion into the South China Sea
• Zhu, J.: Seasonal Variability of the Atlantic Meridional Upper Ocean Transport at 26.5N

Issue 3: Swimming Upstream

• Bourguet, S.: The Impact of the Agulhas Current on the Mass Balance of the Indian Ocean
• Caparas, M.: Comparison of transports in the Southern Atlantic Ocean and Brazil Current between output from the ECCO model, Sverdrup and Thermal Wind theory, and CMIP5 models
• Carpenter-Urquhart, L.: Comparing the accuracy of theoretical Meridional transports across 16.3N in the Pacific Basin
• Chang, A.: Transport mechanisms across the South Atlantic Gyre and a comparison of baroclinic and barotropic transport in the Brazil Current system
• Clay, J.: Seasonal Variability in the Interaction of the Gulf Stream and Labrador Current
• O'Mara, N.: Characterizing various meridional transports of seawater in the Kuroshio Extension region of the North Pacific Gyre
• Orenstein, P.: Comparison of wind- and pressure-driven transport in the Brazil Current
• Palmer, J. L.: On the seasonality of departure from Sverdrup Balance near the Brazil Current
• Situ, H.: Examining inter-annual variability of January mass transport from 1992 to 2011 in the western North Pacific
• Wu, M.: The Kuroshio and the Ryukyu Current
• Zhu, J.: The Sverdrup balance in the Atlantic Mid-Ocean Meridional Transport at 26.5N

Issue 4: Meridional Overturning Circulation or Waves

• Berkowitz, E.: Vectors of Sea Level Rise in the Great Barrier Reef
• Bourguet, S.: The Role of Rossby Wave Propagation on the Indian Ocean Dipole
• Caparas, M.: Identifying wave activity in ECCO output during ENSO events of 2009-2011
• Carpenter-Urquhart, L.: A Qualitative Review of 1-dimensional Surface Gravity Wave Dynamics
• Chang, A.: Comparison of Meridional Overturning Circulation in the South Atlantic and the Agulhas Current between 1992–2011
• Clay, J.: ENSO inhibition of Walker circulation in the Equatorial Pacific
• O'Mara, N.: Assessing the role of subtropical meridional overturning circulation in the decadal variability of Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature
• Orenstein, P.: Evaluating Seasonality in the Components of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5N
• Situ, H.: Examining the Pacific Meridional Overturning Circulation
• Wu, M.: Kuroshio Extension, Rossby waves and Pacific decadal oscillation
• Zhu, J.: The Annual Variability of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26.5 N between 1992 and 2011

Important Note from the Editor/Instructor: These papers represent the best efforts of the students of to assimilate and use the information they were learning on the fly. These papers were written under very tight time constraints. Thus, while selected for content that is generally excellent, the reader is encouraged to look at these papers as works in progress and disregard typographical or other minor errors. These papers have all been peer-reviewed by the class and revised afterward.