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Characteristics of
Ocean Water

• Oceanography covers physical properties

of the ocean:
–Dissolved materials: minerals and salts
(salinity) and gases
–Properties that change with depth: light,
temperature and pressure
–Motion: Waves, tides, currents

Waters Unique Properties…

-Found in 3 states of matter on our
planet
-High heat capacity: ability of water
to hold heat energy and regulate our
climate
-Universal solvent: can dissolve
more things than any other solvent

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Unique Properties of water are due to

Hydrogen Bonding-
attraction between water molecules because
of the unequal charges of O & H
• Charges on O and H help it dissolve things
like salts
• Attraction between water molecules- a lot
of heat is needed to increase water temp
and when water cools it release a lot of heat

5-7
The Ocean as a Physical System

Water is recycled from the ocean to the land and returned

to the sea.
• The reservoirs of water include:
– Oceans - cover 60% of the northern hemisphere
and 80% of the southern hemisphere and
contains 97% of Earth’s water.
– Rivers, lakes and glaciers.
– Groundwater - contains a larger volume of water
than all of the water in lakes and rivers.
• The hydrologic cycle describes the exchange
of water between ocean, land and
atmosphere.
– On land precipitation exceeds evaporation.

5-7
The Hydrological cycle

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Resource cycling
within the ocean

5-5 Chemical and Physical Structure of the

Oceans

Salinity displays a latitudinal relationship

related to precipitation and evaporation.
• Highest ocean salinity is between 20-30o north and south
or the equator.
• Low salinity at the equator and poleward of 30o results
because evaporation decreases and precipitation
increases.
• In some places surface water and deep water are
separated by a halocline, a zone of rapid change in
salinity.
• Water stratification (layering) within the ocean is more
pronounced between 40oN and 40oS.

Latitudinal variation in salinity

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Salinity Profiles

5-5
Chemical and Physical Structure of the
Oceans

Density of sea water is a function of

temperature, salinity and pressure.
• Density increases as
temperature decreases and
salinity increases as pressure
increases.
• Pressure increases regularly
with depth, but temperature and
salinity are more variable.
• Higher salinity water can rest
above lower salinity water if the

Density Stratification

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5-5
Chemical and Physical Structure of the
Oceans

The water column in the ocean can be divided into

the surface layer, pycnocline and deep layer.

• The surface layer is about 100m thick,

comprises about 2% of the ocean volume
and is the most variable part of the ocean
because it is in contact with the atmosphere.
• The surface layer is less dense because of lower
salinity or higher temperature.
• The pycnocline is transitional between the
surface and deep layers and comprises 18%
of the ocean basin.

Factors leading to a pycnocline

Density Structure of the Ocean

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Salinity
• Result of weathering of rocks on
land carried by rivers to the
ocean
• Materials from the earth’s
interior
– Hydrothermal vents
– Volcanic eruptions

Materials in Seawater

–Oceans have an average salinity

of 3.5% or 35 ppt (35 ‰)
– ppt= parts per thousand
–More than 70 elements in
seawater but the main ones are..

Chloride
Sodium
Sulphate
Magnesium
Calcium
Potassium

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An overview of Ocean Stratification

5-5of the
Chemical and Physical Structure
Oceans

• Tropical and subtropical oceans are permanently

layered with warm, less dense surface water
separated from the cold, dense deep water by
a thermocline, a layer in which water
temperature and density change rapidly.
• Temperate regions have a seasonal thermocline and
polar regions have none.

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Dissolved Gases

• Oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen

• Dissolve into the ocean from the
atmosphere through wave action
• Dissolve better in cold water
• Animal life can change the chemistry
of ocean gases

• Around 500 m water runs out of

oxygen
–Bacteria and other animals are
using it during decomposition and
respiration
• Animals in this region and lower have
large gills, modified hemoglobin
or are inactive

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Pressure
• We are under 1
atmosphere (atm) of
pressure on land

• Water is heavier than

air so every 10 m deep
= 1 more atm of
pressure

Animal Adaptations and Pressure

• Ocean life has adapted to deep ocean

and 1000x our pressure with
lightweight skeletons, little
musculature, and reduced metabolic,
growth and reproductive rates.
• Diving mammals have rib cages that
collapse and expand in result to
changing pressure

Water Depth vs Light

• Photosynthetic organisms use light to
make sugars.
• Sunlit area (top 100 meters) contains 90%
of marine life
• Colors of penetrate thru water differently
– Red light filters out first and blue light
goes the furthest
– Red animals are essentially invisible in
deep waters

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The Ocean Sciences: Other Physical

Properties of Water

• 65% of light entering the ocean is

absorbed within the first meter and
converted into heat. Only 1% of light
entering the ocean reaches 100m.
• Water displays the selective absorption of
light with long wavelengths absorbed first
and short wavelengths absorbed last.
• In the open ocean, blue light penetrates
the deepest.

Light Absorption, open

ocean

The Ocean Sciences: Other Physical

Properties of Water

• In turbid coastal waters light rarely

penetrates deeper than 20m. and the water
appears yellow to green because particles
reflect these wavelengths.
• The photic zone is the part of the water
column penetrated by sunlight.
• The aphotic zone is the part of the water
column below light penetration and
permanently dark.

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Light absorption in nearshore, productive water

The Ocean Sciences: Other Physical

Properties of Water

The speed of sound in water increases as salinity, temperature and pressure

increase, but in the ocean, the speed of sound is mainly a function of temperature
and pressure.

• Above the pycnocline increasing pressure

with depth increases the speed of sound
despite the gradual decrease in temperature.
• Within the pycnocline, the speed of sound
decreases rapidly because of the rapid
decrease in temperature and only slight
increase in pressure.
• Below the pycnocline the speed of sound

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Behavior of sound in water

The Ocean Sciences: Other Physical

Properties of Water

• SOFAR Channel is located where

sound speed is at a minimum.
Refraction of sound waves within the
channel prevents dispersion of the
sound energy and sound waves travel
for 1000s of kilometers within the
channel.

The Ocean Sciences: Sea Surface

Microlayer

The sea surface microlayer is the water surface to a depth of a few hundred
micrometers. It is critical for the exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean.

• Neuston layer is the habitat of the sea surface microlayer and is inhabited by the
neuston, all organisms of the microlayer.
• Processes that transport matter to the surface layer from below are:
– Diffusion - random movement of molecules.
– Convection - vertical circulation resulting in the transfer of heat and matter.
– Bubbles - the most important process because bubbles absorb material and inject it into the air
as they bursts.
• Processes within the microlayer can be divided into the:
– Biological - bacteria and plankton are much more abundant in the layer than below.
– Photochemical effect - the interaction of ultraviolet light and organic compounds.

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The sea-surface microlayer

Summary of
resource cycling

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Energy in the Ocean

• Ocean takes
longer to heat
and cool than
land due to its
specific heat
• Water temp
decreases with
depth

Animal Adaptations and Temperature

• Colder temps reduce the metabolic rate
• In very cold waters fish have a special
protein like antifreeze to keep tissues
from freezing
• Lighter colored animals stay cooler than
darker colored animals and are found in
warmer waters
• Some marine life have thick layers of fat
to insulate their bodies

Motion in the Ocean…Tides

• Daily rise and fall of the ocean (high
and low tide)
• Range as small as 1 m & as high as
20m
• Some areas have 1 or 2 high & low
tides
• Caused by gravitational pull of moon
on our ocean basin

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Moon/
Sun
TIDES
•Tides rise (FLOOD) to produce a
HIGH TIDE
• And fall (EBB) (LOW TIDE)

This side is pulled towards the

Sun and/or Moon by
gravitational attraction

This side bulges out because

of inertia
Therefore, there are two high tides on Earth at
any one time

Marine Life and Tides

• Some marine life time their
reproduction to the high or low tide
cycle
• Horseshoe crabs come ashore to
mate on the night of a high tide in
May
• Eggs hatch 2 wks later on a high tide
and are washed into the ocean

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Motion in the Ocean…Waves

• Winds produce waves as it blows
across the ocean’s surface
• When waves enter shallow water they
drag along the ocean floor
• The wave top is moving faster than
the wave bottom so it topples forward
• Specialty waves: rogue waves, tidal
waves and tsunamis

At the shoreline

• Surf -
sequence of
breaking waves
• Swash - water
sliding up
beach
• Backwash -
water flowing
back down
beach to sea

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Longshore drift
• Waves arrive at a
coast at an angle
(swash)
• Backwash returns
at 90 degrees

Sand is moved along the beach = longshore

drift or longshore current

Coastal
deposition

• Result of
longshore drift
and a lot of
sediment
• produces
extensions of
deposit from
the shoreline

spit = curved extension

• May grow
across a bay
(baymouth
bar)
• May link an
island to the
main land
(tombolo)

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Motion in the Ocean-Currents

• Rivers of water moving through
the ocean
• Surface currents caused by major
wind belts
• Deflected by the Coriolis Effect
• Important in moving marine life
and nutrients around the oceans

Vertical Ocean Currents

• Differences in temperature and salinity

change the density of water.
• This causes sinking and rising of water in
the ocean
• Ocean conveyor belt- convection current
of water moving between the equator and
poles in the oceans
• Takes 1600 years to cycle

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