MARINE SCIENCE 185: COASTAL OCEANOGRAPHY

FALL SEMESTER 2008

Ticket #21247: Class Meets Thursday 9:35 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

Class Meeting Location: Lewis 102

Your Instructor: Karen Baker

Marine Science Department
Orange Coast College
Phone: (714) 432 – 0202 X23067
Email address: kbaker@occ.cccd.edu

Marine Science 185 Website:

http://www.dkatantarctic.com/CoastalOceanography.html

Office Location: Lewis Science Center Rm 106

Office Hours:
T/Th 8:30 – 9:30 am
W/F 9:30-10:30 am

Catalogue description:
The Coastal Oceanography lecture class is designed to involve students with the
continuing study of California’s coastal ocean and offshore waters. The student will
study specific aspects of the chemical, geological, physical, biological, and
meteorological oceanography of the California Bight – from Point Conception to the
Mexican Border, the California Continental Borderland, and the waters from the surface
to the bottom, and from inshore out to the deep sea. Coastal Oceanography is a
science dedicated to the study and understanding of coastal, shallow water, and surface
characteristics of the ocean. The focus of this study will include estuaries, harbors,
beaches, waves, currents, tides, sediments, water quality, storms, and El Nino/La Nina
oceanographic phenomena of Southern California.

Prerequisites:
Completion of Marine Science 100 – Oceanography with a letter grade of “C” or better
here at O.C.C.

Required Text:
There are two books for this class and neither are available in the O.C.C. bookstore!
Here's why.

1. The first one is entitled: The Coastal Sea of Southern California Oceanography of the
Southern California Bight - by Dennis L. Kelly, Professor of Marine Science.
This book is actually based on and is a highly modified version of a book first
published in 1993 - Ecology of the Southern California Bight: A Synthesis and
Interpretation - by Drs. Murray Dailey, Jack W. Anderson, and Donald J. Reish.
Professor Kelly modified some of the chapters from this book to make them less
complicated, easier to read, and possibly more interesting. This book is only available
online via the course website (accessible via MyOCC). The good news is that this will
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be far less expensive to you the student, as each chapter will be free. It is expected
that you the student will read each chapter the week it is given to you as the lecture
each week, the quiz the following week, and questions for the midterm exams and final
exam will come from these reading assignments.

2. The second book is: Griggs, Gary, ed.; 2005. Living with a Changing California
Coast. University of California Press.
This book is available in the OCC bookstore and can also be purchased online
through various book dealerships.

For whom the course is intended:

1. For students who, after completing Marine Science 100 –
Oceanography – wish to learn much more about oceanographic
phenomena and the southern California coastal ocean.

2. For students seeking to investigate a possible career in

Oceanography.

The I Search Paper – Oceanographic Literature Research Assignment:

There will be a semester-long library research project called the “I Search Paper” for
this class. You will be asked to come up with a question focused on a specific aspect of
physical, chemical, geological, or meteorological oceanography (no biological
oceanography) of Southern California. You will be given a detailed handout about this
assignment at the beginning of the semester. A typed report and oral report on this
assignment will be due at the end of the semester.

Part I: Due - Title: What I Know about the topic; What I assume or imagine is true
of topic, typed, double spaced, normal size font (10 or 12) in 1’ margins and must
include. 15 points possible.

Part II of I Search Paper due Title; What I Know about the topic; What I assume or
imagine is true of topic; The Search; What I Discovered, same format as above. 25
pts possible.

Part III (Final Draft) of I Search Paper & Oral report due - Title; What I know about the
topic; What I assume or imagine is true of topic; The Search; What I discovered;
Summary and Conclusion; Bibliography. Please use the same format as above. 60
pts possible.

Part IV. Oral Report. 50 points possible.

Reading assignments:
This is the most important requirement for this class! Your weekly chapter handouts
and reading assignments on line are the best available on this topic as I will not be able
to cover all the important information during lecture hours. The weekly chapter
handouts and reading assignments from the “Ocean Literacy” text expand on, amplify,
and illustrate many important things about our local coastal ocean that you really need
to know. See the list of reading assignments at the end of this syllabus now! It is best if
you complete the reading assignments BEFORE you come to class on the day they are
covered.
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Attendance:
It’s very simple – be in class at every meeting of the class and arrive to class early! Do
not make any other plans during this semester for the hours, days, and weeks that our
class meets. If you are not in class and I do not hear from you immediately, I will
assume you do not want to be in the class and I will drop you. Attendance is taken
every day near the beginning of the class. If you miss attendance you will be marked
absent. The professor drops persistent non-attendees (two or more absences) and
people who continually keep coming in late to class. Excused absences: The
instructor will consider explanations for absences. To get an absence excused you
must submit a typed explanation for your absence with attached verification. This must
be done immediately following the absence, on or before the next class meeting. If you
fail to submit this on time, it will not be considered later.

Classroom
As a courtesy to your classmates and professor you are expected to turn off cell phones
and pagers when you enter class. You must wear shoes to class (state law) and dress
appropriately (long pants and closed toed shoes). Also, no skateboards or bicycles are
allowed in class or outside the door of class. No food or beverages are allowed in class
but you can bring plastic bottles of drinking water into class…..as long as you keep it in
your backpack or tucked away. Please enter and exit the class through the front door.

Prep Room
Unless the Laboratory Instructional Assistant or the Professor invites you into the prep
room, you are prohibited from entering this area.

Quizzes:
There will be 11 quizzes administered during the semester including a "syllabus" quiz
the second week of the semester. Each quiz is worth 20 points. The quizzes will
include questions that are multiple choice, true and false, matching, fill-in, and short
essay questions. The questions will come from the lectures, the reading assignments
based on the chapter handouts, and the reading assignments from the online book, as
well as videos or discussions that take place during class. Also, most of these same
questions will appear on the midterm and final exams. There will be no make-up
quizzes offered, so don’t miss any.

Exams:
There will be three exams administered during the semester (see class schedule for
actual dates of exams) and each will be worth 100 points. There will be a review sheet
passed out several weeks before each exam to help you prepare for the exam. The
review sheets will have paraphrased versions of the questions for each test and the
actual essay questions that will be asked on the exam.

Make-up examination:
It is highly recommended that you don’t miss an examination because that means
your only hope is to take the make-up exam on the scheduled makeup day (if you have
an excused absence for the day you missed the test) and is scheduled at the very end
of the semester. You can only make up one exam you miss due to an excused
absence. You cannot retake an exam because you received a low grade on it the first
time you took it. You must see the professor one week prior to the make-up exam and
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register for it – failure to do this by that date will result in your loss of the opportunity to
take a make-up exam. There is no make-up for the final examination.

Basis for your final grade:

The total number of points possible during semester is based on the following:
3 exams @ 100 pts = 300 points, 11 quizzes @ 20 pts = 220 points, Online
Assignments = 50 pts, I Search Paper Typed Report @ 100 pts, I Search Paper Oral
Report @ 50 pts, Instructor Evaluation Credit @ 50 pts (a subjective evaluation by the
professor of your effort, commitment, attendance, and cooperation in this class) = 770
points.

Grade Percentage Total Score

A 90 – 100% 693 – 770 points

B 80 – 89% 616 – 692 points

C 70 – 79% 539 – 615 points

D 60 – 69% 462 – 538 points

F 0 - 59% 0 - 461 points

Academic Honesty and Civility:

To put this simply, all work that you present as your own must be your own. If you do
any work with another person you must indicate who you worked with. If you take any
ideas from another source (e.g., another person, a website, a published work) you must
cite that source. If you take direct wording from a source you must put those words in
quotes and cite them. I fully expect you to talk to other people about your assignments
(other than exams), and this policy is not designed to prevent that. If you do work with
another student or another person simply say, somewhere in your assignment, that you
worked with that person – no points will be taken off if you do this, assuming you haven't
plagiarized or otherwise been academically dishonest.

If a project or other assignment is worked on by a group and turned in for a group

grade, each individual must indicate their contributions to the final version; failure to do
so will result in lost points. Individuals (or groups) writing separate papers that are
based on the same experiment/data/research must work entirely separately on their
final papers; any shared content (excluding raw data and statistical output) will be
considered plagiarism.

Any student suspected beyond a reasonable doubt of plagiarism or academic

dishonesty (e.g., cheating on an exam, turning in a paper with a few sentences directly
copied from a source without quoting and citing them) will at the minimum receive no
credit for the assignment in question, will be unable to receive a grade of A in the class,
and may receive punishment as severe as expulsion from the college. All incidences of
academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Students.
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 Proposed Schedule
Wk Date Topic Assignments
#
1 Sept 1 Intro to class Read Syllabus, Sign chit, write essay on back.
Coastal Oceanographic Research Ch Kelly
Griggs preface ix-xi
Climate Change 1: Assign #1 & #2

2 Sept 8 Chits due

1. Lecture: Bathymetry & Geography of Ch 2 Kelly
So. Cal and OC Coastline Griggs p. 1-8
2. I-Search Paper – Literature Research Handouts online
Assignment

Note: Part I: Due on Thursday, Sept 28th,

typed, must include Title: What I Know
about the topic; What I assume or
imagine is true of topic. 15 points
possible

3 Sept 15 Lecture: Physical Oceanography: The Ch 3 Kelly

California Current Ecosystem
Climate Change 2: Assign #3 & #4

4 Sept 22 Lecture: Geological Oceanography: Ch 4 Kelly

Plate Tectonics of OC and So. Cal Griggs p. 8-17
Climate Change 3, Assign #5

5 Sept 29 Lecture: Physical Oceanography: Marine Ch 12 & 13 Kelly

Meteorology of Orange County and S. Griggs, p. 18-30 (stop at Sea Level Fluctuations)
Calif. – Part I. The Normal Patter of
Weather in the SCB and Part II El
Nino/La Nina and the SCB

6 Oct 6 Lecture: Physical Oceanography: Tides Ch Kelly

and Tidal Currents of OC and So. Cal Griggs, p. 30-37
Note – Due today, Part I of I Search Paper. 15
pts possible. Due at the beginning of class,
don’t wait to be asked for it.

7 Oct 13 Exam #1 – 100 pts. Covers everything Climate Change 4 & 5, Assign #6, #7 #8, and #9
from week #1 to #5. Exam will occur in
the first half of class. There will be an
assignment for the second half.

8 Oct 20 Lecture: Physical Oceanography: Wave Ch 6 Kelly

Climate of Orange County and Southern Griggs p. 38-46 (up to beaches)
California

Lecture: Physical Oceanography - Water Ch 7 Kelly

Column Processes
Climate Change #6, Assign #10 & #11

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9 Oct 27 Lecture: Geological Oceanography: CH 8 Kelly
Sediments of the Sea Floor of Orange
County and Southern California Climate Change 7, Assign #12

10 Nov 3 Lecture: Geological Oceanography: Ch 9 Kelly

Beaches and Coasts of Orange County Griggs p. 46-74
and Southern California Part I

Climate Change 8, Assign #13 & #14

Due Part II of I-Search Paper. 25 pts

11 Nov 10 Lecture: Geological Oceanography: Ch 10 Kelly

Beaches and Coasts of Orange County
and Southern California Part II Climate Change 9, Assign #15

12 Nov 17 Exam #2 – 100 points. Covers

everything from weeks #6 - #12. Exam
will last for the first 80 minutes of class.

Lecture: Armoring the Coastline Griggs p. 107-143 (up to Implementation)

Climate Change 10, Assign #16

13 Nov 24 Lecture: Biological Oceanography:

Plankton of O.C. and So. Cal. – Part I Ch 14 and 15 Kelly
Microorganisms and Part II
Phytoplankton Due Final Draft of I-Search Paper. 60 pts.

Climate Change 11 (movies), Assign #17- #20

14 Dec 1 Field Trip: Orange County Sanitation Griggs p. 427-473

District. Meet in class, we will carpool
and leave by 9:45 am (arrive 10 am, Review Oral Report Requirements
return to OCC 12:45 pm)

15 Dec 8 Climate Change in Southern California Handout found online

Discussion: Oral Reports Student Oral Reports on I Search Paper due
. today. 50 points possible

16 Dec 15 Final Exam – 100 points possible. Final grades will be posted on MyOCC by the end
Covers everything from Week #12 - #16 of the week.

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 Marine Science 185 Class Information Sheet Chit:

This page must be filled out, signed, dated, and turned in to the professor by the
beginning of the second class meeting. Also, please write a brief essay about your self
on the back of this page before submitting it. In the essay please tell us about you, why
you are interested in Coastal Oceanography, what kind of coastal oceanographic
experiences you have had, and what topics would you like to see covered during this
semester.

Key instructions Check off here:

1. The instructor expects you to be in class at every class meeting and ________
to arrive early. No absences! Attendance is taken each day the class meets and
you are expected to be in class for each attendance. Two or more unexcused
absences and you will be dropped from class. There are two books for this class -
one will consist of a series of handouts that you will be given each week. The
second is an online book available at the class website. There are specific reading
assignments for each of these books and questions will be drawn from them for the
quizzes, the exams, and for essays.

2. You are to not bring any food or beverage into Lewis 102. ________
Turn off all cell phones & pagers during class. Also, no skateboards or bicycles are
allowed in class or at the front door of class. Complete foot wear is required and
appropriate attire for class is required.

3. There are 3 exams and 11 quizzes this semester. There is also a ________
literature research assignment (typed and oral report due). There is a make-up
day for missed exams (if you have an excuse absence) and you must register for it
prior to the make up exam (you can only make up one exam). There are no make-
ups offered on the quizzes.

4. The professor requires you to be civil & courteous to other students ________
& the professor. The professor requires that you always exhibit academic honesty
in this class as defined in the course syllabus.

By signing this I acknowledge that I have received _________________________

the syllabus for MS 185 class, which also includes Print your name here
the lecture schedule & reading assignments. __________ ____________
I have also reviewed the key instructions. Date Student I.D. #

Student signature here ------------------ __________________________