chemical and physical features of seawater and the

world ocean
The nature of water

 Atom: The basic unit of

matter
 The smallest unit into
which an element can be
divided and still retain
its properties
The nature of water
 Element: A substance composed entirely of one type of
atom

 Molecule: Larger particle composed of two or more

atoms chemically bonded together
The nature of water
 Hydrogen bonds: Weak
bonds between polar
molecules
 polar molecule: a
molecule with uneven
distribution of charge
 The reason for water’s
unique properties
States of Water
 Liquid, Gas/Vapor, and Solid/Crystalline
 Water is the only substance that naturally occurs in all
three forms
States of Water
 Liquid -> Gas/Vapor
 Evaporation: The breaking of hydrogen bonds allows
water to change from the liquid phase into the gaseous
phase
States of Water
 Gas/Vapor -> Liquid
 Condensation: The formation of hydrogen bonds
allows water molecules to come together and change
from a gaseous phase to a liquid phase
States of Water
 Solid -> Gas/Vapor
 Sublimation: The
direct change in
phase from a solid to
a gas without a
change in phase to a
liquid in between
States of Water
States of Water
 Density = Mass/Volume
 Water is the only known substance that is less dense as
a solid than it is as a liquid
Heat and Water
 Latent heat of melting:
The amount of heat
required to melt a
substance
 highest among
common substances
 due to hydrogen
bonding
Heat and Water
 Heat capacity: The amount of heat needed to raise a
substance’s temperature by a given amount
 reflects how much heat a substance can store
 water can absorb large amounts of heat without altering
much
 why water is used a common coolant
 ex. car engines
Heat and Water
 Latent heat of evaporation: the amount of heat energy
that is needed to evaporate a substance
 water has a high latent heat of evaporation
 also due to hydrogen bonding
 Only fastest moving bonds are broken, allowing those
molecules with more energy to evaporate
 lower energy molecules are left behind
Heat and Water
 Evaporative cooling: the lower
speed and therefore lower
temperature of molecules
remaining in the liquid phase
after evaporation of the fastest
molecules
 how evaporating sweat cools our
skin
Water as a Solvent
 Seawater is a solution: A mixture consisting of two
parts a solvent and a solute which is evenly dissolved
throughout the mixture
 The solute is the substance being dissolved
 The solvent is the substance that causes the dissolving
Water as a Solvent
 Often considered
the “Universal
solvent”
 can dissolve more
things than any
other natural
substance
Water as a Solvent
 Salts: Substances made up of particles with opposite
charges
 Ions: Electrically charged particles that result from the
loss or gain of an electron
 ex. NaCl -> Na+ and Cl-
Water as a Solvent
 Dissociation: The separation of two oppositely charged
particles in a substance into their individual ions
 ex. NaCl -> Na+ and Cl-
Seawater
 The characteristics of
seawater are due to two
things:
 1. the nature of pure water
 2. the materials dissolved in
the water
Seawater
 Some of the material
dissolved in seawater is
the result of weathering
of surrounding rocks
 Weathering: the
physical or chemical
breakdown of rocks
Seawater
 Salinity: The total amount of
salt dissolved in seawater
 Salinity is usually defined as the
amount of salt in grams that
remains when 1,000 grams of
seawater are evaporated
 ex. 35 g remains, 35 parts per
1000 or 35 ppt
 this is the average salinity of the
ocean
Seawater
 Today electronic equipment is used to measure salinity
 The conductivity of seawater is a good indicator of its
salinity - ions are charged
Seawater
 Organisms are affected by the concentration of salts
and the types of salt found in particular seawater
 ex. Cl usually makes up 55.03% no matter what else is
present
 This idea is called the rule of constant proportions
 relative amounts of the various ions in seawater are
always the same
Seawater
 Water is primarily
removed by evaporation
and less by freezing
 when seawater freezes,
the ions are excluded
from the ice
 ice is almost pure water
 Water is added by
precipitation
Salinity, Temperature, Density
 Temperature and salinity effect water’s density
 it gets denser as it gets saltier, colder or both
 Temperature in the open ocean varies from -2°C 30°C
(28-86°F)
 Temperature varies more than salinity
Salinity, Temperature, Density
 Sampling Bottles - measure temperature and salinity
 ex. Niskin bottles
 set up a rack with multiple bottles attached at different
locations, measure many depths at once
Salinity, Temperature, Density
Salinity, Temperature, Density

 Water column: a
vertical shaft of water
extending downward
from the surface
Salinity, Temperature, Density
 Profile: a plot that shows temperature, salinity, or any
other characteristic of seawater at various depths in a
water column
Salinity, Temperature, Density
 Today electronic sensors are
more commonly:
 CTDs: Conductivity-
Temperature-Depth meters
 XBTs: Expendable
Bathythermographs
 disposable, temperature
measures
 Problem: only measure one
location at a time
Pressure
 Organisms on land, at sea level, are under 1 atm of
pressure, or the pressure of the atmosphere above
them
Pressure
 Organisms in the water are under pressure from the
atmosphere and the water above them
 Every 10 ft of depth, 1 atm of pressure is added
 Problem for fish as well
 gas bladder
Buoyancy in Fish – Bony Fish
Buoyancy in Fish – Cartilaginous Fish
Dissolved Gases
 3 most important for living organisms:
 1. Oxygen (O2)
 2. Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
 3. Nitrogen (N2)
Dissolved Gases
 Gas exchange: the movement of gases between the
atmosphere and the ocean
 Gases dissolve better in cold water
 Oxygen is not very soluble
 The amount of oxygen in the water is strongly affected
by organisms through the processes of photosynthesis
and respiration
Dissolved Gases
Dissolved Gases
 Photosynthesis: 6CO2 + 6H2O + energy ---> C6H12O6
+ 6O2

 Respiration: C6H12O6 + 6O2 ---> 6CO2 + 6H2O +

energy
Dissolved Gases
 CO2 is more easily dissolved, because it chemically
reacts with water
 makes up more than 80% of the dissolved gas in the
ocean
 only makes up 0.04% of air
 Makes the ocean critical to understanding the effects
of human activities on the earth’s climate
Transparency
 Water is transparent
 allows sunlight to enter
 allows for photosynthesis to occur and life to continue
Transparency
 Not all colors penetrate seawater equally
 Clear ocean water is most transparent to blue light
 Other colors are absorbed more than blue, so as the
depth increases only blue light can get through
Transparency
 The transparency of
water is greatly affected
by the material
suspended in the water
and the gases dissolved
in the water
The Coriolis Effect
 The Earth is round, therefore anything that moves
over the surface tends to turn at least a little and
does not move directly in a straight line.
 This bending is called the Coriolis Effect
 named after Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis who discovered it
in 1835
The Coriolis Effect
 In the Northern Hemisphere always turns to the right
 In the Southern Hemisphere always turns to the left
Wind Patterns
 winds in our atmosphere are driven by heat energy
from the sun
 As solar energy heats the Equator the air there
becomes less dense and rises.
 Surrounding air gets sucked in to replace the risen air,
creating wind
 The winds are bent due to the Coriolis effect
Wind Patterns
 These winds near
the Equator are
called trade
winds
 approach the
Equator at 45
angles
 least variable of
the winds
Wind Patterns
 Other winds
tend to be
more variable
 Middle
latitudes -
westerlies
 High latitudes
- polar
easterlies
Surface Currents
 All major surface currents of the ocean are driven by
the wind
Surface Currents
 Due to the Coriolis effect,
when the wind moves off,
the water is pushed off at a
45 degree angle
 The top layer of water then
pushes on the next layer and
again the Coriolis effect
comes into play
 The next layer moves more
slowly and slightly towards
the right of the top layer
Surface Currents
 Each successive layer in the water column follows this
pattern
 Forms a pattern called the Ekman spiral after the
Swedish oceanographer who discovered it
 ekman spiral
Surface Currents
 At a depth of a
few 100 meters
the effect of the
wind is not felt
at all
 The upper part
of the water
column that is
affected by the
wind is called
the Ekman layer
Surface Currents
 Taken as a whole the
Ekman layer moves at 90
degrees from the wind
direction in a process
known as Ekman
transport
 Equatorial currents move
parallel to the equator
Surface Currents
 Under the influence of the Coriolis effect the wind-
driven surface currents combine into huge, more or
less circular systems called gyres
 particularly good at carrying heat due to water’s high
heat capacity
Surface Currents
Surface Currents
 Large scale fluctuations in current patterns such as El
Nino can dramatically affect weather around the world
Three-Layered Ocean
 Surface layer: 100-200m
thick
 mixed by wind, waves and
current
 “mixed layer”
 heated by the sun
 The warmer water floats in a
shallow “lens” on top and
there is a sharp transition to
the cooler water below
Three-Layered Ocean
 The ocean is stratified, layered based on density
Three-Layered Ocean
Three Layered Ocean
 Thermocline: sudden changes
in temperature over small
depth intervals
 When the weather cools, the
thermocline breaks down by
winds, waves and currents
Three Layered Ocean
 Intermediate Layer: below the surface level
 1,000-1,500 m in depth (200 – 1,200/1,700 m from the
surface)

 main thermocline: a zone of transition between warm

surface water and the cold water below
 rarely breaks down
 feature of the open ocean
Three-Layered Ocean
Three-Layered Ocean
 Deep/Bottom Layer: Technically different, similar in
being uniformly cold
 typically less than 4°C
Stability and Overturn
 How stable the water column is
depends on the density difference
between the layers
 A more stable water column has
greater differences in density and
requires more energy to mix the
layers
Stability and Overturn
 Sometimes the columns become unstable, meaning
the surface water is more dense than the water below
 the surface water sinks causing downwelling
 this water displaces and mixes with deeper water
Stability and Overturn
 Process is known as overturn
 Scientists identify overturn by looking at straight line
profiles
 When difference is only slight and mixing occurs,
important for the productivity of temperate and polar
waters
Stability and Overturn
 When large amounts of downwelling occurs, the
salinity of that area is changed
 once it has sunk, temperature and salinity do not
change
Stability and Overturn
 From this point on the volume of water or water mass
has a “fingerprint” - a characteristic combination of
temperature and salinity
 This is called Thermohaline circulation
Great Ocean Conveyor
 Overturn rarely reaches the ocean bottom, only in a
few locations - Atlantic Ocean, south of Greenland
and just north of Antarctica
Great Ocean Conveyor
 After sinking the water
spreads through the
Atlantic and to other
ocean basins
 Water eventually rises
back to the surface
 flows back to the
Atlantic where the cycle
begins again
 This is called the Great
Ocean Conveyor
Great Ocean Conveyor
 mixes the oceans
about every 4,000
years
 critical to regulating
the earth’s climate
 brings dissolved
oxygen to the deep sea
Great Ocean Conveyor
 It is thought that alterations in the conveyor have
produced rapid climate changes, even ice ages, in the
past
Waves
 Wind causes waves
 Wave: the undulation that forms as a disturbance
moves along the surface of the water
Waves
 Crest: The highest
part of the wave
 under a crest the
water moves up
and forward
 Trough: The lowest
part of the wave
 under a trough the
water moves down
and back
Waves
 Basically, water particles don’t go anywhere when a
wave goes past, they just move in a circle
 Waves carry energy, but not water
Waves
 The size of a wave is
usually expressed as
the (amplitude)
wave height: the
vertical distance
from trough to crest
Waves
 Wavelength: the horizontal distance between crests
 Period: the time the wave takes to move past a given
point
Waves
 The faster and longer the wind blows, the larger the
wave
 The size of the wave also depends on fetch: the span of
open water over which the wind blows
Waves
 Seas: While the wind is blowing it pushes the wave
crests up into sharp peaks and “stretches out” the
troughs, these waves are called seas
Waves
 Waves move away from where they are generated
slightly faster than the speed of the wind
 Once away from the wind they settle into swells
 smoothly rounded crests and troughs
Waves
 As waves approach the shoreline and reach shallow
water, they begin to “feel” the bottom of the ocean
 The bottom forces the water particles to move in
elongated ellipses instead of circles, which slows the
wave
 As the waves behind catch up the waves get closer
together, giving a shorter wavelength
Waves
Waves
 As the waves behind
catch up the waves get
closer together, giving a
shorter wavelength
 These waves pile up -
higher and steeper
 Eventually topple over
or “break” - creating
surf
Waves
 When two crests of two waves collide, they add
together producing a higher wave
 This is called Wave Reinforcement
Waves
 Sometimes producing rogue waves that appear to rise
up out of nowhere
Waves
 When a crest and a trough collide, they cancel each
other out
 This is called wave cancellation
Tides
 The dominant force on near
shore sea life.
 They alternately expose and
submerge organisms on the
shore, drive the circulation
of bays and estuaries,
trigger spawning and
influence the lives of marine
organisms in countless
other ways
Tides
 The tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the
moon and sun/and the rotations of the sun, moon and
earth
Tides
 The earth and moon both rotate around a common
point, their combined center of mass
 This rotation produces a centrifugal force
Tides
 Centrifugal force: The force that
tends to push a body away from the
center of rotation
 force that pushes you outward on a
merry-go-round
 balances the gravitational
attraction between the earth and
moon
 without it the two would either fly
away from each other or crash
together
Tides
 centrifugal force and the moon’s gravity are not in
perfect balance everywhere along the earth’s surface
 the side of the earth nearest the moon, the moon’s
gravity is stronger
 pulls water towards the moon
 side away from the moon
 centrifugal force is stronger
 pushes water away from the moon
Tides
Tides
 Earth is spinning on its axis
 any given point on the earth’s surface will be the first
under a bulge then away from a bulge
 high tide occurs when that point is under the bulge
Tides
 Earth takes 24 hours to complete a rotation
 Moon advances a little on its orbit every day
 full tidal cycle takes 24 hours and 50 minutes
Tides

 Tidal range: difference in water level between

successive high and low tides
Tides
 Sun produces tidal bulges in the same way as the moon
 Sun is larger than the moon but 400 times further
away
 effect of the sun on the tides is half that of the moon
Tides
 When the sun and the moon are in line with each
other, full moons and new moons the effects are added
together
 tidal range becomes large
Tides
 spring tides: the
tides with a large
tidal wave, occur
around the time of
new or full moons
 occur once every
two weeks
Tides
 When the sun and moon
are at right angles their
effects partially cancel
each other
 Neap Tides: tides with a
small tidal range
 Occurs when the moon is
in quarter (first or third)
Tides
 Tides in the real world
behave slightly
differently
 They vary based on:
 1. location
 2. shape of the basin
 3. depth of the basin
Tides
 There are three types of tidal occurrences:
 1. semi-diurnal
 2. mixed semi-diurnal
 3. diurnal
Tides
 Semidiurnal tides: A tidal pattern with two high and
two low tides each day
 East coast of N. America most of Europe and Africa
Tides
 Mixed Semidiurnal tides: A tidal pattern with two
successive high tides of different heights each day
 West coast of N. America and Canada
Tides
 Diurnal tides: One high and one low tide every day
 uncommon
 coast of Antarctica and parts of the Gulf of Mexico
Caribbean and Pacific
Tides
 Tide Tables: A table that gives the predicted time and
height of tides for particular points along a coast
 give values for one particular place
Tides
Tides
 Effected by channels, reefs, basins and other local
features
 Weather patterns also effect tides
 strong winds, can pile water up on shore