HISTORY OF OCEAN EXPLORATION

Into the Wide Blue Yonder

3 MAIN REASONS FOR SEAFARING

Food

Trade

Discovery of

new land

ANCIENT SEAFARING

Biblically – Noah’s Ark and similar stories of floods: Not really out to Sea

1st Recorded – 3200 BCE Egyptian reed boats to Phoenicia for Trade

1st Exploration – 2750 BCE Egyptians to southern tip of Arabian Peninsula

Phoenicians – established trade routes in Mediterranean and as far north as Great Britain. All routes within sight of land.

ANCIENT SEAFARING CONT.

Polynesians

2000 – 500 BCE

Traveled thousands of miles across Pacific Ocean

Settled most habitable islands of the Pacific

including Hawaii

Used basic maps made

from sticks, shells,

ropes, knots & rocks.

TOOLS OF ANCIENT SEAFARING

Reference points on land

Use sun, constellations, stars

Cloud patterns that develop

near islands and coastlines

Shore birds

ANCIENT GREEK MATHEMATICIANS

Developed knowledge lost during middle ages

Knew Earth was round not flat.

Calculated Circumference of the Earth

Developed sophisticated maps with latitude

and longitude

Ptolemy developed coordinate system still used

today.

PTOLEMY

Astronomer,

mathematician,

geographer circa 87 – 150

AD

First map of a spherical

earth projected on to a

FLAT map

Introduced latitude and

longitude

LATITUDE

Easy to figure out while at sea,

even long ago

Not so much…

LONGITUDE

Latitude:

Measures the angular distance north or south of

the equator expressed in degrees

Longitude:

Measures the angular distance east or west

expressed in degrees.

Equator – Great Circle1/2way between North and South Poles

0⁰ latitudeCircles are different sizes

Circles Never intersect & run

parallel to each other90⁰ N

90⁰ S

0⁰

Prime Meridian – Great Circle

Passes through Greenwich England

0⁰ longitude

Circles are equal sizes

Each intersect at Poles

West East

TRAVELING AT SEALatitude

sextant - used to

calculate the

degree of

difference

between observer

and equator

(incredible

accuracy)

LongitudeLongitude

is the

degree of

difference

between

an

observer

and the

prime

meridian –

How do

you do

that?????

CHRONOMETERS

You needed a clock to determine longitude

1 hour from the prime meridian = 15°

1° = 30 nautical miles

Not so simple really –

Degree lengths along meridian aren’t

constant (earth is not a perfect sphere:

69 miles/degree at equator

17 miles/degree at 80° N

0 at the poles

IMAGINE 1714

Clocks?

nope

England offers 20,000 pounds

John Harrison

1726 – the first semi-accurate “regulators”

1759 – “H4” is completed (it’s a clock)

Weighs 3 lbs

5” diameter

A FEW FACTS

Earth’s diameter at equator – 24,902 miles

Earth’s diameter at poles – 24,818 miles

Distance on Earth’s surface for 1⁰ of latitude

OR longitude ~ 70 miles

END OF PART I

MIDDLE AGES – 500 TO 1500 AD

Suppression of science and geography caused loss of knowledge

Vikings – 790 to 1100 AD Explored from central Asia west to New Foundland, Canada and throughout Europe to North Africa

Chinese – developed magnetic compass; two technological innovations of ships: central rudders and watertight compartments

EUROPEAN VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY

1400 – 1700 AD

3 motives

Economics

Politics

Religion

Asia to the East

Prince Henry – Western Africa

Bartholomeu Dias – Cape of Good Hope (1487)

Vasco de Gama – Through Cape to India (1497)

EUROPEAN VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY

1400 – 1700 AD

Asia to the West

Christopher Columbus (1492) - Landed on Caribbean Islands

Vespucci – First to recognize South America as new continent (1499-1504)

Vasco Nunez de Balboa – 1st European

to sail in Pacific; Crossed over Panama

Peninsula (1513)

Ferdinand Magellan

Circumnavigated globe

Left: 5 ships, 200 men (some say 270)

Returned: 1 ship, 18 men, no Magellan

AGE OF EXPLORATION (1700 – 1900)

James Cook- 1st major expedition launched with Science and Exploration as only goal

Chronometer

Developed by John Harrison

Clock not affected by motion of sea

Determined longitude accurately

Discovered New Zealand and Australia

3rd Voyage discovered Hawaii

AGE OF EXPLORATION (1700 – 1900)

Charles Wilkes

Early U.S. expedition

Proved existence of Antartica

Matthew Maury

Father of Physical Oceanography

Knowledge of prevailing winds and surface currents

Produced 1st modern oceanography textbook

AGE OF EXPLORATION (1700 – 1900)

Charles Darwin

Gathered scientific data aboard HMS Beagle

Later wrote The Origin of Species describing evolution through natural selection

Challenger Expedition (1872 – 1876)

1st expedition devoted specifically to marine science

Discovered Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Marianas Trench

Most new species ever discovered on one expedition until deep-sea vents in 1970s

MODERN OCEANOGRAPHY

Mapping sea floor using echo-sounding

Meteor, Atlantis, and Challenger II

DEVELOPMENT OF SUBMERSIBLES AND

SELF-CONTAINED DIVING

Bathyscaphe Trieste – 1st and only manned

submersible to bottom of Challenger Deep

Research Submersibles allow for direct

observations of abyssal plain and limited

specimen collecting

Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnon develop

SCUBA that allows direct manipulation during

underwater research (limited depth)

ROV, AUV, ELECTRONIC NAVIGATION, AND

SATELLITES

Remotely Operated Vehicles –Tethered/unmanned

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles – Untethered/Computer controlled

LORAN and GPS – Allow for accurate coordinate measurements

Satellites – track large scale weather and ocean phenomena

SOMEONE ASKED: HOW MANY GALLONS OF

WATER ARE IN THE OCEAN?

1 cubic kilometer of water =1 trillion liters of water

Therefore - ~ 1,300,000,000,000,000,000,000 liters of water (1.3 sextillion liters)

Gallons? 3.78541178 liters = 1 gallon

=343,423,668,428,484,681,262 gallons

= 343 quintillion gallons

or --- 343 billion BILLION gallons.

That's a lot of water.

The Oceans have around 1.3 billion cubic kilometers of water

SO… You tell me.

You may not ask Siri, Cortana, or Google…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_KKMC7fju

w&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z7REEnw

KOQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvE22AUl-

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