Ocean Sciences

OCEA 201 Advanced Physical Oceanography

Covers advanced topics and physical principles as they relate to the ocean circulation. Designed as a follow-on class for OCEA 200, Physical Oceanography, and topics covered include: the dynamics of the subtropical gyres; potential vorticity dynamics; ventilated thermocline theory; the abyssal circulation; barotropic and baroclinic instability; and ocean eddies. Students use simple computer models to explore these important topics further, and review seminal papers.

Requirements

Prerequisite(s): OCEA 200, or a graduate geophysical fluid dynamics course or equivalent (e.g. EART 272/OCEA 272, AM 217, AM 227), or by instructor consent. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students.

Credits

5

Quarter offered

Winter

Instructor

Andrew Moore