Module Details

The information contained in this module specification was correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change, either during the session because of unforeseen circumstances, or following review of the module at the end of the session. Queries about the module should be directed to the member of staff with responsibility for the module.
Title OCEAN ENVIRONMENTS
Code ENVS266
Coordinator Prof J Sharples
Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences
Jonathan.Sharples@liverpool.ac.uk
Year CATS Level Semester CATS Value
Session 2019-20 Level 5 FHEQ Second Semester 15

Aims

Provide students with a quantitative understanding of some key oceanographic concepts, applied to coastal seas. Provide students with knowledge of how the oceanography of a coastal sea supports biological production. Allow students to gain experience in the use of a simple computer model to design and carry out experiments on coastal oceanography. Provide students with practical experience of making basic, useful calculations applied to coastal oceanography.


Learning Outcomes

(LO1) Students will acquire knowledge of key concepts in oceanography

(LO2) Students will learn to appreciate the need to consider a theory's underlying assumptions when testing its appropriateness as an explanation for a phenomenon

(LO3) Students will develop skills in framing testable hypotheses.

(LO4) Students will acquire experience in the use of a simple computer model in testing a hypothesis.

(LO5) Students will gain experience in reaching quantified answers to problems in the coastal and open ocean.

(LO6) Students will develop an understanding of how the physics and biology of the ocean are linked

(LO7) Students will acquire skills in writing a structured scientific report.

(S1) Problem solving skills

(S2) Numeracy

(S3) Communication skills


Syllabus

 

ENVS266 Lecture Timetable Exact timings will be dependent on when the semester field week occurs and staff availability.
Week 1; Lecture 1 Introduction: scope of the module; assessments; schematic shelf with key lectures marked; the societal importance of shelf seas; key contrasts with the open ocean. Rivers: sources of freshwater, nutrients and contaminants to the ocean; global distribution; anthropogenic perturbations; annual variability in discharge (including monsoonal and Arctic rivers). Lecture 2 Estuaries: what happens to fresh(er) water when it reaches the sea; stratification and mixing; types of estuary (as a function of mixing and including fjords and inverse estuaries); mean flows in estuaries.
Week 2; Lecture 3 Coriolis and coastal buoyancy currents (internal Rossby radius and latitudinal constraints of buoyancy flows); dead zones (Louisiana); global delivery of riverine nutrients. Lecture 4 Waves and resonance: basic equation for a wave (time- and space-variati ons); shallow and deep water gravity waves (wave speed and group speed for deep water waves); tsunami; fitting a wave into a bathtub; concept of resonance; earthquake-driven waves in Wellington harbour.
Week 3; Lecture 5 Chemistry of estuaries 1. Lecture 6 Chemistry of estuaries 2.
Week 4; Lecture 7 Chemistry of estuaries 3. Lecture 8 Chemistry of estuaries 4.
Week 5; Lecture 9 Tides 1: the geometry of the problem; the tide generating force; Newton’s Equilibrium Theory and the deep ocean tide; tidal constituents and harmonic analysis (include visit to NOC to see the tide prediction machines). Lecture 10 Tides 2: tidal wave amplification across the shelf; tidal waves in semi-enclosed seas (forced resonance; amphidromous).
Week 6; Lecture 11 Tides 3: tidal currents (rather than tidal wave speed); bed friction, current shear and turbulence; sediment maps and bed friction; energy loss from tidal currents; global tidal energy loss and its implications. Lecture 12 St ratification and mixing: sources of stratification; the potential energy anomaly as a measure of stratification; the heating-stirring competition in shelf seas: heat flux and stratification (PEA); adding in mixing by tides (PEA) and wind (PEA); mixed and stratifying shelf seas (model).
Week 7; Lecture 13 Shelf sea seasonality and primary production: the spring bloom (model); summer storms and nutrient supply (model); the autumn bloom (importance of convective mixing). Introduction to assignment 1. Lecture 14 Mixing in the interior of the water column: the gradient Richardson number; eddy diffusivity and turbulence closure; background mixing; the deep chlorophyll maximum. Content in weeks 8 and 9 could swap, depending on which week is field week in any year.
Week 8; Lecture 15 Tidal mixing fronts 1: the PEA prediction of frontal position; frontal sections; frontal jets; primary production at fronts; mechanisms supporting primary production (mixing, s/n adjustment, eddies). Lecture 16 Internal waves; internal tides at the shelf edge and over banks; internal waves as a source of turbulence and mixing; nutrient supplies to the surface at the New Zealand and the Celtic Sea shelf edges (including microstructure measurements). Week 9: [Note – assignment 1 due in by 1200 on Monday.
Week 9; Fieldwork week. No lectures. Finish assignment.
Week 10: Lecture 17 Geostrophic currents at the shelf edge; the Taylor-Proud man theorem and the blocking effect of topography; undermining geostrophic (the Rossby number and non-linearity). Lecture 18 Upwelling and down welling; wind- and current-driven; upwelling as a nutrient source (Peruvian fisheries); down welling as a carbon exporter (Malin cascade).
Week 11: Assignment 2: Class Test (online through VITAL). Tutorials (1 per week): Tutorials will be a mix of problem sheets (to gain practice in basic calculations), and practical demonstrations.


Teaching and Learning Strategies

Teaching Method 1 - Lecture
Description: 2 lectures per week through the 10 available teaching weeks of semester 2.
Attendance Recorded: Yes
Notes: 10 hours directed learning will focus on required reading of basic oceanography, and 12 hours will be spent on module assessed assignments.
Unscheduled Directed Student Hours (time spent away from the timetabled sessions but directed by the teaching staff): 22

Teaching Method 2 - Tutorial
Description: 1 tutorial per week through the 10 available teaching weeks of semester 2. Tutorials will be used to gain practice with quantitative problem solving, and to provide workshop-type demonstrations of key concepts.
Attendance Recorded: Yes
Notes: 10 hours directed learning focused on understanding the answers to the problems from the problem classes.
Unscheduled Directed Student Hours (time spent away from the timetabled sessions but directed by the teaching staff): 10


Teaching Schedule

  Lectures Seminars Tutorials Lab Practicals Fieldwork Placement Other TOTAL
Study Hours 20

  10

    22

10

62
Timetable (if known)              
Private Study 88
TOTAL HOURS 150

Assessment

EXAM Duration Timing
(Semester)
% of
final
mark
Resit/resubmission
opportunity
Penalty for late
submission
Notes
Exam There is a resit opportunity. Standard UoL penalty applies for late submission. This is an anonymous assessment. Assessment Schedule (When) :Semester 2 examinations period  120 minutes.    70       
CONTINUOUS Duration Timing
(Semester)
% of
final
mark
Resit/resubmission
opportunity
Penalty for late
submission
Notes
Computer model prediction of a coastal sea response to a storm. There is a resit opportunity. Standard UoL penalty applies for late submission. This is an anonymous assessment. Assessment Sched  Report: max 4 sides     30       

Recommended Texts

Reading lists are managed at readinglists.liverpool.ac.uk. Click here to access the reading lists for this module.