OCNG 600: Credit 3. Instructor: Varies

General survey of the scientific framework of oceanographic study; applications of ocean research to social and economic problems; interrelations between the ocean disciplines and other fields of study. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

Technical, operational, and legal aspects of sea-going research operations; planning and executing ocean research operations; practice in techniques and equipment regularly used aboard ships; familiarization with acquisition and processing of data. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

OCNG 604, 605, 606, 607: Credit 2. Instructor: Varies

Specialized experience in research methods and analysis in biological oceanography via preparation for and participation in a research cruise of at least two weeks duration under the supervision of a Texas A&M oceanography faculty member. May be taken for: Credit up to two times for M.S. candidates and four times for Ph.D. candidates. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

Observations, instruments; physical properties of seawater; property distributions; characteristics of water masses; heat budget; kinematics; gravity pressure, hydrostatics, stability. Horizontal flow; Coriolis force, geostrophy; friction, wind drift; general circulation; wave motions; tides. Prerequisites: MATH 122 or equivalent; PHYS 219.

Systematic treatment of the kinematics, dynamics, and thermodynamics of the ocean; integral con-servation relations; solenoidal versus conservative vector fields; potential vorticity; geostrophic adjustment; inertial and buoyancy modes; Bernoulli-Montgomery potential; energetics in a rotating system; available potential energy; natural temporal and spatial scales. Prerequisites: METR 435 or OCNG 608; MATH 601.

Theory and technique of model development for marine ecosystems; mathematical representation of interactions among nutrients, phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, and the physical environment; scrutiny of biological concepts and mathematical structure of existing models. Prerequisites: OCNG 608 and 620, calculus or approval of instructor.

Theories of simple harmonic surface gravity capillary and internal waves. Wave propagation, dispersion and energy; modifications due to rotation, variable depth and finite amplitude. Prerequisites: MATH 601; OCNG 608; or approval of instructor.

Time-dependent motions in rotating, stratified fluids, with application to the ocean; Boussinesq and betaplane approximations; circulation, vorticity, and energy conservation; Kelvin, Poincare, and Rossby waves; tidal forcing and response; quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity; concepts of barotropic and baroclinic instability. Prerequisite: MATH 601 AND OCNG 608, or equivalent.

Mathematical theory and numerical technique of model development for ocean circulation; concepts of numerical consistency and stability; Lax equivalence theorem; commonly used finite difference schemes in ocean modeling; finite element and spectral methods as alternative means of discretisation; positivity and CFT method; relaxation and direct methods of solving elliptic equations. Prerequisite: OCNG 608.

Quasigeostrophic ocean circulation models; Arakawa's energy and enstrophy conserving scheme; spectral barotropic vorticity model on sphere; shallow water primitive equation models; geostrophic adjustment on different numerical grids boundary conditions in numerical models; introduction to ocean general circulation models; mixed models and sub-gridscale parameterization; oceanic data assimilation. Prerequisite: OCNG 615.

Theories of wind-driven circulation, Sverdrup solution, frictional and inertial boundary regimes; instabilities, meanders and mesoscale features; role of stratification, topography and time dependence; Thermohaline circulation. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

Critical analysis of contribution of biological science to our understanding of sea; discernible interrelationships between organisms and physicochemical parameters. Prerequisite: General prerequisites for oceanography.

Comprehensive study of marine benthos with principal emphasis upon Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Prerequisite: OCNG 620 or equivalent.

OCNG 625: Credit 1. Instructor: L. Campbell

This seminar course will highlight areas of current research in plankton processes, microbial food web, benthic communities, fisheries, global change. Focus will be on discussion. Prerequisite: OCNG 620.

Environments, populations, and communities of the continental shelf. Interactions of the shelf with the estuaries and the deep sea; man's impact on the shelf ecosystems. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

OCNG 630: Credit 3. Instructor: Varies

Survey of marine geology, structure and composition of ocean basins and continental margins, properties of marine sediments. Prerequisite: General prerequisites for oceanography.

Chemical composition and properties of seawater, evaluation of salinity, pH, excess base and carbon dioxide in sea. Marine nutrients, oxygen and other dissolved gases, organic constituents; laboratory exercises on routine analyses. Prerequisites: General prerequisites for oceanography.

The physical/inorganic chemical properties of seawater and its interactions with marine minerals. Thermochemical properties of seawater, equilibrium and kinetic processes controlling ion speciation; geochemical processes at mineral surfaces; kinetics of mineral seawater interactions; applications to modeling early diagenesis. Prerequisites: OCNG 640 and/or GEOL 640.

Chemical behavior of naturally occurring materials at earth surface conditions and the processes which control the chemical composition of seawater and marine sediments. Prerequisite: Undergraduate major in geology or approval of instructor.

Stable and radioactive isotope variations in natural materials; applications to geochronometric, geothermometric and paleoclimatologic studies of the marine environment. Prerequisite: Approval of the instructor.

Oceanography 645: Credit 3

Origins, fates, and distribution of organic compounds in contemporary marine environments and in recent and ancient sediments. Specific analytical techniques. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

? - Ever wondered why only 0.1% of primary production is buried in oceanic sediments?
? - Ever wondered what happens to the other 99.9%?
- Then Marine organic geochemistry is for you.
This lecture course traces the fate of organic matter from source (atmosphere, river and ocean) to sink (marine sediments) using a variety of proxies. Learn how you can de-lineate source of organic matter; determine who eats what in food-web studies; and why we care.....

Assessment of the inputs, transfers, effects, and fates of heavy metals, radio-nuclides, petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons and other chemicals in the ocean; models developed to predict the future viability of the ocean with particular emphasis on the Gulf of Mexico. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

OCNG 649: Credit 3. Instructor: L. Cifuentes

Geomorphology; physical oceanography and sedimentation dynamics of estuaries; chemistry of nutrients; trace metals and organic matter; major controls in estuarine productivity and interactions among estuaries, marshes, and coastal waters. Prerequisites: OCNG 620, OCNG 640.

Microbes in natural environments, including both water and sediment habitats in marine, fresh, and groundwater systems; process studies of microbial foodwebs and biogeochemical cycling; current methods and research directions. Prerequisites: OCNG 620, WFSC 414 or approval of instructor.
Fall 1999 - Section 600

Interaction between the ocean and atmosphere; major features of the two systems; heat budget, teleconnections between ocean and atmosphere, El Nino and related phenomena. Prerequisites: METR 445 or OCNG 608.

OCNG 654: Credit 3. Instructor: L. Campbell and J. Wormuth

Overview of the taxonomic diversity of marine phytoplankton and zooplankton; a comprehensive review of the physiology, ecology, trophodynamics and production of these two components of the plankton. Laboratory will include techniques for measuring primary production and biomass and methods for identification of phytoplankton and zooplankton species. Prerequisite: OCNG 620.

WHO	WHAT	WHEN		WHERE
Dr. Lisa Campbell	Section 600	TR	11:10 - 12:25	O&M 513
		W	15:00 - 17:00

Examination of examples of implementations of models of marine ecosystems in the most influential papers; students expected to code the simpler examples and analyze them; review of important nutrient-phytoplankton-zooplankton (NPZ) models as well as other approaches to studying aquatic ecosystems. Prerequisite: OCNG 610.

Sedimentary processes (erosion, transport and deposition) from the shoreline to the deep sea and their effects on the development of estuaries, deltas, continental shelves, submarine canyons, fans, etc. Behavior of fluids and particles in boundary layers. Lab includes observations in a recirculating flume. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

Particle dynamics and processes from the sea surface to the seafloor; global distribution, dynamics, and fluxes of particles from microns to millimeters (marine snow); results from sediment traps, optical sensors, particle counters applied to biogeochemical cycles in the ocean. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.

Biochemistry of marine invertebrates; biochemical adaptations to life in the oceans and evolution of biochemical systems in invertebrates. Prerequisites: BICH 603 and 604 or approval of instructor.

OCNG 668: Credit 3. Instructor: W. Bryant

Geology and geophysics of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Philippine Sea, and Arctic Ocean; the regional geology sediment distribution, general structure and origin of each basin. Prerequisite: OCNG 630.

Geotechnical properties of marine sediment masses ranging from high-water-content muds to low-porosity shales; genesis and diagenesis of marine sediment masses and their relationship to various physical properties; the formation of mudstones and shales; fluid migration in consolidating sediment masses. Prerequisite: OCNG 630 or approval of instructor.

Introductory course on the geophysical nature of the seafloor and marine subbottom to 1.5 seconds two-way travel time; generation, use, and interpretation of reflection and side-scan sonar records and magnetic anomalies of various marine environments and seafloor features. Prerequisites: Approval of instructor.

Presented by faculty students, staff and visiting scientists; based on recent scientific research.

Special topics to suit small group requirements. Problems not within thesis research and not covered by any other course in established curriculum. Prerequisite: General prerequisites for oceanography.

Selected topics in an identified area of oceanography. May be repeated for: Credit. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor. Recent topics include:

• J. Morse, Sedimentary Biogeochemistry
• W. Gardner, Advanced Geological Oceanography
• T. Crowley, Paleoclimatology
• T. Francis, Ocean Drilling
• W. Nowlin, Physical Oceanography of the Gulf of Mexico
• W. von Zharen, Marine Environmental Policy

For thesis or dissertation.