Graduate Courses

600. Survey of Oceanography. (3-0). Credit 3.
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.
602. Ocean Research and Operational Techniques. (1-5). Credit 3.
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.
604. Ocean Observing Systems. Credit 3.
Investigate the rationale behind ocean observing systems; familiarize students with the relevant social, scientific design, technology, and policy issues associated with observing systems. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
605. Oceanography Cruise. Credit 2.
Specialized experience in research methods and analysis in 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 up to two times for MS candidates and four times for PhD candidates. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
608. Physical Oceanography. (3-0). Credit 3.
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. Prerequisite: MATH 172 or equivalent; PHYS 219.
609. Dynamical Oceanography. (3-0). Credit 3.
Systematic treatment of the kinematics, dynamics and thermodynamics of the ocean; integral conservation 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: OCNG 608 or ATMO 435; MATH 601.
610. Mathematical Modeling of Marine Ecosystems. (3-2). Credit 4.
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; laboratory segment to focus on computational techniques applicable to classroom problems. Prerequisites: OCNG 608 and 620, calculus or approval of instructor.
611. Global Scale Oceanography. (3-0). Credit 3.
A balanced description of the ocean’s large-scale circulation and water mass structure based on the interpretation of modern observations, with emphasis on the ocean’s role in global climate, and physical-chemical property fluxes in basin to global scale budgets.
612. Elements of Ocean Wave Theory. (3-0). Credit 3.
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: OCNG 608 and MATH 601 or approval of instructor.
614. Dynamics of the Ocean and Atmosphere. (3-0). Credit 3.
Time-dependent motions in rotating, stratified fluids, with application to the ocean; Boussinesq and betaplane approximations; circulation, vorticity and energy conservation; Kelvin, Poincaré and Rossby waves; tidal forcing and response; quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity; concepts of barotropic and baroclinic instability.
615. Numerical Modeling of Ocean Circulation I. (3-2). Credit 4.
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 for solving elliptic equations. Prerequisite: OCNG 608.
616. Numerical Modeling of Ocean Circulation II. (3-2). Credit 4.
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.
617. Theories of Ocean Circulation. (3-0). Credit 3.
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: Graduate classification.
620. Biological Oceanography. (3-0). Credit 3.
Critical analysis of contribution of biological science to our understanding of sea; discernible interrelationships between organisms and physicochemical parameters. Prerequisites: General prerequisites for oceanography.
622. Analysis of Benthic Communities. (2-3). Credit 3.
Comprehensive study of marine benthos with principal emphasis upon Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Prerequisite: OCNG 620 or equivalent.
625. Current Topics in Biological Oceanography. (1-0). Credit 1.
Areas of current research; plankton processes; microbial food web; benthic communities; fisheries; global change. May be taken up to three times. Prerequisite: OCNG 620 or approval of instructor.
627. Ecology of the Continental Shelf. (3-0). Credit 3.
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.
629. Lower Foodweb Dynamics of Aquatic Ecosystems. (2-3). Credit 3.
Dynamics of the lower foodweb in estuaries, rivers and lakes, detailing the role and interactions between biota and how they are influenced by abiotic processes; effect of man’s activities on natural succession patterns and ecosystem productivity, elucidating the potential for new management practices. Prerequisite: Graduate classification. Cross-listed with WFSC 629.
630. Geological Oceanography. (3-0). Credit 3.
Survey of marine geology, structure and composition of ocean basins and continental margins, properties of marine sediments. Prerequisites: General prerequisites for oceanography.
632. Sea-Level Change. (3-0). Credit 3.
Modern sea level; topography, measurement, meteorologic and oceanographic contributions, periodic and non-periodic changes; long-term changes: determination, Cenozoic history, Quaternary glacial-interglacial fluctuations; changes during the past century and decade; observations, natural and anthropogenic influences; estimates of future changes and societal implications. Prerequisite: Graduate classification; approval of instructor.
640. Chemical Oceanography. (3-0). Credit 3.
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. Prerequisites: General prerequisites for oceanography.
641. Marine Chemistry. (3-0). Credit 3.
The physical/inorganic chemical properties of seawater and its interactions with marine minerals; major topics: 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. Prerequisite: OCNG 640 and/or GEOL 640.
642. Marine Biochemistry Lab. (0-2). Credit 1.
Laboratory exercises including analyses of salinity, oxygen, nutrients, carbon dioxide system, organics; focus on both dissolved and solid phases; measurements of phytoplankton biomass, productivity, growth and mortality; determination of water column and benthic biomass and respiration; microbial biomarkers; overview of field instrumentation. Prerequisites: General prerequisites for oceanography; graduate classification.
644. Isotope Geochemistry. (3-0). Credit 3.
Stable and radioactive isotope variations in natural materials; applications to geochronometric, geothermometric and paleoclimatologic studies of the marine environment. Prerequisite: Approval of the instructor.
645. Marine Organic Geochemistry. (3-0). 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.
646. Dynamics of Colloids in the Environment. (3-0). Credit 3.
This course is a description of the equilibrium and dynamic aspects of the physics and chemistry of such colloidal particles and macromolecules and the implications for environmental systems, relevant for organic carbon flux and cycling, fate and transport of pollutants, bioavailability of pollutants, or mobility of pollutants in groundwater. Prerequisites: Physical Chemistry, Thermodynamics, Aquatic and Organic Chemistry.
647. Chemical Contamination of the Marine Environment. (3-0). Credit 3.
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.
649. Estuarine Biogeochemistry. (3-0). Credit 3.
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 and 640.
650. Aquatic Microbial Ecology. (3-0). Credit 3.
Microbes in natural environments, including both water and sediment habitats in marine, fresh and ground water systems; process studies of microbial foodwebs and biogeochemical cycling; current methods and research directions. Prerequisites: OCNG 620 and WFSC 414 or approval of instructor. Cross-listed with WFSC 650.
651. Meteorological Oceanography. (3-0). Credit 3.
Interaction between the ocean and atmosphere; major features of the two systems; heat budget, teleconnections between ocean and atmosphere, El Niño and related phenomena. Prerequisite: OCNG 608.
652. Sedimentary Biogeochemistry. (3-0). Credit 3.
An interdisciplinary approach to understanding complex processes that occur near the marine sediment-water interface in marine and estuarine environments. Composition of marine sediments, pore water chemistry, role of organisms in chemical transformations and pelagic-benthic coupling. Carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycling in sediments. Modeling biogeochemical processes at the sediment-water interface and during early burial diagenesis. Prerequisites: OCNG 620 and 640 or approval of instructor.
654. Plankton Ecology. (2-2). Credit 3.
Elective course, overview of phytoplankton and zooplankton; taxonomy; physiology; ecology; sampling design; current methods of investigation. Prerequisite: OCNG 620.
657. Data Methods and Graphical Representation in Oceanography. (3-0). Credit 3.
Provide the basic tools and techniques to process, analyze, and visualize oceanographic data sets; multi-disciplinary approach; real-world applications to physical, biological, chemical and geological oceanographic data; basic instruction in the MATLAB programming language. Prerequisite: Knowledge of vector calculus and basic statistics.
658. Ocean Computational Analysis Lab. (0-4). Credit 1.
This laboratory course is designed to train students in computational techniques using modern (python) and classic (FORTRAN) programming languages and scientific software packages (Generic Mapping Tools and MATLAB). The labs will focus on real oceanographic applications. Prerequisites: encour. Concurrent with OCNG 657.
660. Implementing Marine Ecosystem Models. (3-0). Credit 3.
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.
662. Coastal and Marine Sedimentary Processes. (3-2). Credit 4.
Sedimentary processes (erosion, transport and deposition) from the coastline to the deep sea; development of estuaries, deltas, continental shelves, submarine canyons, fans; behavior of fluids and particles in boundary layers. Lab: recirculating flume, field and lab instrumentation. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
663. Particle Dynamics and Fluxes. (3-0). Credit 3.
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.
668. Geology and Geophysics of Small Ocean Basins. (3-0). Credit 3
Geology and geophysics of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Arctic Ocean, Red Sea and Philippine Sea; the regional geology, sediment distribution, general structure and origin of each basin. Prerequisite: OCNG 630.
673. High-Resolution Marine Geophysics. (2-2). Credit 3.
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. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
674. Paleoceanography. (3-0). Credit 3.
History of oceans through geologic time; marine paleontological, geochemical, sedimentological and geophysical evidence; inferred changes in seawater properties, ocean circulation and sea level; relation to climate, tectonic processes, atmospheric chemistry and evolution of life. Prerequisite: OCNG 630 or approval of instructor.
675. Environmental Management System Strategies for the Scientist. (2-0). Credit 2.
Provide students with EMS strategy skills: environmental laws that may be triggered by activities; fundamental structure of an EMS; EMS alternatives; concepts in an audit; alternative dispute resolution; how effectively EMS can reduce costs and increase profits. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor. Cross-listed with MARS 675 at Texas A&M University at Galveston.
676. Marine Environmental Policy: A Survey. (3-0). Credit 3.
Basic concepts and mechanisms of international and U.S. federal environmental law and policy; survey of the field and focus on case studies illustrating basic types of environmental problems. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor. Cross-listed with MARS 675 at Texas A&M University at Galveston.
681. Seminar. (1-0). Credit 1.
Presented by faculty, students, staff and visiting scientists; based on recent scientific research.
684. Professional Internship. Credit 1 to 6.
A directed internship in a professional setting to provide on-the-job training in ocean observing systems skills appropriate to the student’s professional objectives. Prerequisites: Approval of student’s committee chair; OCNG 684, OCNG 657.
685. Directed Studies. Credit 1 to 6 each semester.
Special topics to suit small group requirements. Problems not within thesis research and not covered by any other course in established curriculum. Prerequisites: General prerequisites for oceanography.
689. Special Topics in… Credit 1 to 4.
Selected topics in an identified area of oceanography. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
691. Research. Credit 1 or more each semester.
For thesis or dissertation.