Coastal and Marine Environment

Prof. P. Shanmugam
Professor / National Geospatial Chair Professor
Department of Ocean Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Note: Materials used in this PPT are taken from the various literature, books and open resources and should only be used for learning
purposes.
View and characteristics of
the World ocean
 Oceanography
• Earth is misnamed.

• The ocean of water dominates its, and white

in some places with clouds surface and ice,
sometimes swirling with storms.

• The ocean affects and moderates

temperature and dramatically influences
weather.

• Its creatures provide at least 2% of

humanity’s food.

• Nearly one-third of oil ad gas is pumped from

beneath its floor.

• It borders most of the planet’s largest cities.

• It is primary shipping and transportation

route and a major recreational resource

• It contains immense mineral and biological

resources

• It supports for development and growth of

organisms and life
Representations of the Earth
• A geoid is the equipotential surface of the earth’s gravity field, which best fits the
mean sea level in the world. Therefore it is a measured surface – not a
mathematical surface like ellipsoid.

Sea surface
Ellipsoid
Isaac Newton
(1670)
suggested the
earth would be
flattened at the
poles, due to
centrifugal
force by the Earth surface
earth’s rotation.

Geoid Mean Sea Level is a surface of constant

gravitational potential called the Geoid
Geoidal surface
Geoidal surface
 Oceanography

noitisopeD noisorE tnemideS

yrtemoeG nisaB htpeD retaW

noitcudorP elcitraP

htpeD retaW
Mixing Salinity

Salinity Nutrients Contaminants

Weathering Light attenuation / Bottom Topography

Precipitation/DissolutionCirculation pattern Mixed layer depth

Importance of Oceanography

• Oceanography is the general name given to

the scientific study of the oceans.
• It is historically divided in terms of the basic
sciences into physical, biological, chemical,
geological, optical and acoustical
oceanography.
Physical
Oceanography
• Physical oceanography is the study
of the physical properties of
seawater, dynamics properties of
water masses on all time and space
scales, and the processes that
control these properties.

• This involves a balance of theory,

field observation, experiments, and
modelling.

• Eco sounders measure the depth of water beneath a vessel by measuring the time a sound
pulse takes to travel from the vessel to the seafloor and back. Since sound travels in
seawater at about 1,500 ms-1, a sound pulse takes 2 seconds to return to the research
vessel when the water depth is 1,500m.

• The sound pulses spread out over a narrow angle as they travel downward from the vessel.

• Thus, particularly where the depth is great, they are reflected off a large area of seafloor.
Physical Oceanography
• Salinity and temperature
in the coastal ocean.
Changes in coastal
salinity (top row) can be
caused by the input of
fresh water (a), by dry
offshore winds causing a
high rate of evaporation
(b), or by both (c).
• Changes in coastal
temperature (bottom row)
depend on latitude. In
high latitudes (d), the
temperature of coastal
water remains uniformly
near freezing. In low
latitudes (e), coastal
water may become
uniformly warm. In the
mid latitudes, coastal
surface water is
significantly warmed
during summer (f) and
cooled during the winter
Geological Oceanography
• Geological Oceanography is the study of morphology, composition, evolution of the
seafloor and its sediments with regard to physical and chemical conditions in the water
column.

• Production, transport, and burial of sedimentary materials are common topics of study.
Chemical Oceanography
• Chemical oceanography is the study of the origin and composition of seawater,
relationships between chemical compounds, and how the chemistry of the ocean affects,
or is affected by, biological, geological and physical factors.

• A typical submersible consists of a glass or plastic sphere inside a hull. The scientists
descend within the sphere, which is provided with air and heat. Motors, articulated arms
and many different designs of samplers are mounted outside the sphere. These are used to
provide propulsion and collect samples.
Biological Oceanography
• Biological Oceanography is
the study of pelagic and
benthic communities of the
ocean, specifically, how the
distribution, abundance and
life history of organisms are
affected by physical, chemical,
and geological processes.

• Biological oceanographers
must be knowledgeable of
ocean physics, chemistry,
geology, and atmospheric
processes.

Many different types of nets are used to sample pelagic and

benthic organisms.
Optical Oceanography

Optical oceanography is concerned with the propagation and interaction of radiation in
the water column, typically at wavelengths between approximately 350 and 750 nm

Color observed from space representing

various properties of the waters in
Europe.
Acoustical Oceanography

• Acoustical Oceanography also encourages a new generation of

scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to apply the modern
methods of acoustical physics to probe the unknown sea.

• Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography explains principles

of underwater sound propagation, and describes how both
actively probing sonars and passively listening hydrophones
can reveal what the eye cannot see over vast ranges of the
turbid ocean
Ocean Engineering
Ocean Engineering is the design
and implementation of oceanic
structures, instrumentation, and
ships, as well as the application
of physics, chemistry and
mathematics to study the ocean
and / or mitigate problems.

Ocean Technology
Ocean Technology is relevant to
a wide range of multidisciplinary
activities that broadly seek to
develop, transfer, or apply
instrumentation and technologies
that will benefit research
programs and implementation of Groins designed to stop beach erosion modify the longshore sand transport
marine projects. and consequently, the beach.
(a) sand accumulates on the upcurrent (longshore drift current) side of the
groin and is eroded from the downcurrent side. (b) Often a line of groins are
constructed along the length of a beach creating a saw-toothed beach
shoreline
Technologies for ocean observing
Remote Sensing/Satellite Imagery:
Geostationary Server - http://www.goes.noaa.gov
Satellite significant events: http://www.osei.noaa.gov
National Geophysical Data Center: http:
//www.ngdc.noaa.gov/ngdc.html

Floating devices in the ocean:

Argo Floats - http://www.argo.ucsd.edu
Drifter Programs: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/graphics/pacifictraj.gif

Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) :

Many discoveries…

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/technology/subs/rov/rov.html

Automated Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) :

Physical and Chemical
Properties of Sea Water
Major components of Water

Dissolved salts

– 99% of all the salt ions in the sea are sodium (Na +), chlorine (Cl-), sulfate (SO4 -2),
Magnesium (Mg+2), calcium (Ca +2) and potassium (K+).

– Sodium and chlorine alone comprise about 86% of the salt in the sea.

– The major constituents of salinity display little variation over time and are a
conservative property of sea water.

Dissolved gases

- nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide (The surface layer is usually saturated in atmospheric
gases because of direct exchange with the atmosphere)

Organic and inorganic matter

- dissolved organic materials, suspended particulate matter

Major components of Water
 Sources of salt and other components

• On average, concentration of dissolved salts, i.e., the salinity, in seawater is 3.5% or

35‰.
• The relative abundances of the ions listed above does not change, even though
salinity does; are said to be conservative.
•
Dissolved gases

Three main ocean carbon pumps govern the regulation of atmospheric

CO2 changes by the ocean (Helnze et al., 1991)
Sources and sinks of
gases
• Oxygen tends to be abundant in
the surface layer and deep layer CO2 + H2O + energy [from the sun]  O2 +
sugar (organic matter)


bottom, but lowest in the
pycnocline.
• Surface layer is rich in oxygen
because of photosynthesis and
contact with the atmosphere.
• Oxygen minimum layer occurs at
about 150 to 1500m below the
surface and coincides with the
O2 + sugar  CO2 + H2O + energy
pycnocline.
• Sinking food particles settle into
this layer and become suspended
in place because of the greater
density of the water below.
• The food draws large numbers of
organisms which respire,
consuming oxygen.
• CO2 is important because it is
needed by plants so they can
photosynthesize.
• O2 is important because animals
need it for respiration.

Sources and sinks of
gases
• The deep layer is rich in oxygen because its water is derived from the cold
surface waters which sank (convect) to the bottom. Consumption is low
because there are fewer organisms and less decay consuming oxygen.

• Anoxic waters contain no oxygen and are inhabited by anaerobic organisms

(bacteria).
 • Carbon dioxide is of major importance in controlling acidity in the sea water.

̶ • Major sources of carbon dioxide are respiration and decay.

• Major sinks are photosynthesis and construction of carbonate shells.

• Carbon dioxide controls the acidity of sea water.

• A solution is acid if it has excess H+ (hydrogen) ions and is a base if it

has excess OH- (hydroxyl) ions.
The pH Scale

• pH measures how acid or base water is.

pH of 0 to 7 is acid.
pH of 7 is neutral.
pH of 7 to 14 is base.


Phytoplankton Nutrients

• inorganic sources of N, P, S and other atoms required for phytoplankton

growth.

• photosynthesis and respiration contributes in nutrient distribution.

• Especially important, because so much is needed, are N (nitrogen) and P

(phosphorus).

• Si (silica) is also important for all the siliceous organisms: diatoms,

radiolarians, and siliceous sponges.

• N is necessary to make proteins.

• P is necessary to make new cells

Useful(it's part of the cell wall), and also genetic
forms
material, DNA and RNA. NO3- nitrate
NO2- nitrite
NH4+ ammonium
PO4 3- phosphate
Salinity

• Salinity is the total mass, expressed in grams, of all substances dissolved in

one kilogram of sea water when all carbonate has been converted to oxide, all
bromine and iodine has been replaced by chlorine and all organic compounds
have been oxidized at a temperature of 480oC.

• Principle of constant proportion states that the absolute amount of salt in sea
water varies, but the relative proportions of the ions is constant.

• Because of this principle, it is necessary to test for only one salt ion, usually
chlorine, to determine the total amount of salt present.
Salinity
• Chlorinity is the amount of halogens (chlorinity, bromine, iodine and fluorine)
in the sea water and is expressed as grams/kilogram or %.

• Salinity is equal to 1.8065 times chlorinity.

• Salinometers determine salinity from the electrical conductivity produced by

the dissolved salts.

Salinity ppt = 1.80655 x Chlorinity in ppt

If chlorinity is 19.2 ppt, what is the salinity of sea water?

34.6 ppt = 35 ppt

• Salt sources include weathering of rocks on land and the reaction of lava
with sea water.

• Weathering mainly involves the chemical reaction between rock and acidic
rainwater, produced by the interaction of carbon dioxide and rainwater
forming carbonic acid.
Salt sinks

̶ • Salt sinks include the following:

• Evaporation removes only water molecules.

Remaining water becomes increasingly saline, eventually
producing a salty brine.

If enough water evaporates, the brine becomes supersaturate

and salt deposits begin to precipitate forming evaporite
minerals.

• Wind-blown spray carries minute droplets of saltwater inland.

• Adsorption of ions onto clays and some authigenic minerals.

• Shell formation by organisms.

Addition of salt modifies the properties of water

• Pure water freezes at 0oC. Adding salt increasingly lowers the freezing
point because salt ions interfere with the formation of the hexagonal
structure of ice.

• Density of water increases as salinity increases.

• Vapor pressure is the pressure exerted by the gaseous phase on the

liquid phase of a material. It is proportional to the amount of material in
the gaseous phase.

• Vapor pressure decreases as salinity increases because salt ions

reduce the evaporation of water molecules.
Salinity

Annual mean of the sea surface salinity distribution (World Ocean Atlas, 2005)
Salinity displays a latitudinal relationship related to
precipitation and evaporation

• Highest ocean salinity is between 20-30o north and south or the equator.

• Low salinity at the equator and poleward of 30o results because

evaporation decreases and precipitation increases.

• In some places surface water and deep water are separated by a halocline,
a zone of rapid change in salinity.

• Water stratification (layering) within the ocean is more pronounced between

40oN and 40oS.
Ocean surface temperature
• Ocean surface temperature strongly correlates with latitude because
insolation, the amount of sunlight striking Earth’s surface, is directly
related to latitude.

• Ocean isotherms, lines of equal temperature, generally trend east-west

except where deflected by currents.

• Ocean currents carry warm water poleward on the western side of

ocean basins and cooler water equatorward on the eastern side of the
ocean.

• Insolation and ocean-surface water temperature vary with the season.

• Ocean temperature is highest in the tropics (25oC) and decreases

poleward.
Ocean temperature

• Tropical and
subtropical oceans
are permanently
layered with warm,
less dense surface
water separated from
the cold, dense deep
water by a
thermocline, a layer in
which water
temperature and
density change
rapidly.

• Temperate regions
have a seasonal
thermocline and polar
regions have none.
Annual mean of the sea surface temperature distribution (World Ocean Atlas, 2005)
Sea surface temperature (regional level)

Gulf stream
Gulf stream

The Gulf Stream is the

fastest ocean current in
the world with peak
velocities near 2m/s.
Temperature differences between the surface and
1000m depth in the oceans
Density

• Density of sea water is a function of temperature, salinity and

pressure.

• Density increases as temperature decreases and salinity

increases as pressure increases.

• Pressure increases regularly with depth, but temperature and

salinity are more variable.

• Higher salinity water can rest above lower salinity water if the
higher salinity water is sufficiently warm and the lower salinity
water sufficiently cold.

• Pycnocline is a layer within the water column where water

density changes rapidly with depth.
Density
• The water column in the ocean can be divided into the surface layer,
pycnocline and deep layer.

• The surface layer is about 100m thick, comprises about 2% of the ocean
volume and is the most variable part of the ocean because it is in contact
with the atmosphere.

• The surface layer is less dense because of lower salinity or higher

temperature.

• The pycnocline is transitional between the surface and deep layers and
comprises 18% of the ocean basin.

• In the low latitudes, the pycnocline coincides with the thermocline, but in the
mid-latitudes it is the halocline.

• The deep layer represents 80% of the ocean volume.

• Water in the deep layer originates at the surface in high latitudes where it
cools, becomes dense, sinks (convects) to the sea floor and flows outward
(advects) across the ocean basin.
Salinity

CTD
(conductivity,
temperature,
pressure) for
Autosalinometer for
CTD Profiler with measuring
running salinity
Niskin Bottles conductivity in a
analyses relative to
profile (on the
standard seawater
fly)
Sound in the Ocean
• Convenient means for transmitting information over great distances in
the ocean

• Only signal that can be used for the remotely sensing of the ocean
below a depth of a few tens of meters.

• Used to measure the properties of the sea floor, the depth of the ocean,
temperature and currents.

• Whales and other ocean animals use sound to navigate, communicate

over great distances, and find food.

• Sound Speed, C = f (T, S, p)

C = 1449 + 4.6T - 0.055T2 + 1.4(S-35) + 0.017D (m/s)

• Here T is temperature (°C), S is salinity and D is depth in meters.

• Typical sound speed in ocean: C = 1450 to 1550 m/s.

Typical sound speed in ocean: C = 1450 to 1550 m/s.
Light Transmission

• Transparent in visible part of spectrum

• Absorbed as it goes deeper in the water column
• strongly absorbs infrared (heat) and ultraviolet (prevents damage to
DNA)
• light energy at the oceanic surface is attenuated by absorption
• also converted to other forms of energy (e.g., heat energy)

• light intensity decreases with depth

– Absorption and scattering by water molecules
– Absorption and scattering by particulates suspended in the water
• transmittance spectrum also changes with water depth

• short wavelengths and long wavelengths are rapidly absorbed

• only blue-green (visible) wavelengths penetrate to any significant depth

– only ~1% of surface light remains at depths of ~100 meters
– no sunlight penetrates below ~1,000 meters
Spatial gradients, depth and
layers in the marine environment
The ocean covers ~70% of the surface of Earth, and is
intimately tied to the atmosphere and land.

Light, Salinity, Nutrients, Temperature, Pressure

Ocean layers
Depending on how deep the sea is, there can be up to five vertical layers in the
ocean. From the top down, they are:

Epipelagic (sunlit)

– This zone is also known as the surface zone

– The illuminated surface zone where there is enough light for

photosynthesis.

– Due to this, plants and animals are largely concentrated in this zone.

– Nearly all primary production in the ocean occurs here.

– This layer is the domain of fish such as tuna, many sharks, dolphin
fish, and jellyfish.

Mesopelagic (twilight)

– Although some light penetrates this deep, it is insufficient for

photosynthesis.

– At about 500 m the water becomes depleted of oxygen.

– Still, an abundance of life copes with more efficient gills or minimal

movement.
Ocean layers

Bathypelagic (dark)

• By this depth the ocean is almost entirely dark.

• There are no living plants, and most animals survive by consuming the snow of
detritus falling from the zones above Squids & octopodes live at this depth

Abyssopelagic

• No light whatsoever penetrates to this depth.

Hadopelagic

• This zone is mostly unknown, and very few species are known to live here.

• However, many organisms live in hydrothermal vents in this and other zones.

• Some define the hadopelagic as waters below 6,000 m (19,685 ft).