PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY (CMOF)
Physical oceanography involves the study of water movement in the ocean. Energy is introduced to the ocean through wind and solar heating, and these combine with the rotation of the Earth and gravitational effects to drive ocean circulation, tides, and waves. Our physical oceanographers also investigate how the Earth's oceans are directly coupled with the atmosphere, from local weather patterns to the global climate system. The research is focus on coastal structures, atmospheric, ocean turbulences, remote sensing, geophysical dynamics, surface waves mechanics, coastal sediment transport, estuarine circulation and analytical and numerical models.
Graduate Courses
CMOF 5005. COASTAL STRUCTURES. Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week. Types of coastal structures; their purpose, design, construction, and environmental impact.
CMOF 5015. PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY FOR ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
CMOF 6005. METHODS OF OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA ANALYSIS
CMOF 6006. ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC TURBULENCE (I, II)(On demand). Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week. Fundamental concepts of turbulence and their application to the study of geophysical fluids.
CMOF 6617. PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY (I).Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week. General introduction to the study of physical processes in the sea; physical properties of sea water, heat budget, water budget, temperature salinity relationships, light in the sea, equations of motion, vertical stability, Coriolis effect geostrophic motion, general oceanic circulation, waves and tides.
CMOF 6631-6632. GEOPHYSICAL FLUID DYNAMICS I-II.Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week each semester. Prerequisite: authorization of the Director of the Department. The dynamics of large-scale motions in the ocean and the atmosphere. Theories of stratified fluids in rotation and of geophysical waves.
CMOF 6445. REMOTE SENSING IN OCEANOGRAPHY I
CMOF 8446. REMOTE SENSING IN OCEANOGRAPHY II
CMOF6655. OCEAN SURFACE WAVE MECHANICS (I-II). Three credits hours. Three hours of lecture per week. Study of the mechanics of ocean surface gravity waves, including theory, kinematical, statistics, spectra and forces.
CMOF 8446. OCEANOGRAPHIC REMOTE SENSING II Four credit hours. Two hours of lecture and two three-hour laboratories per week. Discussion and analysis of the most advanced techniques used for oceanographic data acquisition using remote sensing and through the critical analysis of the corresponding scientific literature. Data obtained by hyperspectral sensors and by in situ field optical instruments will be emphasized. Field trips required in small and large vessels.
CMOF 8619. COASTAL OCEANOGRAPHY.Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week.
Interactions between long and short period waves and the shore; tides, storm surges, seiches, shoaling wave theories, wave refraction and diffraction, breakers, run-up, long shore currents, near shore sediment transportation, foreshore processes.
CMOF 8659. COMPUTER MODELING IN OCEANOGRAPHY AND METEOROLOGY (I, II)(On demand). Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week. Finite difference methods for the solution of the hydrodynamic equations that appear in numerical models of the atmosphere and the ocean, emphasizing the solution of the linear and nonlinear advection equation, numerical filtering techniques, and mesh systems.
CMOF 8990. A, B, C. SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY (I, II)(On demand). One to three credit hours. One to three sessions per week.
Selected topics in physical oceanography.
