Kursöversikt

WELCOME to the Course: Observing the Ocean at All Scales - from micro to macro.  

Please register at Student Portal, Ladok on line(at least one week before the start of the course)

 

Course information

Covid info: Due to the pandemic we will transfer the theoretical parts of the course to online teaching. At this stage, we plan to execute the ship based teaching and fieldwork on site. Check the course Canvas page regularly to keep yourself up dated on any changes.

Course start: 3 November 2020 at 13:00 (this will be a mandatory lecture introducing the course (likely online via Zoom). A link will be posted on this page.

Botan building Carl Skottsbergs g 22B, Gothenburg.

 

Course Information: 

OC4920 is a Masters course in Oceanography of the Marine Sciences program at GU. The course will provide an understanding of the ocean processes that impact its motion (e.g. circulation and property exchange) and the scales that they occur, that are relevant for 21^stcentury science. The course will attempt to have a overall view of the ocean, in the sense that a number of oceanic domains will be incorporated and taught on. The course will cover the importance of the different scales that processes occur in space and time, such as from micro-scale mixing processes to the larger geostrophic flows. The course will include a field work element, where students are expected to take the knowledge from the course to design a small field experiment using a research ship and scientific equipment/sensors. The students will then use the collected field observations to complete tasks in analyzing and interpreting the data. See also the course syllabus.

Schedule - 

The schedule will be available very soon. Small adjustments can occur. (länk TimeEdit)

The field work on the ship is currently planned for week 50: 7-10 December 2020. 

 

Methods of teaching

The course is holistically aimed at providing you with knowledge on theory, case studies related to taught theory and a more problem based learning using field work and related data analysis.

The initial part of the course consists of lectures, related exercises and specialized/guest seminars. Intermittent literature group exercises will be completed and submitted or presented for assessment.

The latter half of the course contains project and field work, consisting of: lectures in which instruments, analyses methods and optimal field experiment planning are presented. Field planning and connection to theoretical knowledge of the processes to be observed will be conducted in groups. The course includes mandatory field work days at sea conducted from a research vessel. The results of the field work will be presented and examined through a written report and oral presentations.

Where possible, the course will use active learning and problem based learning approaches as part of the varied teaching methods.

The course ends with a written exam.

 

Lectures and exercises  

The theoretical information you need in this course is mostly presented using lectures and exercises in the first half of the course. Any related notes (hand-outs), readings, or other material from these occasions will be available in Canvas at the course pages, under the course OC4920.

 

Field work

Field work will be designed and planned by you during the course and prior to departing at sea. The field work is located on R/V Skagerak. You will perform hydrographic sampling on the Swedish west coast, into the Skagerak Sea (weather permitting). More details on how the field work will be carried out and what reporting activities are required of you will be communicated during the course.

 

Syllabus

Can be found here:  https://kursplaner.gu.se/pdf/kuLänkrs/en/OC4920

 

Literature

Portions of the course will use the following text book:

Descriptive Physical Oceanography: An Introduction

Lynn D. Talley, George L Pickard and William J. Emery and James H. Swift.  ISBN 0-7506-2759-X

This textbook is available at GU Library. Alternatively, material will be used in class. 

 

The course will also use a number of scientific publications that will be provided. This literature will be introduced to you throughout the course and during specific modules of the course. A literature list will be continually updated on Canvas, so please keep referring to that for more info.

 

Course Leader: Sebastiaan Swart, sebastiaan.swart@gu.se

Study counsellor:  Barbara Casari, barbara.casari@gu.se

Education administrator: Lovisa Thoursie, lovisa.thoursie@gu.se

Lecturers: Anna Wahlin, Marcel du Plessis, Louise Biddle, Lars Arneborg

 

Please note: this is a new course being held for the second time. Due to course adaptation and optimisation, information (such as the schedule and readings) can change. 

 

More information about your studies

In the student portal you can find answers about studies at University of Gothenburg.

Here you can also find specific information for students at  dept. Marine Sciences