Course Description
Provides students in the Marine Sciences undergraduate program training in preparing, planning, and executing an oceanographic field expedition plan and subsequent data workup for scientific cruises.
Athena Title
Oceanographic Field Expedition
Prerequisite
(MATH 2260 or MATH 2260E) and MARS 3200 and MARS 4100/6100 and MARS 4200/6200
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
A semester-long course designed to teach aspects of conducting a scientific cruise. The class will start with a series of lectures and activities designed to teach basic nautical skills and boating safety, cruise preparation, sampling design, and familiarization with instruments and protocols. During mid-semester, there will be an intensive 2-day overnight cruise (to the Gulf Stream, weather permitting) with sampling and data collection along the class-planned cruise track. Shorter sampling cruises on small boats will be conducted in coastal estuarine waters to provide additional experiential learning opportunities. Following the primary cruise, regular classes will resume and involve sample analysis, data analysis, workup, and the production of a final cruise and data report.
Topical Outline
INTRODUCTION R/V Savannah capabilities and requirements Small boat capabilities and requirements Instrumentation (onboard and otherwise) CRUISE PLANNING Cruise etiquette, safety, and ship schedules Planning a transect Scientific work plan Assigning watches and station duties Assigning instrument analyses Preparation and mobilization CRUISE EXECUTION Onboarding and bunk selection Safety drills Station preparation Sampling Shipboard analyses Demobilization DATA ANALYSIS AND ORGANIZATION Expectations and structure for cruise report Assigning tasks Online data repository Generating a draft report Final report submission
Syllabus
Public CV