Educational guide 2023_24 Facultade de Ciencias do Mar

Contents

Topic	Sub-topic
I. BASIC CLIMATOLOGY	I.1. Description of the atmosphere: composition, temperature and density with height. I.2. Electromagnetic radiation. Black body emission. Characteristics of solar and terrestrial radiation. I.3. Radiative budget. Albedo and absorption. The greenhouse effect. Energetic latitudinal disequilibrium of the Earth. General movements of air masses, planetary convective cells. I.2. Fundaments of Meteorology: atmospheric pressure; vertical and horizontal structure. Surface maps: isobaric systems. Accelerations in isobaric systems; geostrophic equilibrium; horizontal and vertical circulation.
II. HYDROGRPHY AND WATER MASSES	II.1. TEMPERATURE II.1.1. Surface distribution. II.1.2. Temperature of the water column. Differences among three regions: Mixing layer, seasonal thermocline, main thermocline, deep waters. II.1.3. Upwelling. Ekman spiral. Ekman Transport. Types of upwelling. Downwelling. II.2. SALINITY II.2.1. Conservative and no conservative components. Absolute and practical salinity. II.2.2. Surface distribution and it relationship with balance precipitation + runoff - evaporation. Estuaries and estuarine circulation. Coupling estuarine circulation with upwelling and downwelling. II.3. MASAS DE AGUA Y DIAGRAMAS TS II.3.1. Water masses and water types. Abyssal circulation. Types of density variation in relation with water masses formation. The core method. Identification of water masses circulation. II.3.2. Equation of state of Seawater. Isopycnals. Density vertical profiles of by latitudes: The pycnocline. Density gradient and water masses stability. II.3.3. TS diagrams. Mixing of water types; caballing. Stability of water masses using TS diagrams.
III. DYNAMICS OF OCEAN CURRENTS	III.1. Surface currents and wind systems. The westward intensification. Eulerian and lagrangian currents. III.2. The subtropical and subpolar gyres. Equatorial currents. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current. III.3. Dynamic topography and geostrophic currents. Barotropic and baroclinic regimes. Helland-Hansen equation. III.4. Origin of the dynamic topography: cyclonic and anticyclonic winds. Convergences and divergences of the surface currents. Relationship with upwelling and downwelling. Ekman Pumping.
IV. REGIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY	IV.1. THE ANTARCTIC OCEAN. IV.2. THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. IV.3. THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA. IV.4. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. IV.5. THE INDIAN OCEAN.