2. Geography of the oceans
Earth’s oceans:
• Cover 70.8% of Earth’s surface
• Are interconnected (“world ocean”)
• Have huge size and volume (as a
reservoir, contain 97% of Earth’s water)
3. The four principal oceans
• Pacific
• Atlantic
• Indian
• Arctic
Plus:
• Southern or
Antarctic
Ocean
Figure 1-2
6. Early exploration of the oceans
• Pacific
navigators
peopled
many
remote
islands
Figure 1-6
7. Early exploration of the oceans
• Advancements of European navigators
– Phoenicians explored the Mediterranean Sea
and beyond
– Pytheas developed method to determine
latitude
– Eratosthenes calculated circumference of
Earth
– Ptolemy produced map that shows known
land surrounded by largely unexplored
oceans
8. Early exploration of the oceans
• The Vikings
explored the
North Atlantic
and
established
many colonies
Figure 1-7
9. Early exploration of the oceans
• During the Age of Discovery, Columbus
and Magellan make journeys of
exploration
Figure 1-8
10. Early exploration of the oceans
• Voyaging for science began with English
navigator and explorer Captain James
Cook
– Mapped many unknown islands
– Determined outline of the Pacific Ocean
– Sampled ocean properties
– Modified shipboard diet to eliminate scurvy
– Used John Harrison’s chronometer to
determine longitude
11. Seven continents
• What exactly is a continent?
– A continent is large landmasses on the earth’s
surface.
– North America, South America, Europe, Asia,
Africa, Australia, and Antarctica are the seven
continents of Earth.