This graduate course will introduce students to the processes controlling phytoplankton, zooplankton, heterotrophic bacterial and benthic infaunal growth and abundance. We'll do a broad-scale survey of patterns of productivity and abundance in the coastal zones, upwelling centers, gyres, and the deep sea. We'll briefly survey ecosystem simulation models, especially those applicable to the Gulf of Maine. Readings will be from the primary literature and a few book chapters. The effects of anthropogenic effects on marine communities will be stressed throughout. Calculus will be used throughout the course, but there is no formal calculus requirement.

Has your attention recently been caught by news of coastal catastrophes such as hurricanes and tsunamis? Do you wonder why so many coastal communities in the world are vulnerable to flooding and other coastal hazards? Have you considered what coastal flood protections cities like Houston and Miami will need in the future to protect their residents? This course will provide a better understanding of these phenomena. We present a global perspective of coastal landscapes, the geologic processes responsible for their formation, and ways that society responds to hazards like sea level rise and catastrophic weather events. You will participate in active learning exercises such as analyzing real-world datasets and applying critical thinking to real-world societal problems while investigating a coastal community.

Wave equations for fluid and visco-elastic media. Wave-theory formulations of acoustic source radiation and seismo-acoustic propagation in stratified ocean waveguides. Wavenumber Integration and Normal Mode methods for propagation in plane-stratified media. Seismo-Acoustic modeling of seabeds and ice covers. Seismic interface and surface waves in a stratified seabed. Parabolic Equation and Coupled Mode approaches to propagation in range-dependent ocean waveguides. Numerical modeling of target scattering and reverberation clutter in ocean waveguides. Ocean ambient noise modeling. Students develop propagation models using all the numerical approaches relevant to state-of-the-art acoustic research.

Think science has all the answers? Think again. This course will use real, authentic data to explore and investigate modern controversies in Earth Sciences. Use tide gauge records to understand how countries around the world attempt to protect themselves from tsunami events. Process seismic data to predict earthquake recurrence in the New Madrid seismic zone, right here in the breadbasket of the US. Sort through the millions of years of the geologic timeline to shed some light on what actually did, and did not, kill the dinosaurs. Finally, use global atmospheric data to understand how misrepresentation of data can be used to paint a distorted view of past, present, and future climate.

Oceanography is an interdisciplinary field studying the processes and interrelationships of geology, chemistry, geography, geophysics, meteorology, and biology. This course focuses on how scientific processes and scientific understanding are applied to questions such as: Which factors control life in the ocean? How do we know what we know about the ocean? What's at the bottom of the ocean? How does the water in the ocean move? How are human activities and climate change altering the ocean? Oceanographic data is used to understand the ocean and its interactions with the rest of the planet.
This course is based in part upon materials developed by the American Museum of Natural History and is used by the School of Professional Studies for this course with permission.

Our planet is becoming hot. In fact, Earth may be warming faster than ever before. This warming will challenge society throughout the 21st century. How do we cope with rising seas? How will we prepare for more intense hurricanes? How will we adapt to debilitating droughts and heat waves? Scientists are striving to improve predictions of how the environment will change and how it will impact humans. Earth in the Future: Predicting Climate Change and Its Impacts Over the Next Century is designed to provide the state of the art of climate science, the impact of warming on humans, as well as ways we can adapt. Every student will understand the challenges and opportunities of living in the 21st century.

The year is 2050 and your once-idyllic beachfront vacation home is now flooded up to the second story. The crab your family has enjoyed every Christmas for as long as you can remember has now become an endangered species. The oceans have changed. In Earth 540, Oceanography for Educators, we explore the mechanisms that lead to sea level rise and ocean acidification. We strive to understand how natural processes such as ocean currents, the gulf-stream, tides, plate tectonics, and the Coriolis Effect, affect our oceans and ocean basins. We then predict how man-made issues such as climate change and overfishing will affect our beloved waters and our livelihoods. Want to see into the future? Then this course is for you!

Evolution of Physical Oceanography was created to mark the career of Henry M. Stommel, the leading physical oceanographer of the 20th Century and a longtime MIT faculty member. The authors of the different chapters were asked to describe the evolution of their subject over the history of physical oceanography, and to provide a survey of the state-of-the-art of their subject as of 1980. Many of the chapters in this textbook are still up-to-date descriptions of active scientific fields, and all of them are important historical records. This textbook is made available courtesy of The MIT Press.

This course is an introduction to the fundamental aspects of science and engineering necessary for exploring, observing, and utilizing the oceans. Hands-on projects focus on instrumentation in the marine environment and the design of ocean observatories for ocean monitoring and exploration. Topics include acoustics, sound speed and refraction, sounds generated by ships and marine animals, sonar systems and their principles of operation, hydrostatic behavior of floating and submerged bodies geared towards ocean vehicle design, stability of ocean vessels, and the application of instrumentation and electronics in the marine environment. Students work with sensor systems and deploy them in the field to gather and analyze real world data.

This book is written for upper-division undergraduates and new graduate students in meteorology, ocean engineering, and oceanography. After reading this book, it expected that students will be able to describe physical processes influencing the ocean and coastal regions: the interaction of the ocean with the atmosphere, and the distribution of oceanic winds, currents, heat fluxes, and water masses.

Oceanography will present the ocean in an historical and geographical context.We will examine physical and exploration ocean science in a holistic manner. Origins and evolution of the oceans will be examined scientifically, philosophically and historically. We will integrate spatial and temporal aspects of marine environments.

Maneuvering motions of surface and underwater vehicles. Derivation of equations of motion, hydrodynamic coefficients. Memory effects. Linear and nonlinear forms of the equations of motion. Control surfaces modeling and design. Engine, propulsor, and transmission systems modeling and simulation during maneuvering. Stability of motion. Principles of multivariable automatic control. Optimal control, Kalman filtering, loop transfer recovery. Term project: applications chosen from autopilots for surface vehicles; towing in open seas; remotely operated vehicles.

This course is an introduction to the aspects of marine geology and oceanography that affect the environment and marine resources. Service-learning is an essential component of how students learn about the earth. We deliver part of the content of this course by arranging for students to solve a problem with a local community partner.

Provides an understanding of the distribution of organic carbon (OC) in marine sediments from a global and molecular-level perspective. Surveys the mineralization and preservation of OC in the water column and within anoxic and oxic marine sediments. Topics include: OC composition, reactivity and budgets within, and fluxes through, major reservoirs; microbial recycling pathways for OC; models for OC degradation and preservation; role of anoxia in OC burial; relationships between dissolved and particulate (sinking and suspended) OC; methods for characterization of sedimentary organic matter; application of biological markers as tools in oceanography. Both structural and isotopic aspects are covered.

This assignment titled “My Interdisciplinary Perspective on Climate Change” was developed in Fall 2020 as the signature assignment of the STEM Learning Community LC50 for students enrolled in the Biology program of the Natural Sciences department, at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY. The assignment targets Integrative Learning and Global Learning Core Competencies, and Digital/Oral Communication Abilities.
For this STEM Cluster, “Climate Change” is the shared theme that connects learning from the different disciplines and helps build students’ overall knowledge on an imperative issue that our planet currently faces. Work on this assignment entails a narrated digital student presentation on the various aspects of Climate Change such as causes, global effects and manifestations, and possible remedial solutions or suggested actions. Students also practice summarizing the research and learning on this theme from the various courses undertaken in the first semester.
The main goal of this signature assignment is to make connections among the ideas, experiences and learning acquired among the different courses, assignments and co-curricular activities of this semester that contributed to the students’ understanding of this global phenomenon. This high-stakes assignment is worth 20% of the final grade in NSF 101: First Year Seminar for Natural Sciences (program-core course). Students are guided by all four instructors of the Learning Community, which comprises of the courses- NSF 101, MAT 115: College Algebra and Trigonometry, ENG 101: Composition I, and HUC 106: Public Speaking, through a 12-week scaffolded process to complete work and showcase their findings as a well-informed Biology major and responsible citizen of society. This assignment meets the NSF101 learning objectives and helps the students to hone their skills on the targeted Core Competencies (Global/Integrative Learning) and Communication Abilities (Digital/Oral), thereby increasing their chances of being successful in the subsequent 200-level classes of their major.
LaGuardia's Core Competencies and Communication Abilities
Student artifacts were deposited for this assignment at the end of the semester for college-wide Benchmark Readings 2021, and the Fall 2020 Learning Communities Seminar (as the LC assignment). Due to the serious COVID-related situation in New York state in Fall 2020, including high incidence of the disease and the associated challenging and technical issues at some students’ end, more emphasis was placed on helping the students learn how to prepare a digital presentation embodying their work on science, data analysis, writing and communication skills, while incorporating elements of integrative and global learning from all four classes on Climate Change. However, when the assignment is implemented again in the future, both Digital and Oral Communication Abilities will be fostered in all student work. It is noteworthy that some students managed to cover both these abilities in their work in Fall 2020 also.

This course introduces theoretical and practical principles of design of oceanographic sensor systems. Topics include: transducer characteristics for acoustic, current, temperature, pressure, electric, magnetic, gravity, salinity, velocity, heat flow, and optical devices; limitations on these devices imposed by ocean environments; signal conditioning and recording; noise, sensitivity, and sampling limitations; and standards. Lectures by experts cover the principles of state-of-the-art systems being used in physical oceanography, geophysics, submersibles, acoustics. For lab work, day cruises in local waters allow students to prepare, deploy and analyze observations from standard oceanographic instruments.

Examines the intellectual foundations of the new discipline of deep sea archaeology, a convergence of oceanography, archaeology, and engineering. How best are robots and submarines employed for archaeological work? How do new technologies change operations plans, research designs, and archaeological questions? Covers oceanography, history and technology of underwater vehicles, search strategies, technology development, archaeological technique, sociology of scientific knowledge. Case studies of deep-sea projects include the wrecks of the Titanic and Monitor, Roman trading vessels in the Mediterranean, and deep research in the Black Sea.