UE Ocean dynamics

After a short introduction to the observations of the worlds oceans in the past and present, the forces acting on the ocean are discussed. We will then see how the forcing put the water masses of the ocean into motion. An important question is: how can the forcing, which acts on the surface of the ocean influence the motion in the deep ocean? This leads to a discussion of the two principal types of basin scale ocean circulation: the gyre and the overturning circulation. We then discuss small scale processes of the ocean dynamics including their importance on the large scale ocean circulation.