Welcome! You’re about to embark on a journey that is far from ordinary. Over the course of this term, you will discover the central role the oceans play in the vast global system, of which you are a part.

This book’s content was carefully developed to provide a foundation in science by examining the vast body of oceanic knowledge. This knowledge includes information from a variety of scientific disciplines—geology, chemistry, physics, and biology—as they relate to the oceans. However, no formal background in any of these disciplines is required to successfully master the subject matter contained within this book. Our desire is to have you take away from your oceanography course much more than just a collection of facts. Instead, we want you to develop a fundamental understanding of how the oceans work and why the oceans behave the way that they do.

This book is intended to help you in your quest to know more about the oceans. Taken as a whole, the components of the ocean—its sea floor, chemical constituents, physical components, and life-forms—comprise one of Earth’s largest interacting, interrelated, and interdependent systems. Because human activities impact Earth systems, it is important to understand not only how the oceans operate but also how the oceans interact with Earth’s other systems (such as its atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere) as part of a larger picture. Thus, this book uses a systems approach to highlight the interdisciplinary relationships among oceanographic phenomena and how those phenomena affect other Earth systems.

To that end—and to help you make the most of your study time—we focused the presentation in this book by organizing the material around three essential components:

1. CONCEPTS: General ideas derived or inferred from specific instances or occurrences (for instance, the concept of density can be used to explain why the oceans are layered)

2. PROCESSES: Actions or occurrences that bring about a result (for instance, the process of waves breaking at an angle to the shore results in the movement of sediment along the shoreline)

3. PRINCIPLES: Rules or laws concerning the functioning of natural phenomena or mechanical processes (for instance, the principle of sea floor spreading suggests that the geographic positions of the continents have changed through time)

Interwoven within these concepts, processes, and principles are hundreds of photographs, illustrations, real-world examples, and applications that make the material relevant and accessible (and maybe sometimes even entertaining) by bringing science to life.

Ultimately, it is our hope that by understanding how the oceans work, you will develop a new awareness and appreciation of all aspects of the marine environment and its role in Earth systems. To this end, the book has been written for you, a student of the oceans. So enjoy and immerse yourself! You’re in for an exciting ride.

—Al Trujillo

This thirteenth edition of Essentials of Oceanography is designed to accompany an introductory college-level course in oceanography taught to students who have no formal background in mathematics or science. As in previous editions, the goal of this edition of the textbook is to clearly present the relationships of scientific principles to ocean phenomena in an engaging and meaningful way. In addition, the content of this book is carefully designed to help students engage with and learn oceanographic material.

This edition has greatly benefited from being thoroughly reviewed by hundreds of students who made numerous suggestions for improvement. Comments by former students about the book include, “I have really enjoyed the oceanography book we’ve used this semester. It had just the right mix of graphics, text, and user-friendliness that really held my interest;” “I really liked the videos embedded in the daily chapter quizzes, particularly the SmartFigures done by Laura Faye Tenenbaum. I loved her delivery. Her style helped me understand some complex topics and just made it really digestible. She’s so bright and her humor came through just in the right way, kept it lively;” and “What I really liked about the book is that it’s a welcoming textbook—open and airy. You could almost read it at bedtime like a story because of all the interesting pictures.”

This edition has been reviewed in detail by a host of instructors from leading institutions across the country. Reviewers of the twelfth edition described the text as follows: “Essentials of Oceanography is a great textbook to introduce oceanography to non-science majors, and it has a lot of great supplemental materials for you and your students;” “Students find it easily understandable. The writing and graphics are excellent; easy to comprehend and remember;” “Your book is truly wonderful. Your writing voice is so excellent, and the fact that you have included so many etymological roots of terms is a real memory aid for students. I’m always stressing to them how, among other things, science is a language, and your book is right in groove with that;” and “An excellent introductory oceanography textbook that can be used for courses from two to four credit hours. Easily read, flows well through the chapters and from chapter-to-chapter. Many helpful aids for students as well as ancillaries for instructors. It makes our job easier, and students are happy because they can understand the topics well, leading to higher average grades.”

In 2012, the tenth edition of Essentials of Oceanography received a Textbook Excellence Award, called a “Texty,” from the Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA). The Texty award recognizes written works for their excellence in the areas of content, presentation, appeal, and teachability. The publisher, Pearson Education, nominated the book for the award, and the textbook was critically reviewed by a panel of expert judges. In 2017, the twelfth edition of Essentials of Oceanography received TAA’s McGuffey Longevity Award for its long-standing history of publication.

The 16-chapter format of this textbook is designed for easy coverage of the material in a 15- or 16-week semester. For courses taught on a 10-week quarter system, instructors may need to select those chapters that cover the topics and concepts of primary relevance to their course. Chapters are self-contained and can thus be covered in any order. Following the introductory chapter (Chapter 1, which covers the general geography of the oceans; a historical perspective of oceanography; the method behind the process of science; and a discussion of the origin of Earth, the atmosphere, the oceans, and life itself), the four major academic disciplines of oceanography are represented in the following chapters:

• Geological oceanography (Chapters 2, 3 and 4 and Chapter 10)

• Chemical oceanography (Chapter 5 and Chapter 11)

• Physical oceanography (Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9)

• Biological oceanography (Chapters 12, 13, 14 and 15)

• Interdisciplinary oceanography: Climate change (Chapter 16)

We strongly believe that oceanography is at its best when it links together several scientific disciplines and shows how they are interrelated in the oceans. Therefore, this interdisciplinary approach is a key element of every chapter, particularly Chapter 16, “The Oceans and Climate Change.”

Changes in this edition are designed to increase the readability, relevance, and appeal of this book. Major changes include the following:

• An emphasis on the process of science, including a new “Process of Science” boxed feature in most chapters that illustrates the scientific method by highlighting an area of oceanographic inquiry and explicitly pointing out how the process of science was used in that particular case; each feature also includes a critical thinking assessment question “Thinking Like a Scientist: What’s Next?” so that students gain practice approaching problems scientifically and analytically

• New “Exploring Data” questions added to every chapter; this new feature directs students to engage with data and checks their understanding by asking data interpretation questions related to data-rich figures, graphs, tables, and maps

• The addition in all chapters of a new “Creature Feature,” which uses compelling facts about a marine organism to reinforce the theme of the chapter. Each “Creature Feature’s” title is written in an engaging “Who Am I?” format to draw student interest

• Expansion of the discussion of carbon and oxygen in the ocean in Chapter 5, “Water and Seawater,” which includes explanation of how the distribution of dissolved gases and pH changes with depth, and their significance

• A thoroughly updated Chapter 16 “The Oceans and Climate Change,” introducing a new discussion about the carbon cycle, and describing the most recent findings of the IPCC; the rewrite includes highlights of the 2017 Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, which was produced at the behest of the U.S. Congress to provide an assessment of the state of science relating to climate change and its physical impacts in the United States; also included in this chapter is a new review of solutions to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, and four new or revised “Students Sometimes Ask . . . ” questions that address student misconceptions and concerns regarding climate change

• Greater emphasis on the ocean’s role in Earth systems

• A stronger learning path that directly links the learning objectives listed at the beginning of each chapter to the end-of-section “Concept Checks,” which allow and encourage students to pause and test their knowledge as they proceed through the chapter

• A new active learning pedagogy that divides chapter material into easily digestible chunks, which makes studying easier and assists student learning (cognitive science research shows that the ability to “chunk” information is essential to enhancing learning and memory)

• The inclusion of an array of new SmartFigures and SmartTables, which provide a video explanation of difficult-to-understand oceanographic concepts and numerical data by an oceanography teaching expert

• The addition of one or more “What Did You Learn?” assessment questions to each “Diving Deeper” boxed feature

• Removal of all footnotes; pertinent information from previous footnotes is now contained within the body of the text

• Migration of each chapter’s Squidtoons call-out to Mastering Oceanography Study Area as Bonus Web Content

• In all Essential Concept Review (end-of-chapter) materials, the revision of existing “Critical Thinking Questions” and “Active Learning Exercise” questions that can be used for in-class group activities

• The addition of a new “Selected Key Terms” feature in each section’s end-of-chapter box that simplifies and replaces the word cloud formerly at the beginning of each chapter and directs students to the glossary at the end of the book to discover the meanings of the most important vocabulary terms that are boldfaced in each section of the text

• Updating of information throughout the text to include technological advances that have resulted in the modernization of oceanographic research and continue to shape the discipline today; for example, space-based oceanographic and atmospheric observations from NASA Earth-observing satellite missions

• Addition of an array of new “Students Sometimes Ask . . . ” questions throughout the book

• An enhanced illustration package showcasing new photos, satellite images, and figures to make oceanographic topics more accessible, current, and engaging

• The revision or updating of over half of existing figures and incorporating annotations and labels within key figures that direct student attention and help explain information in storyboard form; this research-proven technique helps students focus on the most relevant information, interpret complex art, and integrate written and visual information

• Standardization of the color scheme and labeling of all figures to make them more appealing and consistent throughout

• Inclusion of more than 70 Web Animations from Pearson’s Geoscience Animations Library, which include state-of-the-art computer animations that have been created by Al Trujillo and a panel of geoscience educators

• An enhanced eText, which allows students to review previously learned material with a single click that will place this content side-by-side the page they are currently studying

• Selected Diving Deeper feature boxes have been migrated online to Mastering Oceanography as Bonus Web Content in an effort to reduce the length of the text

• The remaining Diving Deeper features appearing in the book are organized around the following four themes:

  • HISTORICAL FEATURES, which focus on historical developments in oceanography that tie into chapter topics

  • RESEARCH METHODS IN OCEANOGRAPHY, which highlight how oceanographic knowledge is obtained

  • OCEANS AND PEOPLE, which illustrate the interaction of humans and the ocean environment

  • FOCUS ON THE ENVIRONMENT, which emphasizes environmental issues that are an increasingly important component of ocean studies

• The former Afterword has been shortened to one page; information about Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) has been moved to Chapter 13 and information about what individuals can do to minimize human impact on the oceans (including former Diving Deeper Aft.1) has been moved to Chapter 16

• All text in the chapters has been thoroughly reviewed and edited by students and oceanography instructors in a continued effort to refine the style and clarity of the writing

Note that a detailed list of specific chapter-by-chapter changes is available at https://www2.palomar.edu/pages/atrujillo/

In addition, this edition continues to offer some of the previous edition’s most popular features, including the following:

• Scientifically accurate and thorough coverage of oceanography topics

• A series of SmartFigures and SmartTables, which maximize instructional value of the media and help students learn important content

• “Students Sometimes Ask . . . ” questions, which present actual student questions along with the authors’ answers

• A “Recap” feature that summarizes key points throughout the text, making studying easier

• The continuation of existing “Critical Thinking Questions” and “Active Learning Exercise” questions that can be used for group activities in class in all Essential Concept Review (end-of-chapter) materials

• QR codes embedded in the text that allow students to use their mobile devices to link directly to Mastering Oceanography Animations, SmartFigures and SmartTables, and Web Videos

• QR codes and links to more than 50 hand-picked Web videos that show important oceanographic processes in action

• Use of the international metric system (Système International [SI] units), with comparable English system units in parentheses

• Explanation of word etymons (etumon = sense of a word) as new terms are introduced, in an effort to demystify scientific terms by showing what the terms actually mean

• A “Climate Change Connection” icon that alerts students to topics that are related to the overarching theme of global climate change

• Use of bold print on key terms, which are defined when they are introduced and are described in the glossary

• A reorganized “Essential Concepts Review” summary at the end of each chapter

• Mastering Oceanography, which features chapter-specific Self Study Quizzes, SmartFigures and SmartTables, Oceanography Videos and Animations, Squidtoons, Dynamic Study Modules, and an optional Pearson eText with embedded videos.

• MASTERING OCEANOGRAPHY delivers engaging, dynamic learning opportunities—focused on course objectives and responsive to each student’s progress—that are proven to help students absorb course material and understand difficult concepts. Mastering Oceanography is a customized learning resource that includes:

  • Student Study Area, which is designed to be a one-stop resource for students to acquire study help and serve as a launching pad for further exploration. Content for the site was written by author Al Trujillo and is tied, chapter-by-chapter, to the text. The Student Study Area is organized around a four-step learning pathway:

    1. Review, which contains Essential Concepts as learning objectives

    2. Read, which contains the eText and Bonus Web Content

    3. Visualize, which contains Oceanography Animations, Oceanography Videos, and Smart Figures.

    4. Test Yourself, which contains a Chapter Quiz that is automatically graded for instant feedback.

  • Study Tools such as flashcards and a searchable online glossary to help make the most of students’ study time

• THE PEARSON eTEXT gives students complete access to a digital version of the text whenever and wherever they have access to the Internet.

• MASTERING OCEANOGRAPHY: CONTINUOUS LEARNING BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER CLASS Mastering Oceanography is an online homework, tutorials, and assessments program designed to improve results by helping students quickly master oceanography concepts. Students will benefit from self-paced tutorials that feature immediate wrong-answer feedback and hints that emulate the office-hour experience to help keep them on track. With a wide range of interactive, engaging, and assignable activities, students will be encouraged to actively learn and retain tough course concepts:

  • New Process of Science Coaching Activities support the text feature that highlights an area of oceanographic inquiry and explicitly point out the associated background, method, and conclusion.

  • New Exploring Data activities help students actively engage with graphs and other data-driven features and their data interpretation skills.

  • SmartFigures/SmartTables, which are three-to four-minute mini-lessons that examine and explain the concepts illustrated by a figure or table. Over 90 SmartFigures/SmartTables are assignable in Mastering.

  • Oceanography Animations, which illuminate the most difficult-to-understand topics in oceanography and were created by an expert team of geoscience educators. The animation activities include audio narration, a text transcript, and assignable multiple-choice questions with specific wrong-answer feedback.

  • Video Field Trips give students fascinating behind-the-scenes experiences at prescribed fire burns, solar energy, and coal-fired power plants, wastewater treatment facilities, landfills, farms, and more. Each Video Field Trip includes assessment questions for easily assignable homework.

  • Visualizing Oceanography Activities ask students to label art from the text to ensure they are interpreting and understanding figures.

  • Dynamic Study Modules, which help students study effectively on their own by continuously assessing their activity and performance in real time. Here’s how it works: Students complete a set of questions with a unique answer format that also asks them to indicate their confidence level. Questions repeat until the student can answer them all correctly and confidently. Once completed, Dynamic Study Modules explain the concept using materials from the text. These are available as graded assignments prior to class, and accessible on smartphones, tablets, and computers.

  • Learning Catalytics™, which are an interactive student response tool that uses students’ smartphones, tablets, or laptops to engage them in more sophisticated tasks and thinking. Now included with MyLab & Mastering and eText, Learning Catalytics™ enables you to generate classroom discussion, guide your lecture, and promote peer-to-peer learning with real-time analytics.

• STUDENT PERFORMANCE ANALYTICS Mastering Oceanography allows an instructor to gain easy access to information about student performance and their ability to meet student learning outcomes. Instructors can quickly add their own learning outcomes, or use publisher-provided ones, to track student performance.

• INSTRUCTOR MANUAL (DOWNLOAD ONLY) This resource contains learning objectives, chapter outlines, answers to embedded end-of-section questions, and suggested teaching tips to spice up your lectures.

• TESTGEN® COMPUTERIZED TEST BANK (DOWNLOAD ONLY) This resource is a computerized test generator that lets instructors view and edit Test Bank questions, transfer questions to tests, and print the test in a variety of customized formats. The Test Bank includes over 1200 multiple-choice, matching, and short-answer/essay questions. All questions are tied to the chapter’s learning outcomes, include a rating based on Bloom’s taxonomy of learning domains (Bloom’s 1–6) and contain the section number in which each question’s answer can be found.

• INSTRUCTOR POWERPOINT® PRESENTATIONS (DOWNLOAD ONLY) Instructor Resource Materials include the following three PowerPoint® files for each chapter so that you can cut down on your preparation time, no matter what your lecture needs:

  1. EXCLUSIVELY ART: This file provides all the photos, art, and tables from the text, in order, loaded into PowerPoint® slides.

  2. LECTURE OUTLINE: This file averages 50 PowerPoint® slides per chapter and includes customizable lecture outlines with supporting art.

  3. CLASSROOM RESPONSE SYSTEM (CRS) QUESTIONS: Authored for use in conjunction with classroom response systems, this PowerPoint® file allows you to electronically poll your class for responses to questions, pop quizzes, attendance, and more.