OC2930: Fundamentals of Oceanography

Unstructor: Arlene Guest
Department of Oceanography
Naval Postgraduate School
aguest@nps.edu

Course Description and Objectives: Understand fundamental concepts in geological, physical, and biological oceanography and how the ocean environment affects naval operations. Concurrently, you'll learn how measurements are made, where to find data and information, and we'll examine some topics of current interest to the Navy.

Course Format: This course is offered as a completely online, web-based course. The course is divided into topical modules; most weeks we will cover one module, but there are a couple weeks in which we'll cover two shorter modules. Weekly activities will consist of:

• Readings from the textbook

• Supplementary readings on the course website

• An activity or assignment to complete (may be interactive exercise, guided reading questions and/or project work)

• Participation in the Discussion Forums

Prerequisite: None.

Textbook: The text for this course is Oceanography: An Invitation to Marine Science by Tom Garrison, 5th edition. The textbook includes access to a website with animations, interactive figures and practice quizzes.