College of Sciences Newsletter

Edition 3

April 1, 2001

Does the Ocean Inhale?

On March 22nd, Dr. Rana A. Fine from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Miami gave the annual Ludwick Lecture in the Oceanography and Physical Sciences Building.  After a light round of refreshments, Fine explained that oceans do inhale by absorbing gasses in the atmosphere.  Fine went on to discuss measuring these dissolved atmospheric gasses (especially the chlorofluorocarbons) in different ocean water samples as a method of quantifying different patterns of ocean circulation.  The main focus was the formation and movement of the high salinity Subtropical Underwaters in the North Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific and South Indian Oceans.  The Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (OEAS) department sponsors ongoing weekly seminars every Thursday.  For the current schedule, visit the OEAS website:http://www.ocean.odu.edu