6
DYNAMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
the ocean surface is much more dominant with about 80% being ocean (Fig. 1.2).
As we will see later in this book, this equatorial asymmetry in land-sea contrast is
important to understanding the differences in the ocean circulation and its effect
on climate in both hemispheres. The average depth of the ocean (about 3800 m)
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
0
2 04 06 08 01 0 0
Fraction (% of ocean surface)
Latitude
Figure 1.2. Fraction (in % of the total surface) covered by the ocean as a function of latitude.
is more than a factor of 1000 times smaller than the width of the ocean basins.
In plots of measured or modeled quantities in physical oceanography the vertical
scale is usually greatly exaggerated with respect to the horizontal scale.
Additional Material
B: Chapter 3 on the ‘Sea Floor and its Sediments’ (in particular the sections
3.1-3.2) of Duxbury et al. (2000) provides a broader view on the ocean basin
bathymetry and its connection to geodynamical processes with many color
figures. An elementary introduction can also be found in chapter 2 of OUstaff (2004b).