The American Practical Navigator/Chapter 30

= CHAPTER 30 THE OCEANS =

3000. The Importance of Oceanography
Oceanography is the scientific study of the oceans. It includes a study of their physical, chemical, and geological forms, and biological features. Thus, it embraces the widely separated fields of geography, geology, chemistry, physics, and biology, along with their many subdivisions, such as sedimentation, ecology, bacteriology, biochemistry, hydrodynamics, acoustics, and optics.

The oceans cover 70.8 percent of the surface of the Earth. The Atlantic covers 16.2 percent, the Pacific 32.4 percent (3.2 percent more than the land area of the entire Earth), the Indian Ocean 14.4 percent, and marginal and adjacent areas (of which the largest is the Arctic Ocean) 7.8 percent. Their extent alone makes them an important subject for study. However, greater incentive lies in their use for transportation, their influence upon weather and climate, and their potential as a source of power, food, fresh water, minerals, and organic substances.

3001. Origin of the Oceans
The structure of the continents is fundamentally different from that of the oceans. The rocks underlying the ocean floors are more dense than those underlying the continents. According to one theory, all the Earth’s crust floats on a central liquid core, and the portions that make up the continents, being lighter, float with a higher freeboard. Thus, the thinner areas, composed of heavier rock, form natural basins where water has collected.

The shape of the oceans is constantly changing due to continental drift. The surface of the Earth consists of many different “plates.” These plates are joined along fracture or fault lines. There is constant and measurable movement of these plates at rates of 0.02 meters per year or more.

The origin of the water in the oceans is unclear. Although some geologists have postulated that all the water existed as vapor in the atmosphere of the primeval Earth, and that it fell in great torrents of rain as soon as the Earth cooled sufficiently, another school holds that the atmosphere of the original hot Earth was lost, and that the water gradually accumulated as it was given off in steam by volcanoes, or worked to the surface in hot springs.

Most of the water on the Earth’s crust is now in the oceans—about 1,370,000,000 cubic kilometers, or about 85 percent of the total. The mean depth of the ocean is 3,795 meters, and the total area is 360,000,000 square kilometers.

3002. Chemical Description
Oceanographic chemistry may be divided into three main parts: the chemistry of (1) seawater, (2) marine sediments, and (3) organisms living in the sea. The first is of particular interest to the navigator.

Chemical properties of seawater are usually determined by analyzing samples of water obtained at various locations and depths. Samples of water from below the surface are obtained with special bottles designed for this purpose. The open bottles are mounted in a rosette which is attached to the end of a wire cable which contains insulated electrical wires. The rosette is lowered to the depth of the deepest sample, and a bottle is closed electronically. As the rosette is raised to the surface, other bottles are closed at the desired depths. Sensors have also been developed to measure a few chemical properties of sea water continuously.

Physical properties of seawater are dependent primarily upon salinity, temperature, and pressure. However, factors like motion of the water and the amount of suspended matter affect such properties as color and transparency, conduction of heat, absorption of radiation, etc.

3003. Salinity
Salinity is a measure of the amount of dissolved solid material in the water. It has been defined as the total amount of solid material in grams contained in one kilogram of seawater when carbonate has been converted to oxide, bromine and iodine replaced by chlorine, and all organic material completely oxidized. It is usually expressed as parts per thousand (by weight), for example the average salinity of sea water is 35 grams per kilogram which would be written “35 ppt” or “35 ‰”. Historically the determination of salinity was a slow and difficult process, while the amount of chlorine ions (plus the chlorine equivalent of the bromine and iodine), called chlorinity, could be determined easily and accurately by titration with silver nitrate. From chlorinity, the salinity was determined by a relation based upon the measured ratio of chlorinity to total dissolved substances:

Salinity = 1.80655 × Chlorinity

This is now called the absolute salinity, (S$A$). With titration techniques, salinity could be determined to about 0.02 parts per thousand.

This definition of salinity has now been replaced by the Practical Salinity Scale, (S). Using this scale, the salinity of a seawater sample is defined as the ratio between the conductivity of the sample and the conductivity of a standard potassium chloride (KCl) sample.

As salinity on the practical scale is defined to be conservative with respect to addition and removal of water, the entire salinity range is accessible through precise weight dilution or evaporation without additional definitions. Since practical salinity is a ratio, it has no physical units but is designated practical salinity units, or psu. The Practical Salinity Scale, combined with modern conductivity cells and bench salinometers, provides salinity measurements which are almost an order of magnitude more accurate and precise, about 0.003 psu, than titration. Numerically, absolute salinity and salinity are nearly equal.

It has also been found that electrical conductivity is better related to density than chlorinity. Since one of the main reasons to measure salinity is to deduce the density, this favors the Practical Salinity Scale as well.

Salinity generally varies between about 33 and 37 psu. However, when the water has been diluted, as near the mouth of a river or after a heavy rainfall, the salinity is somewhat less; and in areas of excessive evaporation, the salinity may be as high as 40 psu. In certain confined bodies of water, notably the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the Dead Sea in Asia Minor, the salinity is several times this maximum.

3004. Temperature
Temperature in the ocean varies widely, both horizontally and with depth. Maximum values of about 32°C are encountered at the surface in the Persian Gulf in summer, and the lowest possible values of about –2°C (the usual minimum freezing point of seawater) occur in polar regions.

Except in the polar regions, the vertical distribution of temperature in the sea nearly everywhere shows a decrease of temperature with depth. Since colder water is denser (assuming the same salinity), it sinks below warmer water. This results in a temperature distribution just opposite to that of the Earth’s crust, where temperature increases with depth below the surface of the ground.

In the sea there is usually a mixed layer of isothermal water below the surface, where the temperature is the same as that of the surface. This layer is caused by two physical processes: wind mixing, and convective overturning as surface water cools and becomes more dense. The layer is best developed in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and in seas like the Baltic and Sea of Japan during the winter, where it may extend to the bottom of the ocean. In the Tropics, the wind-mixed layer may exist to a depth of 125 meters, and may exist throughout the year. Below this layer is a zone of rapid temperature decrease, called the thermocline. At a depth greater than 400 meters, the temperature everywhere is below 15°C. In the deeper layers, fed by cooled waters that have sunk from the surface in the Arctic and Antarctic, temperatures as low as –2°C exist.

In the colder regions the cooling creates the convective overturning and isothermal water in the winter; but in the summer a seasonal thermocline is created as the upper water becomes warmer. A typical curve of temperature at various depths is shown in Figure 3010a. Temperature is commonly measured with either a platinum or copper resistance thermometer or a thermistor (devices that measure the change in conductivity of a semiconductor with change in temperature).

The CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) is an instrument that generates continuous signals as it is lowered into the ocean; temperature is determined by means of a platinum resistance thermometer, salinity by conductivity, and depth by pressure. These signals are transmitted to the surface through a cable and recorded. Accuracy of temperature measurement is 0.005°C and resolution an order of magnitude better.

A method commonly used to measure upper ocean temperature profiles from a vessel which is underway is the expendable bathythermograph (XBT). The XBT uses a thermistor and is connected to the vessel by a fine wire. The wire is coiled inside the probe, and as the probe freefalls in the ocean, the wire pays out. Depth is determined by elapsed time and a known sink rate. Depth range is determined by the amount of wire stored in the probe; the most common model has a depth range of 450 meters. At the end of the drop, the wire breaks and the probe falls to the ocean bottom. One instrument of this type is dropped from an aircraft; the data is relayed to the aircraft from a buoy to which the wire of the XBT is attached. The accuracy and precision of an XBT is about 0.1°C.

3005. Pressure
The appropriate international standard (SI) unit for pressure in oceanography is 1 kPa = 10$3$ Pa where Pa is a Pascal and is equal to one Newton per square meter. A more commonly used unit is a bar, which is nearly equal to 1 atmosphere (atmospheric pressure is measured with a barometer and may be read as hectopascals). Water pressure is expressed in terms of decibars, 10 of these being equal to 1 bar. One decibar is equal to nearly 1 1/2 pounds per square inch. This unit is convenient because it is very nearly the pressure exerted by 1 meter of water. Thus, the pressure in decibars is approximately the same as the depth in meters, the unit of depth.

Although virtually all of the physical properties of seawater are affected to a measurable extent by pressure, the effect is not as great as those of salinity and temperature. Pressure is of particular importance to submarines, directly because of the stress it induces on the hull and structures, and indirectly because of its effect upon buoyancy.

3006. Density
Density is mass per unit of volume. The appropriate SI unit is kilograms per cubic meter. The density of seawater depends upon salinity, temperature, and pressure. At constant temperature and pressure, density varies with salinity. A temperature of 0°C and atmospheric pressure are considered standard for density determination. The effects of thermal expansion and compressibility are used to determine the density at other temperatures and pressures. Slight density changes at the surface generally do not affect the draft or trim of a ship, though a noticeable change may occur as a ship travels from salt to fresh water. But density changes at a particular subsurface pressure affect the buoyancy of submarines because they are ballasted to be neutrally buoyant. For oceanographers, density is important because of its relationship to ocean currents.

Open ocean values of density range from about 1,021 kilograms per cubic meter at the surface to about 1,070 kilograms per cubic meter at 10,000 meters depth. As a matter of convenience, it is usual in oceanography to define a density anomaly which is equal to the density minus 1,000 kilograms per cubic meter. Thus, when an oceanographer speaks of seawater with a density of 25 kilograms per cubic meter, the actual density is 1,025 kilograms per cubic meter.

The greatest changes in density of seawater occur at the surface, where the water is subject to influences not present at depths. At the surface, density is decreased by precipitation, run-off from land, melting ice, or heating. When the surface water becomes less dense, it tends to float on top of the more dense water below. There is little tendency for the water to mix, and so the condition is one of stability. The density of surface water is increased by evaporation, formation of sea ice, and by cooling. If the surface water becomes more dense than that below, convection currents cause vertical mixing. The more dense surface water sinks and mixes with less dense water below. The resultant layer of water is of intermediate density. This process continues until the density of the mixed layer becomes less than that of the water below. The convective circulation established as part of this process can create very deep uniform mixed layers.

If the surface water becomes sufficiently dense, it sinks all the way to the bottom. If this occurs in an area where horizontal flow is unobstructed, the water which has descended spreads to other regions, creating a dense bottom layer. Since the greatest increase in density occurs in polar regions, where the air is cold and great quantities of ice form, the cold, dense polar water sinks to the bottom and then spreads to lower latitudes. In the Arctic Ocean region, the cold, dense water is confined by the Bering Strait and the underwater ridge from Greenland to Iceland to Europe. In the Antarctic, however, there are no similar geographic restrictions and large quantities of very cold, dense water formed there flow to the north along the ocean bottom. This process has continued for a sufficiently long period of time that the entire ocean floor is covered with this dense water, thus explaining the layer of cold water at great depths in all the oceans.

In some respects, oceanographic processes are similar to those occurring in the atmosphere. Masses of water of uniform characteristics are analogous to air masses.

3007. Compressibility
Seawater is nearly incompressible, its coefficient of compressibility being only 0.000046 per bar under standard conditions. This value changes slightly with changes in temperature or salinity. The effect of compression is to force the molecules of the substance closer together, causing it to become more dense. Even though the compressibility is low, its total effect is considerable because of the amount of water involved. If the compressibility of seawater were zero, sea level would be about 90 feet higher than it is now.

Compressibility is inversely proportional to temperature, i.e., cold water is more compressible than warm water. Waters which flow into the North Atlantic from the Mediterranean and Greenland Seas are equal in density, but because the water from the Greenland Sea is colder, it is more compressible and therefore becomes denser at depth. These waters from the Greenland Sea are therefore found beneath those waters which derive their properties from the Mediterranean.

3008. Viscosity
Viscosity is resistance to flow. Seawater is slightly more viscous than freshwater. Its viscosity increases with greater salinity, but the effect is not nearly as marked as that occurring with decreasing temperature. The rate is not uniform, becoming greater as the temperature decreases. Because of the effect of temperature upon viscosity, an incompressible object might sink at a faster rate in warm surface water than in colder water below. However, for most objects, this effect may be more than offset by the compressibility of the object.

The actual relationships existing in the ocean are considerably more complex than indicated by the simple explanation here, because of turbulent motion within the sea. The disturbing effect is called eddy viscosity.

3009. Specific Heat
Specific Heat is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of a substance a stated amount. In oceanography, specific heat is stated, in SI units, as the number of Joules needed to raise 1 kilogram of a given substance 1°C. Specific heat at constant pressure is usually the quantity desired when liquids are involved, but occasionally the specific heat at constant volume is required. The ratio of these two quantities is directly related to the speed of sound in seawater.

The specific heat of seawater decreases slightly as salinity increases. However, it is much greater than that of land. The ocean is a giant storage area for heat. It can absorb large quantities of heat with very little change in temperature. This is partly due to the high specific heat of water and partly due to mixing in the ocean that distributes the heat throughout a layer. Land has a lower specific heat and, in addition, all heat is lost or gained from a thin layer at the surface; there is no mixing. This accounts for the greater temperature range of land and the atmosphere above it, resulting in monsoons, and the familiar land and sea breezes of tropical and temperate regions.

3010. Sound Speed
The speed of sound in sea water is a function of its density, compressibility and, to a minor extent, the ratio of specific heat at constant pressure to that at constant volume. As these properties depend on the temperature, salinity and pressure (depth) of sea water, it is customary to relate the speed of sound directly to the water temperature, salinity and pressure. An increase in any of these three properties causes an increase in the sound speed; the converse is true also. Figure 3010a portrays typical mid-ocean profiles of temperature and salinity; the resultant sound speed profile is shown in Figure 3010b.

Figure 3010a. Typical variation of temperature and salinity with depth for a mid-latitude location.

Figure 3010b. Resultant sound speed profile based on the temperature and salinity profile in Figure 3010a.

The speed of sound changes by 3 to 5 meters per second per °C temperature change, by about 1.3 meters per second per psu salinity change and by about 1.7 meters per second per 100 m depth change. A simplified formula adapted from Wilson’s (1960) equation for the computation of the sound speed in sea water is:

U = 1449 + 4.6T − 0.055T$2$ + 0.0003T$3$ + 1.39(S − 35) + 0.017D

where U is the speed (m/s), T is the temperature (°C), S is the salinity (psu), and D is depth (m).

3011. Thermal Expansion
One of the more interesting differences between salt and fresh water relates to thermal expansion. Saltwater continues to become more dense as it cools to the freezing point; freshwater reaches maximum density at 4°C and then expands (becomes less dense) as the water cools to 0°C and freezes. This means that the convective mixing of freshwater stops at 4°C; freezing proceeds very rapidly beyond that point. The rate of expansion with increased temperature is greater in seawater than in fresh water. Thus, at temperature 15°C, and atmospheric pressure, the coefficient of thermal expansion is 0.000151 per degree Celsius for freshwater, and 0.000214 per degree Celsius for average seawater. The coefficient of thermal expansion increases not only with greater salinity, but also with increased temperature and pressure. At a salinity of 35 psu, the coefficient of surface water increases from 0.000051 per degree Celsius at 0°C to 0.000334 per degree Celsius at 31°C. At a constant temperature of 0°C and a salinity of 34.85 psu, the coefficient increases to 0.000276 per degree Celsius at a pressure of 10,000 decibars (a depth of approximately 10,000 meters).

3012. Thermal Conductivity
In water, as in other substances, one method of heat transfer is by conduction. Freshwater is a poor conductor of heat, having a coefficient of thermal conductivity of 582 Joules per second per meter per degree Celsius. For seawater it is slightly less, but increases with greater temperature or pressure.

However, if turbulence is present, which it nearly always is to some extent, the processes of heat transfer are altered. The effect of turbulence is to increase greatly the rate of heat transfer. The “eddy” coefficient used in place of the still-water coefficient is so many times larger, and so dependent upon the degree of turbulence, that the effects of temperature and pressure are not important.

3013. Electrical Conductivity
Water without impurities is a very poor conductor of electricity. However, when salt is in solution in water, the salt molecules are ionized and become carriers of electricity. (What is commonly called freshwater has many impurities and is a good conductor of electricity; only pure distilled water is a poor conductor.) Hence, the electrical conductivity of seawater is directly proportional to the number of salt molecules in the water. For any given salinity, the conductivity increases with an increase in temperature.

3014. Radioactivity
Although the amount of radioactive material in seawater is very small, this material is present in marine sediments to a greater extent than in the rocks of the Earth’s crust. This is probably due to precipitation of radium or other radioactive material from the water. The radioactivity of the top layers of sediment is less than that of deeper layers. This may be due to absorption of radioactive material in the soft tissues of marine organisms.

3015. Transparency
The two basic processes that alter the underwater distribution of light are absorption and scattering. Absorption is a change of light energy into other forms of energy; scattering entails a change in direction of the light, but without loss of energy. If seawater were purely absorbing, the loss of light with distance would be given by I$x$ = I$0$e$-ax$ where I$x$ is the intensity of light at distance x, I$0$ is the intensity of light at the source, and “a” is the absorption coefficient in the same units with which distance is measured. In a pure scattering medium, the transmission of light is governed by the same power law only in this case the exponential term is I$0$e$-bx$, where “b” is the volume scattering coefficient. The attenuation of light in the ocean is defined as the sum of absorption and scattering so that the attenuation coefficient, c, is given by c = a + b In the ocean, the attenuation of light with depth depends not only on the wavelength of the light but also the clarity of the water. The clarity is mostly controlled by biological activity although at the coast, sediments transported by rivers or resuspended by wave action can strongly attenuate light.

Attenuation of light in the sea is measured with a transmissometer. Transmissometers measure the attenuation of light over a fixed distance using a monochromatic light source which is close to red in color. Transmissometers are designed for in situ use and are usually attached to a CTD.

Since sunlight is critical for almost all forms of plant life in the ocean, oceanographers developed a simple method to measure the penetration of sunlight in the sea using a white disk 31 centimeters (a little less than 1 foot) in diameter which is called a Secchi disk. This is lowered into the sea, and the depth at which it disappears is recorded. In coastal waters the depth varies from about 5 to 25 meters. Offshore, the depth is usually about 45 to 60 meters. The greatest recorded depth at which the disk has disappeared is 79 meters in the eastern Weddell Sea. These depths, D, are sometimes reported as a diffuse attenuation (or “extinction”) coefficient, k, where k = 1.7/D and the penetration of sunlight is given by I$z$ = I$0$e$-kz$ where z is depth and I$0$ is the energy of the sunlight at the ocean’s surface.

3016. Color
The color of seawater varies considerably. Water of the Gulf Stream is a deep indigo blue, while a similar current off Japan was named Kuroshio (Black Stream) because of the dark color of its water. Along many coasts the water is green. In certain localities a brown or brownish-red water has been observed. Colors other than blue are caused by biological sources, such as plankton, or by suspended sediments from river runoff.

Offshore, some shade of blue is common, particularly in tropical or subtropical regions. It is due to scattering of sunlight by minute particles suspended in the water, or by molecules of the water itself. Because of its short wavelength, blue light is more effectively scattered than light of longer waves. Thus, the ocean appears blue for the same reason that the sky does. The green color often seen near the coast is a mixture of the blue due to scattering of light and a stable soluble yellow pigment associated with phytoplankton. Brown or brownish-red water receives its color from large quantities of certain types of algae, microscopic plants in the sea, or from river runoff.

3017. Bottom Relief
Compared to land, relatively little is known of relief below the surface of the sea. The development of an effective echo sounder in 1922 greatly simplified the determination of bottom depth. Later, a recording echo sounder was developed to permit the continuous tracing of a bottom profile. The latest sounding systems employ an array of echosounders aboard a single vessel, which continuously sound a wide swath of ocean floor. This has contributed immensely to our knowledge of bottom relief. By this means, many undersea mountain ranges, volcanoes, rift valleys, and other features have been discovered.

Along most of the coasts of the continents, the bottom slopes gradually downward to a depth of about 130 meters or somewhat less, where it falls away more rapidly to greater depths. This continental shelf averages about 65 kilometers in width, but varies from nothing to about 1400 kilometers, the widest part being off the Siberian Arctic coast. A similar shelf extending outward from an island or group of islands is called an island shelf. At the outer edge of the shelf, the steeper slope of 2° to 4° is called the continental slope, or the island slope, according to whether it surrounds a continent or a group of islands. The shelf itself is not uniform, but has numerous hills, ridges, terraces, and canyons, the largest being comparable in size to the Grand Canyon.

The relief of the ocean floor is comparable to that of land. Both have steep, rugged mountains, deep canyons, rolling hills, plains, etc. Most of the ocean floor is considered to be made up of a number of more-or-less circular or oval depressions called basins, surrounded by walls (sills) of lesser depth.

A wide variety of submarine features has been identified and defined. Some of these are shown in Figure 3017. Detailed definitions and descriptions of such features can be found in Kennett (1982) or Fairbridge (1966). The term deep may be used for a very deep part of the ocean, generally that part deeper than 6,000 meters.

The average depth of water in the oceans is 3795 meters (2,075 fathoms), as compared to an average height of land above the sea of about 840 meters. The greatest known depth is 11,524 meters, in the Marianas Trench in the Pacific. The highest known land is Mount Everest, 8,840 meters. About 23 percent of the ocean is shallower than 3,000 meters, about 76 percent is between 3,000 and 6,000 meters, and a little more than 1 percent is deeper than 6,000 meters.

Figure 3017. Ocean basin features.

3018. Marine Sediments
The ocean floor is composed of material deposited through the ages. This material consists principally of (1) earth and rocks washed into the sea by streams and waves, (2) volcanic ashes and lava, and (3) the remains of marine organisms. Lesser amounts of land material are carried into the sea by glaciers, blown out to sea by wind, or deposited by chemical means. This latter process is responsible for the manganese nodules that cover some parts of the ocean floor. In the ocean, the material is transported by ocean currents, waves, and ice. Near shore the material is deposited at the rate of about 8 centimeters in 1,000 years, while in the deep water offshore the rate is only about 1 centimeter in 1,000 years. Marine deposits in water deep enough to be relatively free from wave action are subject to little erosion. Recent studies have shown that some bottom currents are strong enough to move sediments. There are turbidity currents, similar to land slides, that move large masses of sediments. Turbidity currents have been known to rip apart large transoceanic cables on the ocean bottom. Because of this and the slow rate of deposit, marine sediments provide a better geological record than does the land.

Marine sediments are composed of individual particles of all sizes from the finest clay to large boulders. In general, the inorganic deposits near shore are relatively coarse (sand, gravel, shingle, etc.), while those in deep water are much finer (clay). In some areas the siliceous remains of marine organisms or calcareous deposits of either organic or inorganic origin predominate on the ocean floor.

A wide range of colors is found in marine sediments. The lighter colors (white or a pale tint) are usually associated with coarse-grained quartz or limestone deposits. Darker colors (red, blue, green, etc.) are usually found in mud having a predominance of some mineral substance, such as an oxide of iron or manganese. Black mud is often found in an area that is little disturbed, such as at the bottom of an inlet or in a depression without free access to other areas.

Marine sediments are studied primarily through bottom samples. Samples of surface deposits are obtained by means of a “snapper” (for mud, sand, etc.) or “dredge” (usually for rocky material). If a sample of material below the bottom surface is desired, a “coring” device is used. This device consists essentially of a tube driven into the bottom by weights or explosives. A sample obtained in this way preserves the natural order of the various layers. Samples of more than 100 feet in depth have been obtained using coring devices.

3019. Satellite Oceanography
Weather satellites are able to observe ocean surface temperatures in cloud free regions by using infrared sensors. Although these sensors are only able to penetrate a few millimeters into the ocean, the temperatures that they yield are representative of upper ocean conditions except when the air is absolutely calm during daylight hours. For cloud covered regions, it is usually possible to wait a few days for the passage of a cold front and then use a sequence of infrared images to map the ocean temperature over a region. The patterns of warm and cold water yield information on ocean currents, the existence of fronts and eddies, and the temporal and spatial scales of ocean processes.

Other satellite sensors are capable of measuring ocean color, ice coverage, ice age, ice edge, surface winds and seas, ocean currents, and the shape of the surface of the ocean. (The latter is controlled by gravity and ocean circulation patterns. See Chapter 2.) The perspective provided by these satellites is a global one and in some cases they yield sufficient quantities of data that synoptic charts of the ocean surface, similar to weather maps and pilot charts, can be provided to the mariner for use in navigation.

The accuracy of satellite observations of the ocean surface depends, in many cases, on calibration procedures which use observations of sea surface conditions provided by mariners. These observations include marine weather observations, expendable bathythermograph soundings, and currents measured by electromagnetic logs or acoustic Doppler current profilers. Care and diligence in these observations will improve the accuracy and the quality of satellite data.

3020. Synoptic Oceanography
Oceanographic data provided by ships, buoys, and satellites are analyzed by the Naval Oceanographic Office and the National Meteorological Center. These data are utilized in computer models both to provide a synoptic view of ocean conditions and to predict how these conditions will change in the future. These products are available to the mariner via radio or satellite.