When did we start exploring the ocean?

Ocean exploration begins around 5000 B.C. with the first ocean diving and the first sailing vessels. Many advances are made in the following years including the first diving bells and coastal maps.

What did the Challenger Expedition accomplish?

Modern oceanography began with the Challenger Expedition between 1872 and 1876. It was the first expedition organized specifically to gather data on a wide range of ocean features, including ocean temperatures seawater chemistry, currents, marine life, and the geology of the seafloor.

How did its expedition contribute to future studies of the ocean?

Many consider it to be the first true oceanographic expedition because it yielded a wealth of information about the marine environment. Those aboard identified many organisms then new to science, and they gathered data at 362 oceanographic stations on temperature, currents, water chemistry, and ocean floor deposits.

How is the ocean explored?

Technologies used to explore outer space and the ocean include submersibles, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), satellites, rovers, diving/scuba gear, buoys, mega corers, water column samplers, and sonar for mapping.

How did they map the ocean floor?

Echo sounding is the key method scientists use to map the seafloor today. The technique, first used by German scientists in the early 20th century, uses sound waves bounced off the ocean bottom. The faster the sound waves return, the smaller the water depths and the higher the elevation of the seafloor.

Who funded the Challenger Expedition?

The story of its now-fabled world expedition began 150 years ago, in 1870, when an Edinburgh University professor and marine zoologist named Charles Wyville Thompson persuaded the Royal Society of London to support a lengthy and detailed voyage of exploration across the world’s oceans.

What species did the Challenger Expedition discover?

George Albert Boulenger, herpetologist at the Natural History Museum, named a species of lizard, Saproscincus challengeri, after Challenger. Before the Challenger voyage, oceanography had been mainly speculative.

What advantage do marine labs offer scientists who study marine biology?

Marine laboratories allow marine biologists to keep organisms alive and to work over long periods of time. They also may have state-of-the-art equipment for conducting scientific research or they may be simple field stations that provide a base for scientists who work in remote areas.