The Ocean as a Global System

This opening lesson frames the ocean as one connected Earth system rather than a collection of separate basins. Students learn how physical movement, dissolved chemistry, seafloor structure, and marine life interact across local, regional, and global scales.

The lesson establishes the core systems thinking used throughout Oceanography Fundamentals: oceans exchange heat, gases, nutrients, water, sediments, and energy with the atmosphere, continents, seafloor, ice, and living organisms. Later lessons will examine each component in greater detail; here the focus is on how the pieces fit together.