DataStreme Ocean

Errata and Updates

This page lists important corrections and significant updates to the
AMS Ocean Studies Textbook, 2nd ed. and Investigations Manual, 2012-2013

• On page 2A-6 of the Ocean Studies Investigation 2A, in the paragraph following Item 16, reference is made to the Current Earthquake Activity map that is accessed via the course website. The U.S. Geological Survey recently updated this map (earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/).
  
  Among changes made to the USGS earthquake map:
  1. Circles now represent the locations of earthquakes, rather than squares. In the Investigation, replace the word “square” with “circle”.
  2. In the Optional section of Item 18, delete the first sentence and replace it with the following: While at this site, scroll down and under the Earthquakes heading, click on “Significant EQ Archive”.


• Update to textbook Figures 5.10 and 5.12, and Table 5.2: The March 2009 paper "Earth's Global Energy Budget" by Kevin E. Trenberth, John T. Fasullo, and Jeffrey Kiehl in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society updated energy balance numbers based on new observations and analyses. We will be using these new numbers in the Third Edition of our course textbook. The following updated figures reflect this new research:
  
  Figure 5.10
  Figure 5.12
  Table 5.2
  
  Please note that these numbers slightly modify the planetary albedo and Bowen ratio.
  
  
• Correction to Investigations Manual 8B, page 8B-4: Question #8 should delete the "is" following the question choices.  It should read: "This [(is)(is not)] consistent ..."
  
  
• Update to textbook Figures 12.7 and 12.8: These figures were taken from the 1990 IPCC Assessment. In recent years, the proxy climate data used to construct these graphs has been questioned, and the scientific consensus is that they are no longer accurate portrayals. The IPCC Fourth Assessment report (2007) provides figures that will be used in the next textbook edition, substituting for 12.7 and 12.8. We encourage you to examine the following graphs:
  
  Records of NH temperature variation during the last 1300 years
  
  NOTE: a full discussion of Northern Hemisphere temperature reconstructions is online at http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/ch6s6-6.html
  

DataStreme Ocean is supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through Award #NA12SEC0080020. Meteorological products are provided via the National Centers for Environmental Prediction NWS/NOAA.

© Copyright 2013: American Meteorological Society