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In 1002, Erikson set out with a crew of 35 men to explore the land he had bought from Bjarnie Heriolfsson, which was most likely Canada. The expedition went from Greenland to North America, and was only made possible by the Vikings' vast improvements in their boats.
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in 1450, Prince Henry the navagator from Portugal started a naval organization to teach astronomy and navigation. This educated many other explorers and technicians, and gave them and others motivation to further pursue the study of oceanography.
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In 1490, Bartolomeu Dias proved that Africa could be circumnavigated when he reached the southern tip of the continent, the first man to do so. The cape is now known as "Cape of Good Hope"
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In the the 1480s, Columbus was hired by the king and queen to find a western rsea oute to Asia. Columbus made multiple voayges, but instead of finding Asia, landed in the West Indies of North America.
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On September 20, 1519, Ferdinand Megellan, his five ships, and a crew of about 234 men launched an expedition to navigate across the world. By February 13, 1521, the team had reached the equator, but on April 27, 1521 Megellan was killed and eaten in the Phillipines. However, the rest of the crew mangaed to finish the voyage across the world, ending in 1522.
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In 1687, Sir Isaac Newton wrote his theory "Principa", explaining how gravity and ocean tides were interconnected. Because of this, the connection between outer space and the world's oceans became more believable.
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On December 21, 1872 Wyville Thomas launched the very first oceanographic voages. On this voyage, which was backed up with steam power, Thomas measured salinity levels, sampled the sea floors, sampled the sea's surface, and basically everywhere else in the ocean. From all of these places, Thomas and his crew collected TONS of information never before seen by humans.
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in 1903, the SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography was founded, and in 1912 became a part of the University of California. Today the Institution resides in La Jolla, California and is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean science and research.
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on October 3, 1970, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) was created to focus on the conditions of the oceans and atmosphere, and in part warns of dangerous weather, charts the seas and sky, guides the protection of oceanic resources, and conducts reserach to improve understanding of the environment.
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The U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study was launched in 1989 as a part of the Global Ocean Data Analysis Project. JGOFS is used to track the relationship between ocean plant production and solar radiation.
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In August of 1992, the satellite TOPEXPoseidan launched joint U.S.-France mission to explore ocean circulation and its interaction with the atmosphere. The information is used to relate changes in ocean currents with atmosphere and climate patterns. The TOPEX/Poseidan, which measure sea level along the same path every ten days, allows scientists to measure height across the seas. How cool is that? The mission ended in the fall of 1995.
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The Global Ocean Atmosphere-Land System was created in 1994 to study the energy transfer between the atmosphere and the tropical oceans. The purpose of this is to better understand El Nino and the effects it has on the planet, and to provide improved large-scaleclimate predictions.
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Representatives from 24 nations receomended the Global Ocean Observing System to include satellites, buoy networks, and research vessels, the goal being to enhance understanding of ocean climate and for it to be predicted more accurately. Because of this, in the years 1997-1998 Eli Nino was successfully predicted six months in advanced.
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In 3200 BC, the Egyptians took the significance of the Phoenicians creation a little further by launching the very first sea voyage. According to records of Pharough Snefru, about 40 ships from Phoenicia were used.
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in 5,000 BC the Phoenicians made a big leap in early oceanography technology by creating the first boats, copper fish-hooks, and assembling a navy along the Medeteranian Sea.
