A&O SCI 103Physical Oceanography
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences · 4 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)
Introductory course for physical sciences, life sciences, or engineering majors interested in environmental issues. Observations of temperature, salinity, density, and currents. Methods. Wind-driven and geostrophic currents. California Current and Gulf Stream. Internal waves. Surface waves and tides. Air/sea interactions. Coastal upwelling. Biological/physical interactions. El niño. Role of ocean in climate and global change. Santa Monica Bay field trip.
Letter grading.
When it runs
- Fall 2025
- Fall 2026
Scheduled, not typical — from UCLA’s Schedule of Classes, which publishes Fall 2025 through Spring 2027 and nothing before it.
Requisites
Official UCLA wording
Requisite: Mathematics 3B or 31B.
Requires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
Unlocks
What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
A&O SCI 103
- A&O SCI 112Climate Change Assessment
- A&O SCI 121Climate Mitigation Solutions
- A&O SCI 113Introduction to Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
- A&O SCI 130California's Ocean
- A&O SCI 135Ocean Change in the Anthropocene
4 courses list this as a requisite. The whole downstream is here — 5 courses over 2 levels. Every course here opens its own tree.