ABSTRACT
Seawaters surround the peninsula of Florida with surging tides, restless waves, and swirling currents. They moderate the climate, support fisheries, cleanse the coastal waters, help navigation, cool coastal power plants, and attract tourists. This chapter considers Florida oceanography the environmental processes of seas around the state including physical, chemical, geological, and biological processes. It shows Florida with the Gulf of Mexico on the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. The chapter helps in understanding the timing of tides and their range. The winds over the entire ocean to the east converge to produce the Gulf Stream, which swings north in the deep channel between Miami and the Bahamas. Waters of lower salinity or higher temperature have lower density. The calcium in the sea is a balance between that going into the water from the world's rivers and that being sedimented from the sea as calcium carbonate in shells, reefs, and other skeletons.
