A narrative of historical, methodological, and technological observations in marine science

Abstract Over the years, tools and methods to measure ocean characteristics have evolved with some of the early instruments being rather curious-looking while others have anticipated the current approaches to observations. Information contained in historical books from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century, from Boyle and Hooke to Nansen and Ekman, demonstrate the evolution of instruments and methods used to investigate the marine environment. This chapter offers a summary of the changes in technologies and methods for the measurements of ocean depth, temperature, salinity, sea water gravity, and zoological observations. It also presents examples of historical data collected in the Arctic compared with present observations in this geographic region. The chapter provides a general view of the rapid evolution in methods and technology resulting in new observational procedures.