Name:
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SGE3.c
Vocabulary
Ocean basin
A large, cup-shaped dent in the ocean floor.
Continental shelf
The gently sloping underwater part of a continent.
Continental slope
The gently sloping submerged land near the
coastline that forrns the side of an ocean basin.
Abyssal plain
A vast plain, flat area of the ocean floor that
spreads from the mid-oceanic ridge to where the
continents begin.
Trench
A very steep-sided cut in the sea floor.
Topography
Changes in ocean-floor elevation.
Mid-ocean ridge
An undersea mountain range; at more than 601000
kilometers long, this is the largest mountain range
on Earth.
Rift valley
A deep valley in the rnid-ocean ridge forrned
where the sea floor is pulled apart by forces acting
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below the floor.
Seamount
An underwater mountain.
Antarctic Ocean
The fourth largest ocean in the world, covering
13,500,000 square miles on the Earth'i
southernmost latitudes, more than half of which is
covered with ice and icebergs in winter.
Arctic Ocean
The smallest and shallowest of the world's oceans,
covering an area of 5,440,000 square miles,
completely surrounded by land and mostly
covered by sheets of ice, which can be more than
160 feet thick in winter.
Atlantic Ocean
The second largest ocean, covering an area of
31,830,000 square miles.
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lndian ocean
The third largest of the world's oceans covering an
area of 28,360,000 square rniles.
Pacific Ocean
The largest ocean in the world, covering about
one-third of the entire planet , or G3,800,000 miles.
Name
Date
Science Vocabulary for S6E3.d
Ocean
Cu
rrent
Surface
Cu
rrent
Dee p
nt
Coriolis
Effect
cu rre
P
Ocean Currents
A movement of ocean water that follows a regular pattern
reva iling
Winds
Gyres
Gu
lf Stream
A horizontal movement of ocean water that is caused by wind and
that occurs at or near the
ocean's surface (wind driven)
Movements of ocean water far beneath the surface controlled by water density temperature and density
Force caused by the rotation of the earth; directs the flow of the ocean currents; water north
of equator moves in a clockwise direction while water south of the equator moves in a
cou nterclockwise di rection
Creates ocean currents; winds that blow daily in the same direction and can be found at
specific locations on earth; Trade Winds blow from east to west toward the equator and
Westerlies blow from west to east in the middle latitudes of earth.
A powerful system of rotating currents
One of the most well known gyres; one of the largest surface currents in the world
Waves
Waves
Crest
Trough
Wavelength
Wave period
Wave
frequency
Beaufort Scale
Storm surge
Swell
Undertow
Whitecap
Tsu na mi
Longshore
Cu
rrent
that carries energy from one place to another; ocean waves form
when energy is transferred from a source to the ocean water; wind is the main source of
energy for ocean waves
The highest point of a wave
The lowest point of a wave
The distance between one crest and another or one trough and another
The time it takes for 2 wave crests to pass a certain point
The number of waves that pass a certain point in a given amount of time
A traveling disturbance
to measure wind speed and its effect on wave height
A rise in sea level near the shore caused by strong winds from a storm; can be the most
A scale used
destructive part of a hurricane
Rolling long ocean waves that move steadily across long distances
A current underneath incoming waves that carries sediment, etc away from shore
White, foaming waves with steep crests that break before they get to shore
A giant ocean wave formed after a volcanic eruption, an underwater earthquake, or
landslide
A water current that travels near and parallel to the shoreline; transports sand which
causes the erosion and buildup of coastline
Tides
Tid e
Daily changes in the level of the ocean water
Neap tide
Spring tide
Tidal range
High tide
Low tide
Tides with the smallest daily tidal range; occurs dur,ing the first and third quarter
Tides with the largest daily tidal range; occurs during the new moon and full
The difference between levels of ocean water at high tide and low tide
qoon
d!!g!
moon phases
Water level is higher than average sea level; occurs twice daily due to moon's gravity
Water level is lower than the average sea level; occurs twice daily due to moon's gravity