Name:
180 points
Date
Earth’s Oceans
SECTION 15.1 An Overview of Oceans
38 points
In your textbook, read about modern oceanography.
For each item write the word that meets the description. (5 points)
___________________1. German research ship that studied the
oceans during the 1920s
___________________2. Satellite used to monitor ocean surface
temperatures
___________________3. Device that uses echoes to map features of
the ocean floor
___________________4. First ship to use sophisticated measuring
devices to study the ocean
___________________5. Scientific study of Earth’s oceans
In your textbook, read about the origin of the oceans.
Answer each question and complete the statement. (12 points)
6. How long have oceans existed on Earth?
Period
SECTION 15.1 The Oceans
In your textbook, read about the distribution of Earth’s water.
Complete the statements. (5 points)
12. The ________________ contain 97 percent of the water found on
Earth.
13. Approximately 3 percent of Earth’s water is located in the
________________ of Greenland and Antarctica, and in rivers, lakes,
and underground sources.
14. Global ________________ has risen and fallen by hundreds of
meters in response to warm periods and ice ages.
15. ________________ forces that lift or lower portions of the
seafloor also affect sea level.
16. Today average global sea level is slowly ________________ at a
rate of 1 to 2 mm per year.
Answer the following questions. (8 points)
17. Why is Earth known as the blue planet?
18. What is the average depth of the oceans?
19. How much of the northern hemisphere is covered by oceans?
7. Name one possible extra planetary source of water on Earth.
8. Name two major gases that are emitted from Volcanoes.
9. How did water vapor in the atmosphere become oceans during
Earth’s early history?
20. How much of the southern hemisphere is covered by oceans?
In the space at the left, write correct if the statement is correct; if the statement
is not correct, change the italicized word or phrase to make it correct. (8 points)
________ 21. The three major oceans are the Atlantic, the Pacific,
and the Arctic.
________22. The Pacific is Earth’s largest ocean.
________ 23. North of the Antarctic circle, the Atlantic is known
10. Which process is still adding water to our hydrosphere?
11. Describe how the total amount of water stays the same.
Page 1
as the Arctic Ocean.
________24. The Indian Ocean is located mainly in the northern
hemisphere.
________25. Oceans are a major reservoir of carbon dioxide.
Standard 4: Students will understand the dynamics of the hydrosphere.
Objective 3: Analyze the physical, chemical, and biological dynamics of the oceans and the flow of energy through the oceans.
Name:
Date
SECTION 15.2 Seawater
30 points
In your textbook, read about the chemical properties of seawater.
Answer each question. (23 points)
1. What gasses are dissolved in seawater?
Period
In your textbook, read about ocean layering.
Use the terms below to label the diagram of ocean temperatures. (3 points)
surface layer bottom layer
thermocline
2. About what percentage of seawater is dissolved salts?
3. What is most abundant salt in seawater?
4. List other salts found in seawater.
5. What is salinity?
6. What unit is commonly used to measure the salt content of water?
7. What would cause surface ocean water to have a higher salt
content?
In your textbook, read about water masses.
Use the letters A through D to sequence the stages of water-mass
movement. (4 points)
8. Describe evidence that indicates that the salt content of ancient
oceans was about the same as it is today.
________16. Cold, salty water sinks.
________17. Sea ice forms during the winter.
________18. Salty water migrates along the ocean floor toward the
equator.
9. List and describe three processes that add salts to seawater.
10. Describe how salt is removed from seawater?
________19. Salt ions accumulate beneath the ice.
B
D
A
C
11. How does salt change the freezing point of water?
12. Describe how different wavelengths of light penetrate ocean
water.
Page 2
Standard 4: Students will understand the dynamics of the hydrosphere.
Objective 3: Analyze the physical, chemical, and biological dynamics of the oceans and the flow of energy through the oceans.
Name:
SECTION 15.3
Date
Ocean Movements
30 points
In your textbook, read about wave characteristics.
Use the diagram to answer the following questions. (13 points)
Period
In your textbook, read about tides and the causes of tides.
For each item write the word that meets the description. (6 points)
_________________8. Periodic rise and fall of sea level
_________________9. Difference between high tide and low tide
_________________10. Forces exerted by the Sun and the
_________________10. Moon that generate tidal bulges
_________________11. Type of tide with the highest high tides
1. Describe the rhythmic movement of a wave. What is the
direction of its energy?
2. What is the highest point of a wave called?
crest
3. What is the lowest point of a wave called?
trough
4. What is the vertical distance between the highest and
lowest points of a wave?
wave height
5. What is the horizontal distance between the top of one
wave and the top of the next?
wavelength
6. What is the relationship between the wave speed in deep
water and wavelength?
Wave speed increases
cold
with wavelength.
7. Describe how an ocean wave becomes a
breaker at the shoreline.As ocean waves reach the
shallow water near shorelines,
Page 3
nutrients
offshore
trade-wind
upwelling
vertically
and lowest low tides
_________________12. Type of tide that occurs when the Sun, the
Moon, and Earth form a right angle
In your textbook, read about ocean currents.
In the space at the left, write correct if the statement is correct; if the statement is
not correct, change the italicized word or phrase to make it correct. (5 points)
________ 13. A current caused by differences in the temperature and
salinity of ocean water is called a gyre.
________ 14. Surface currents are caused by wind.
________ 15. The gyres of the northern hemisphere circulate in a
counterclockwise direction.
________ 16. Examples of warm, poleward-flowing currents are the
Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio Current.
In your textbook, read about upwelling.
Use each of the terms just once to complete the passage. (6 points)
In addition to moving horizontally, ocean water moves (17) _________ .
The upward motion of ocean water is called (18)_______________.
Upwelling waters originate from the bottom of the ocean and are
(19) _______________ . Areas of upwelling exist mainly off the western
coasts of continents in the (20) _________________ belts. The trade
winds blow surface water (21) _________________ , and the surface
water is replaced by upwelling deep water. Upwelling waters are rich in
(22) ____________ , which support abundant marine life populations.
Standard 4: Students will understand the dynamics of the hydrosphere.
Objective 3: Analyze the physical, chemical, and biological dynamics of the oceans and the flow of energy through the oceans.
Name:
Date
Reviewing Vocabulary
27 points
____________1. Measure of the amount of
dissolved salts in seawater
____________2. Periodic rise and fall of
sea level
____________3. Technique that directs
sound waves toward the
ocean floor at an angle to
map its topographic features
____________4. Current caused by wind
____________5. Collapsing wave
Period
oceanography
side-scan sonar
tide
sea level
salinity
upwelling
wave
temperature profile
thermocline
breaker
surface current
crest
trough
density current
____________6. Set of data that plots
changing water temperature with depth
____________7. Lowest point of a wave
Understanding Main Ideas
Circle the word or phrase that makes the statement correct
1. The mechanism by which water deep within Earth’s interior is
brought to the surface is (radiation, volcanism).
2. The oceans contain 97 percent of Earth’s water, and
(saltwater, freshwater) sources contain 3 percent.
3. Today, the (melting, thickening) of glaciers is causing a slow rise in
the average global sea level.
4. Seas are smaller than oceans and are partly or mostly
(landlocked, submerged).
5. Dissolved salts, gases, and nutrients are present in seawater in the
form of (organic material, ions).
6. As marine organisms die, their solid parts drift to the bottom of the
ocean, causing salts to be (added to, removed from) seawater.
____________8. Current caused by differences in the temperature
7. The freezing point of salt water is somewhat (higher, lower) than that
of freshwater.
and salinity of ocean water
____________9. Highest point of a wave
8. Oceans are dark below the depth of about (1000 m, 100 m).
____________10. Scientific study of Earth’s oceans
9. The surface layer and the (bottom layer, thermocline) are absent in
polar seas.
____________11. Level of the ocean’s surface
____________12. Upward motion of ocean water
____________13. Rhythmic movement that carries energy
through matter
____________. Transitional layer of the ocean characterized by
rapidly decreasing temperatures with depth
Page 4
10. The coldest and densest water mass in all the oceans is
(Antarctic Bottom Water, North Atlantic Deep Water).
11. Earth’s tidal bulges are always aligned with the (Sun, Moon).
12. Closed, circular surface current systems are called
(density currents, gyres).
13. Upwelling waters bring (warm water, nutrients) to the ocean’s
surface.
Standard 4: Students will understand the dynamics of the hydrosphere.
Objective 3: Analyze the physical, chemical, and biological dynamics of the oceans and the flow of energy through the oceans.
Name:
Date
30 points
BILL NYE OCEANOGRAPHY
Watch the movie about oceans and answer the questions below.
1. __________________ and ___________________ keep ocean
water moving.
Period
9. What is a thermohaline current?
10. How does the coast guard track ocean currents?
2. Bill Nye describes ocean currents as ______________ of
_______________ flowing through ______________.
11. Why aren’t rivers and lakes salty like the ocean?
3. When ocean water evaporates where does the salt go?
4. Explain what happened when the very salty water was added to the
less salty water in the aquarium that represented the ocean. Why did
this happen?
5. Why does the empty glass get colder in the fridge?
12. Explain how the sun creates ocean currents (these are what
we call convection currents).
13. Draw and describe how the currents in the southern
hemisphere spin, and how currents in the northern
hemisphere spin.
6. How does this principle affect the climate near some coasts?
7. Explain three reasons currents are important to living things (using
the example of kelp).
14. Why does the raw egg float in the salty water and sink in the
freshwater?
15. Living things in the ocean depend on ocean currents for
________________, ___________________ and
________________ _______________.
8. Explain how salinity affects how heavy water is.
Page 5
Standard 4: Students will understand the dynamics of the hydrosphere.
Objective 3: Analyze the physical, chemical, and biological dynamics of the oceans and the flow of energy through the oceans.
Name:
Date
Thinking Critically
Use the diagram of Earth’s gyres to answer the following questions.
25 points
1. What might be the course of the South Atlantic Gyre if Africa did not
exist?
2. How might the absence of South America affect the size and course of
the South Atlantic and South Pacific gyres?
Page 6
Period
3. What would be the likely effect on the currents near Japan and
Korea if the prevailing midlatitude winds blew from east to
west instead of west to east?
4. Draw in the density current conveyor belts from page 427 in
the textbook.
Label. Make a Key.
Describe how the two maps are interconnected.
Standard 4: Students will understand the dynamics of the hydrosphere.
Objective 3: Analyze the physical, chemical, and biological dynamics of the oceans and the flow of energy through the oceans.