Chapter 15-Oceanography
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What is oceanography?
List and explain the technologies used by oceanographers to collect ocean data.
What does sonar stand for?
How does sonar allow scientists to learn more about the topography of the ocean floor?
How does side-scan sonar work?
How old are the Earth’s ocean?
What evidence suggests the age of the Earth’s oceans?
List and explain possible sources of the Earth’s water.
About what percentage is the surface of the Earth covered with water?
Where is most of the Earth’s water found?
What processes have affected global sea level?
State the names of the 3 major oceans on Earth.
Describe the 3 ocean-atmospheric interactions.
What two characteristics of sea water have the greatest impact on density?
Compare the density of cold water to that of hot water.
Compare the density of high salinity water to that of low salinity.
What is the most abundant salt in sea water?
Summarize the sources of sea salt addition.
Summarize the processes of sea salt removal.
List 3 ways in which fresh water is added to sea water to decrease the salinity.
Explain how differences in salinity and temperature set currents in motion in the oceans of the world.
How do ocean temperatures vary with depth?
What is the thermocline?
Where is the thermocline located in terms of the layers of the ocean?
Explain the relationship between the density of water and the formation of deepwater masses.
What is a wave?
What do waves carry?
What mainly generates ocean waves?
Where are the highest waves usually found? Why?
Explain what happens to wavelength and wave height when a breaker is formed.
What is the basic cause of tides?
Which has a greater impact on tides, the Sun or the Moon?
Why does the Sun have less of an impact on tides than the Moon?
When do spring tides occur?
What happens to tides during spring tides?
When do neap tides occur?
What happens to tides during neap tides?
What causes surface currents?
What causes deep ocean currents?
How and why do gyres develop?
What is upwelling?
Where does upwelling originate?
Where does upwelling mainly exist?
What is a density current?
How is a density current generated?
REVIEW-ANSWERS
1. scientific study of marine chemistry, biology, currents and tides
2. sonar (topography), floats (surface water data), satellites (surface and global ocean data), submersibles (geologic
features, marine life, samples), computers (simulations)
3. sound navigation and ranging
4. sends a sound signal to sea floor, measures time of echo, and uses speed calculation to determine depth
5. directs sound waves at an angle to map topographical features of sea floor
6. nearly as old as the Earth; approximately 4.6 billion years old
7. radioactive isotopes, sediments, lava flows suggest there has been abundant water throughout Earth’s geologic
history
8. comets, meteorites, volcanism
9. 71%
10. 97% is found in the oceans
11. melting ice (global warming), expanding glaciers (global cooling), tectonic forces
12. Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian
13. Ocean is a source of atmospheric oxygen (phytoplankton); ocean is a reservoir for carbon dioxide (dense polar
ocean water sinks taking CO2 with it); oceans are a source of heat and moisture (equatorial regions fuel
hurricanes)
14. temperature and salinity
15. cold water is more dense than hot
16. high salinity is more dense than low
17. sodium chloride
18. erosion of minerals on land and small amounts from volcanoes
19. sea spray and marine organisms using salts in shells
20. precipitation, rivers (at estuaries), and melting ice caps and glaciers
21. surface water is cooled by air; ice forms leaving behind salt in water; salty, surface water cools and becomes
more dense; sinking creates deepwater masses which drive the density currents deep in the ocean
22. temperature decreases with increasing depth
23. layer of the ocean in which most of the temperature variations occur
24. top 1000 meters just below the surface layer
25. surface water is cooled by air; ice forms leaving behind salt in water; salty, surface water cools and becomes
more dense; sinking creates deepwater masses which drive the density currents deep in the ocean
26. rhythmic movement that increases in height and length as wind energy increases
27. energy
28. wind
29. southern ocean where strong winds blow continuously
30. wavelength decreases and wave height increased
31. gravitational attractions among the Earth, Sun and Moon
32. Moon
33. Sun is so much farther away from the Earth than the Moon
34. Sun, Earth and Moon align
35. higher high tides, lower low tides
36. Sun, Earth and Moon are at right angles
37. lower high tides, higher low tides
38. wind
39. differences in density between water masses
40. continents deflect ocean currents to north and south so that closed circular systems (gyres) develop
41. upward motion of ocean water
42. in deeper waters below thermocline
43. off western shorelines where polar currents move toward equator
44. the deep movement of water due to differences in salinity and temperature
45. salty, surface water cools and becomes more dense; sinking creates deepwater masses which drive the density
currents deep in the ocean