Air - Sea Interactions

Question 1

What 3 things does density increase with?

Answer 1

Temperature, Salinity, and pressure

Question 2

What is the Pycnocline?

Answer 2

a layer in an ocean or other body of water in which water density increases rapidly with depth.

Question 3

What happens to Salinity in Low Latitudes?

Answer 3

Salinity decreases with depth (temperature controls density)

Question 4

What happens to salinity in High Latitudes?

Answer 4

Salinity increases with depth, temperature variations are small, (Salinity controls density)

Question 5

What is a Halocline?

Answer 5

Seperates ocean layers of different salinity

Question 6

What are the 3 distinct water masses based on density and where are they located?

Answer 6

1) Mixed Surface Layer - Above thermocline
2) Upper water - Thermocline and pycnocline
3) Deep water- Below thermocline to ocean floor

Question 7

What are the 2 processes controlling the propagation of light in water?

Answer 7

1) Absorption

2) Scattering

Question 8

What causes absorption and Scattering?

Answer 8

Water itself, Suspended particles, coloured dissolved organic matter

Question 9

What is the sum of absorbtion and scattering?

Answer 9

Attenuation: Decrease of light with distance

Question 10

Why is the ocean blue?

Answer 10

Blue is absorbed the least while scattered the same

Question 11

Why do objects lose their colour with depth?

Answer 11

The colors other then blue and green are absorbed by the water molecules more rapidly

Question 12

What adds salt ions to the ocean?

Answer 12

River discharge, volcanic eruptions, and hydrothermal activity

Question 13

What takes away salt ions?

Answer 13

Absorption and Precipitation, Sea Spray, Biologic processes, hydrothermal activity

Question 14

Which ocean is more salty?

Answer 14

The Atlantic

Question 15

Why is the Atlantic more salty?

Answer 15

1) The evaporation-precipitation cycle
2) The transport of precipitation across the Isthmus of Panama
3) Input from the Mediterranean sea

Question 16

What is residence time?

Answer 16

Average length of time a substance stays in seawater

Question 17

What is heat capacity?

Answer 17

The amount of time required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of any substance by 1 degree Celsius

Question 18

What is specific heat?

Answer 18

Heat capacity per mass unit

Question 19

What is a calorie?

Answer 19

The amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree

Question 20

What is waters sensible heat?

Answer 20

Can be felt, occurs when heat transfers from one system to another

Question 21

What are the differences between convection and conducton?

Answer 21

1) Convection: Heating through the turbulent circular flow of air or water that transfers the energy
2) Conduction: Heating through direct contact

Question 22

What is water’s latent heat?

Answer 22

The energy needed to change the state (ice to water, ect) Water has high latent heat

Question 23

What is the Marine Effect?

Answer 23

When oceans moderate temperature changes from day to night and during different seasons because of high heat capacity

Question 24

What is the contenential effect?

Answer 24

Land areas have greater change from day to night and in seasons

Question 25

What is Hydrostatic Pressure?

Answer 25

Hydrostatic pressure is the pressure that is exerted by a fluid at equilibrium at a given point within the fluid, due to the force of gravity.

Question 26

What are Adiabatic changes?

Answer 26

Adiabatic changes are changes in the
internal energy that are not due to
exchanges of heat with the surroundings

Question 27

Does sound velocity increase or decrease with pressure/temperature?

Answer 27

Increase

Question 28

How is heat gained/lost in latitudes?

Answer 28

In high latitiudes more heat is lost then gained, and in low latitudes more heat is gained then lost

Question 29

What is the troposphere?

Answer 29

The lowest layer of the atmosphere