Chapter 14 Flashcards
Surface currents
Streamlike movements of water that occur at or near the surface of the ocean.
Coriolis effect
The curving of moving objects from a straight path due to the Earth’s rotation.
Deep currents
Stream like movements of ocean water far below the ocean surface.
Upwelling
A process in which cold, nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean rises to the surface and replaces warm surface water.
El Niño
A periodic change in the location of warm and cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean.
Crest
The highest point of a wave.
Trough
The lowest point of a wave.
Wavelength
The distance between two adjacent wave crests or wave troughs.
Wave height
The vertical distance between a wave’s crest and trough.
Wave period
The time between the passage of two wave crests (or troughs) at a fixed point.
Breakers
A wave with a high crest that gets pulled down to the ocean floor.
Surf
The area between the breaker zone and the shore.
Whitecaps
White, foaming waves with very steep crests that break in the open ocean.
Swells
Rolling waves that move in a steady procession across the ocean.
Tsunamis
Waves that form when a large volume of ocean water suddenly moves up or down.
Storm surge
A local rise in sea level near the shore that is caused by strong winds from a storm.
Tides
Daily movements of ocean water that change the level of the ocean’s surface.
Tidal range
The difference between levels of ocean water at high and low tide.
Spring tides
Tides with maximum tidal range and occur during the new and full moons.
Neap tides
Tides that minimum tidal range and occur during the first and the third quarters of the moon.
