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Oceanography > Exam 2 > Flashcards

Exam 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Why do we taste “salt” in ocean water?

A

overwhelming amount of sodium and chloride

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2
Q

What are the 2 categories that ocean salt ions are fall in?

A

Cations and Anions

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3
Q

What are the Cations in the ocean water?

A

Sodium, Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium

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4
Q

What are the Anions in the ocean water?

A

Chloride, Sulfate, Carbonate & Bicarbonate

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5
Q

What is a common mineral dissolved in water?

A

silica

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6
Q

What is the chemical composition of the ocean?

A

Salts 35 grams = 3.5% dissolved solids = 35 parts per thousand (0/00)

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7
Q

Where do the oceans’ salts come from?

A

Erosion, river water, volcanic activity, groundwater, hydrothermal vents

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8
Q

Where do calcium, bicarbonate & carbonate come from?

A

shells and corals

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9
Q

Where does magnesium, potassium, sulfate come from?

A

Clays

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10
Q

What are the three things that make up a profile of ocean water?

A

Temperature, Salinity, Density

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11
Q

What is the term used for temperature in the ocean?

A

Thermocline

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12
Q

What is the term used for density in the ocean?

A

Pycnocline

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13
Q

What is the term used for salinity in the ocean?

A

Halocine

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14
Q

What is a combination of cold temperature and saltier conditions that leads to an increased density with depth?

A

pycnocline

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15
Q

What proves that it tends to get colder as depth increases?

A

Thermocline

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16
Q

What proves that it tends to get saltier with depth?

A

Halocine

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17
Q

What are water masses?

A

bodies of water identifiable by their salinity and temperature

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18
Q

What happens when water masses have different densities?

A

they stack on top of each other

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19
Q

What is the diagram used to figure out if water masses will mix or stratify (layer)?

A

The T&S Diagram

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20
Q

What is the term used to describe temperature and salinity and its circulation?

A

Thermohaline

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21
Q

What are the three important aspects of the ocean?

A

sound, light, and biological pump

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22
Q

What is a biological pump?

A

the balancing of ocean water chemistry by plants and animals

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23
Q

How does sound travel through the ocean?

A

waves

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24
Q

What does sound travel faster in, water or air?

A

water

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25
Q

What does sound travel faster in, salt water or freshwater?

A

salt

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26
Q

How is sound velocity determined?

A

the interplay of salinity and temperature

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27
Q

What is the layer called where sound is focused and can travel long distances without being absorbed?

A

SOFAR channel

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28
Q

Where is the SOFAR channel located?

A

1000 meters deep

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29
Q

How can sound escape the SOFAR channel?

A

at a sharp angle

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30
Q

What mammals use the SOFAR channel to communicate?

A

Whales

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31
Q

What has proven to show that ship traffic noise is disrupting marine mammal communication?

A

bioacoustics

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32
Q

Where is light absorbed in the ocean?

A

600 meters

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33
Q

What is the euphotic zone?

A

the surface water (upper 70 meters) receives the most amount of light, photosynthesis

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34
Q

What are the depths from 70 to 600 meters that have reduced amounts of light, enough for vision called?

A

Disphotic zone

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35
Q

The aphotic zone is located where?

A

below 600 meters

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36
Q

What end of the visible light spectrum shows the least penetration of water?

A

Red

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37
Q

What end of the visible light spectrum shows the most penetration (600m)?

A

Blue/Violet

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38
Q

What can harvest colors at different depths?

A

Phytoplankton

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39
Q

What happens to animals that live beyond the range of light?

A

adaptations, i.e. enlarged eyes, bioluminescence

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40
Q

How does oxygen enter the ocean?

A

plants or the atmosphere

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41
Q

What are some examples of photosynthetic organisms?

A

Phytoplankton, Large Algae, Photosynthetic bacteria

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42
Q

What is respiration?

A

a chemical process that uses oxygen and carbohydrates to produce carbon dioxide and water vapor

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43
Q

What percentage of CO2 on Earth is in the Ocean?

A

60%

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44
Q

pH measures what?

A

The acidity or alkalinity of a substance

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45
Q

What is the pH of the ocean?

A

8

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46
Q

What are the three things that drive atmospheric circulation?

A

Latitudinal differences in heat received by the Earth from the sun, differences in heating and cooling of continents and oceans, the Coriolis effect

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47
Q

What do the tropics have?

A

heat surplus

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48
Q

What do the poles have?

A

heat deficit

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49
Q

Atmosphere transfers about how much heat from the topics to the poles?

A

2/3

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50
Q

When convection cells transport heat in the atmosphere, what happens?

A

Warm air rises, Cold air sinks

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51
Q

The linear distance traveled by a point on the Earth’s surface depends on what?

A

latitude

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52
Q

These points travel faster here than at any other points at other latitudes?

A

equator

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53
Q

The Coriolis effect deflects objects in motion clockwise in this hemisphere?

A

Northern

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54
Q

The Coriolis effect deflects objects in motion counter clockwise in this hemisphere?

A

Southern

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55
Q

At the equator this is non existent but is greatest at the poles?

A

Coriolis effect

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56
Q

What are the three atmospheric circulation cells?

A

Polar, Ferrel, and Hadley

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57
Q

What circulation cell has rising air in the tropics and sinking air at mid-latitutdes?

A

Hadley

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58
Q

The Ferrel cell does what?

A

governs circulation at mid-latitudes

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59
Q

What happens to a polar cell?

A

the dry, cold air decends

60
Q

What are gyres?

A

Large-scale winds set up large-scale circular ocean currents

61
Q

What gyre is narrow, fast and warm?

A

North Atlantic Gyre

62
Q

What gyre is cold, broad and slow?

A

Canary Current

63
Q

What connects the North Atlantic Gyre and Canary Currents?

A

North Atlantic and the North Equatorial Currents

64
Q

Where are thermohaline circulation patterns present?

A

below 600m

65
Q

Why are there different sea levels in the gyres?

A

they have higher elevation in the middle (“mound”) than on the edges

66
Q

Around the edges of subtropical gyres, what type of sea level is it?

A

low

67
Q

High sea levels occur where?

A

west side of subtropical gyres

68
Q

Wind driven currents flow perpendicular to the wind direction because?

A

the effect of friction the water has on one another

69
Q

What direction does the 90 degree turn in the northern hemisphere?

A

Right

70
Q

What direction does the 90 degree turn in the southern hemisphere?

A

Left

71
Q

What is the Ekman spiral?

A

the spiral effect has in the water

72
Q

Geostrophic flow is what?

A

when the “mound” of a gyre is maintained by the Coriolis effect and gravity

73
Q

What is it called when water moves up to the surface?

A

upwelling

74
Q

What is it called when water sinks down?

A

downwelling

75
Q

What are the two water masses that descend from the surface near the poles?

A

Atlantic Deep Water and Antarctic Bottom Water

76
Q

What is the study of compounds that do not contain carbon; however, some non-living matter, diamonds for example, contains carbon and therefore falls outside the rule?

A

inorganic chemistry

77
Q

What is organic chemistry?

A

the study of compounds that occur naturally from plants and animals and inorganic chemistry as the study of compounds created by non-living elements such as those found in minerals

78
Q

Most marine vertebrates are able to regulate the salt and water content in their bodies through a chemical process called?

A

Osmoregulation

79
Q

What is osmosis?

A

where water diffuses from high salt concentration to low salt concentration between permeable membranes

80
Q

As density increases….

A

salinity increases

81
Q

What is a cline?

A

a region where the temperature, density, or salinity change rapidly

82
Q

Thermohaline circulation is also referred to as?

A

the Global Conveyor Belt

83
Q

What is a wave?

A

a disturbance caused by the movement of energy through a medium

84
Q

A wave is not a….

A

current

85
Q

What is the highest part of the wave?

A

Crest

86
Q

What is the distance between adjacent crests?

A

Wavelength

87
Q

What is frequency?

A

the number of wave crests passing by in a second

88
Q

What is a trough?

A

the lowest part of the wave

89
Q

What is wave height?

A

vertical distance from the trough to the crest

90
Q

What is the time needed for the wave to move a distance of one wavelength?

A

period

91
Q

What is the formula for wave speed?

A

Wave length / Wave period

92
Q

What is the formula for wave steepness?

A

Wave height / Wave length

93
Q

What are the four things ocean waves are classified by?

A

Disturbing force (create)
Restoring force (flatten)
influence of disturbing force
wavelength

94
Q

What are some examples of disturbing forces?

A

wind, low atmospheric pressure due to storms, disturbance of sea floor, density contrast of water masses, explosions and landslides

95
Q

What are some examples of restoring forces?

A

gravity, surface tension, mixing

96
Q

What is the disturbing force of a seiche?

A

changes in atmospheric pressure

97
Q

What is the wavelength of gravity?

A

> 2cm

98
Q

What is also referred to as “capillary waves”?

A

surface tension

99
Q

What is the wavelength of surface tension?

A

< 2cm

100
Q

What is it called when water particles do not move along with most waves?

A

Orbital motion

101
Q

Deep water waves occur in water deeper than?

A

1/2 wavelength

102
Q

Shallow water waves occur in water shallower than?

A

1/20th wavelength

103
Q

What is fetch?

A

the distance over which wind blows

104
Q

What is a seiche?

A

a standing wave where water is pushed to the northeast side of a lake and comes back

105
Q

What are the tops of the waves being blown off by the wind?

A

Whitecaps

106
Q

What waves leave the region of formation last?

A

Short waves

107
Q

Which waves leave the region of formation first?

A

Long waves

108
Q

What happens when two waves meet?

A

they interfere

109
Q

What is destructive interference?

A

waves cancel each other out, forming smaller waves

110
Q

What is constructive interference?

A

waves add together, forming bigger waves (can produce very dangerous “rogue” waves)

111
Q

Deep water waves become shallow water waves when approaching the shore, what happens?

A

The wave “feels” the bottom and begins to lose energy

112
Q

What is the ratio of a wave when it breaks on shore?

A

1:7 ratio of height to wavelength

113
Q

What are hollow tubes formed between the falling crest and the foot of the wave?

A

plunging breakers

114
Q

What are huge waves that move slowly beneath the surface and have huge heights and wavelengths?

A

Density waves

115
Q

What has an effect on how the wave will break upon the shore?

A

slope of the seafloor

116
Q

Which type of breaker - spilling, plunging, or surging – will cause the most coastal erosion?

A

surging - slams into the beach at full speed

117
Q

Which type of breaker deposits the most sand onshore?

A

spiling

118
Q

The approximate speed of a wave train can be calculated from the average period of the waves in the train, using a simple formula:

A

speed (in knots, which are nautical miles per hour) = 1.5 x period (in seconds)

119
Q

What are the two things that gravitational attraction depends on?

A

masses and distances between

120
Q

What are the strongest tides forced by?

A

the Earth and moon (first)

the Earth and sun

121
Q

A tide has a wavelength equal to what?

A

1/2 Earth’s circumference

122
Q

What is the really important factor regarding gravitational attraction?

A

distance

123
Q

What pulls each point on Earth toward the center of the moon?

A

gravity

124
Q

Gravitation force….?

A

varies in strength, nor oriented in the same direction

125
Q

Inertia pulls toward where?

A

outward

126
Q

Inertial force…..?

A

same strength, oriented in same direction

127
Q

What is created due to gravity and inertia pulling at opposite directions?

A

Bulges

128
Q

High and low tides occur when?

A

as the Earth spins beneath the bulges (high) and away from them (low)

129
Q

What type of tide is created when solar and lunar tidal bulges are added?

A

spring tide

130
Q

What type of tide is created when solar and lunar tidal bulges are cancelled?

A

Neap tide

131
Q

In a spring tide, what is the difference between high and low tides?

A

large

132
Q

In a neap tide, what is the difference between high and low tides?

A

small

133
Q

What kind of tide occurs when the sun, moon, and earth line up?

A

Spring

134
Q

What kind of tide occurs when Earth, moon, and sun are at right angles?

A

Neap

135
Q

Spring and Neap tides occur how many times a month?

A

2

136
Q

Tides behave like what?

A

Shallow water waves

137
Q

What characterize dynamic tides?

A

propagate with ocean basins, behave like shallow water waves, speed of tidal propagation is slowed by friction

138
Q

What is a semidiurnal tide?

A

two high and two low tides per day (about same height)

139
Q

What kind of tide has one high and one low tide per day?

A

Diurnal

140
Q

What is a mixed tide?

A

two high and two low tides per day (different heights)

141
Q

Why do tide crests rotate?

A

Coriolis effect

142
Q

What are amphidromic points?

A

no-tide points within ocean basins

143
Q

How do animals make use of the tides?

A

reproductive cycle, egg hatching, move young safely out to sea

144
Q

In a semi-confined basin, tides can set up as what?

A

amphidromic systems or slosh in and out of the basin

145
Q

What happens when strong winds blow for a long time from one direction across an enclosed basin?

A

Seiche

Oceanography (5 decks)

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