Final Flashcards
Isobars
Lines of equal air pressure
Processes that increase salinity (remove water)
- Evaporation
- Formation of sea ice
Surface circulation
Huge, slowly moving gyres.
Salinity
- The total amount of solid material dissolved in water
- Typically expressed in parts-per-thousand (%)
- Average salinity is 35%
- Major constituent is sodium chloride
Cumulonimbus
cloud forming a towering mass with a flat base at fairly low altitude and often a flat top, as in thunderstorms
Often produce rain showers and thunderstorms.
Hanging wall
The rock above the fault surface
Climate
- Climate is over a long period of time
- Generalized, composite of weather
Factors affecting seawater density
- Salinity
- Temperature- The greatest influence
Ocean Layering
Surface layer
Transition zone
Deep zone
Latent heat of condensation
Heat energy is released.
Aerosols
Tiny solid and liquid particles
Water vapor can condense on solids
Reflect sunlight
Help color sunrise and sunset
Dew point Temperature
- Temperature to which a parcel of air would need to be cooled to reach saturation
- Cooling the air below the dew point causes condensation
Radiation Fog
Earth’s surface cools rapidly
Forms during cool, clear, calm nights
Five main gyres
- North Pacific
- South Pacific
- North Atlantic
- South Atlantic
- Indian Ocean
Longshore current
Current in surf zone
Flows parallel to the shore
Moves substantially more sediment than beach drift
El Niño
A countercurrent that flows southward along the costs of Ecuador and Peru
- Warm
- Usually appears during the Christmas seaso
- Blocks upwelling of colder, nutrient-filled water, and anchovies strive from lack of food.
Stratosphere
- About 12 km to 50 km
- Temperature increases at top
- Outer boundary is named the stratopause
Strike-Slip Faults
(Characterized by horizontal-motion)
Temp. Variation in Low-Lat.
- High temp. at the surface
- Rapid decrease in temp. with depth (thermocline)
Density
Mass per unit volume (how heavy something is for its size.)
Determines the water’s vertical position in the ocean
Cold front (cont.)
Wall of dark clouds
Heavy precipitation
After the passage of a cold front winds become more northerly, skies clear, and temp. drops
Deep-ocean circulation
- Most water involved in deep-ocean currents begins in high latitudes at the surface
- A simplified model of ocean circulation is similar to a conveyor belt that travels from the Atlantic Ocean, through the Indian and Pacific Oceans and back again
Fetch
The distance that wind travels
Orographic Lifting
Elevated terrains act as Barriers
Result can be a rain shadow desert
Surface currents
Develop from friction between the ocean and the wind that blows across the surface
Monsoon
Seasonal change in wind direction
Occur over continents:
During warm months:
-Air flows onto land
-Warm, moist air from the ocean
Winter Months:
- Air flows off the land
- Dry, continental air.
How to spot rip current?
- See an interference in normal wave pattern
- Channel of outgoing water up to 100 meters wide
- Stronger when waves are stronger
- Channel of outgoing water full of sediment
Frontal (Or precipitation) fog
- Forms during frontal wedging when warm air is lifted over colder air
- Rain evaporates to form fog.
Sea Level Pressure
Average:
- Slightly more than 1,000 millibars
- About 14.7 pounds per square inch
Pressure decreases with altitude
- One-half of the atmosphere is below 3.5 miles (5.6 km)
- Ninety percent of the atmosphere is below 10 miles (16 km)
Collision-coalescence process
- Warm clouds
- Large hygroscopic condensation nuclei
- Large droplets form
- Droplets collide with other droplets during their descent
- Common in the tropics
Latent heat of fusion
Heat released when freezing
Processes that decrease salinity (add water)
- Precipitation
- Runoff from land
- Icebergs melting
- Sea ice melting
Coriolis Effect
- Apparent deflection in the wind direction due to Earth’s rotation
- Deflection is to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere
Transition zone
- Between surface layer and deep zone
- Thermocline and pycnocline
Continental Shelf
Flooded extension of the continent
varies greatly in width
Gently sloping
Contains oil and important mineral deposits
Some areas are mantled by extensive glacial deposits
Most consist of thick accumulations of shallow-water sediments
Ocean Temperature
Surface water temperature varies with the amount of solar radiation received
- Lower surface temperatures are found in high-lat. regions
- Higher surface temperatures found in low-lat. regions
Spring tide
During new and full moons
Gravitational forces added together
Especially high and low tides
Large daily tidal range
Warm front (cont.)
Clouds become lower and thicker
Light precipitation
After the passage of a warm front, winds become more southerly and temperatures warm
Fog
Cloud with it’s base at or near ground
Most fogs form because of:
- Radiation cooling
- Movement of air over a cold surface.
Cyclone winds (Northern Hemisphere)
- Inward (convergence)
- Counterclockwise
Continental Slope
Marks the seaward edge of the continental shelf
Relatively steep structure
The boundary between continental and oceanic crust
Cyclone
A center of low pressure
Pressure decreases towards the center
Cold front
Cold air replaces warm air Shown on a map by a line with triangles Twice as steep (1:100) as warm fronts Advances faster than a warm front Associated weather is more violent than a warm front -Intensity of precipitation is greater -Duration of precipitation is shorter
Passive Continental Margins
Found along most costal areas that surround the Atlantic Ocean
Not associated with plate boundaries
Ocean currents
Masses of water that flow from one place to another
Latent Heat
- Stored or hidden heat
- Not derived from temperature change
- Important in atmospheric processes.
Evaporation
Liquid is changed to gas
Dip-slip Fault
Vertical movement of hanging wall and footwall
Latent Heat of vaporization
600 calories per gram of water are added.
Advection fog
Warm, moist air moves over a cool surface
Isostasy
Concept of a floating crust in gravitational balance
When weight is removed from the crust, crustal uplifting occurs
- Process is called isostatic adjustment
Wave measurements
Height- Distance between aa trough and a crest
Length- The horizontal distance between successive. crests
Period- Time interval for one full wave
Localized convective lifting
Localized convective lifting occurs where unequal surface heating causes pockets of air to rise because of their buoyancy
Warm front
Warm air replaces cooler air Shown on a map by a line with semicircles Small slope (1:200) Clouds become lower as the front nears Slow rate of advance Light-to-moderate precipitation
Andean-Type Mountain Building
Oceanic-Continental crust convergence
Ozone
Concentrated between 10 to 50 kilometers above the surface.
Three atoms of oxygen (O3)
Isotherm
a line connecting places of equal temperature.
Thermosphere
- No well-defined upper limit
- Fraction of atmosphere’s mass
- Gases moving at high speeds
Deep Zone
- Sunlight never reaches this zone
- Temperatures are just a few degrees above freezing
- Constant high-density water
Convection
- Mass movement within a substance
- Usually vertical motions
Neap tide
a tide just after the first or third quarters of the moon when there is least difference between high and low water.
Footwall
The rock below the fault surface
Axis (degrees)
Inclined 23^1/2 degrees.
Mesosphere
- About 50 km to 80 km
- Temperature decreases
- Outer boundary is named the mesopause
Windward
- Part of orographic lifting
- Wet side of the mountain
Sublimation
Solid is changed directly to a gas
Condensation
Water vapor (gas) is changed to a liquid
Transform Fault
Large strike-slip fault that cuts through the lithosphere
Often associated with plate boundaries.
Surface mixed zone
- Sun-warmed zone
- Zone of mixing
- Shallow (300 meters)
Jet Stream
“river” of air
High Altitude
High velocity (120-140 KM per hour)
Deposition
Water vapor (gas) changed to a solid
Rip current
Concentrated movement of water flow in the opposite direction from breaking waves.
Diurnal Tidal Pattern
A single high and low tide each tidal day
Occurs along the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico
Cyclone (southern Hemisphere)
Inward
-Clockwise
Frontal Wedging
Cool air acts as a barrier to warm air
Fronts are part of the storm systems called middle lat. cyclones
Leeward
Dry side of the mountain
Continental Rise
- Found in regions where trenches are absent
- Continental slope margins into a more gradual incline
- The thick accumulation of sediment
- At the base of the continental slope turbidity currents that follow submarine canyons deposit sediment that forms deep-sea fans
Bergeron Process
Temp. in the cloud is below freezing
Ice crystals collect water vapor
Bathymetry
measurement of ocean depths and the charting of the shape or topography of the ocean floor
Tide
High tide is lower when the world is facing the moon.
Semi-diurnal
- Two high and two low tides each tidal day
- Little difference in the high and low water heights
- Common along the Atlantic Coast of the United States
Active Continental Margins
- Subduction zone forms
- Deformation process begins
Summer Solstice
Sun’s vertical rays are located the Tropic of Cancer (23^1/2 N lat)
Beach Drift
Sediment moves in a zigzag pattern along the beach face
Ocean density variation in Low-lat.
- Low density at the surface
- Density increases rapidly with depth (pycnocline) because of colder weather
Upwelling
The rising of cold water from deeper layers
Most characteristic along west coasts of continents
Brings greater concentrations of dissolved nutrients to the ocean surface.
Passive Margins
Prior to the formation of a subduction zone
Latent heat of melting
80 calories per gram of water are added
Temp. Variation in High-lat.
- Cooler surface temp.
- No rapid change in temp. with depth.
Thermohaline Circulation
A response to density differences
- Temp: cold water is dense
- Salinity: density increases with increasing salinity.
The composition of the atmosphere
Nitrogen (N) – 78 percent
Oxygen (O2) – 21 percent
Argon and other gases
Carbon dioxide (CO2) – 0.036 percent
Upslope fog
Humid air moves up a slope
Adiabatic cooling occurs
Radiation (Cont.)
All objects, at whatever temperature, emit radiation
Hotter objects radiate more total energy per unit area than do cooler objects
The hotter the radiating body, the shorter the wavelength of maximum radiation
Objects that are good absorbers of radiation are good emitters as well
Weather
- Over a short period of time
- Constantly changing
Three major topographic units of the ocean floor
Continental Margins, Ocean basin floor, Mid-ocean ridge
Ocean density variation in High-lat.
- High-density (cold) water at the surface
- Little change in density with depth
Cloud droplets
Less than 20 mm in diameter
Pressure Gradient
Pressure change over distance
surface circulation Deflected
By the Coriolis Effect
- To right in north hemisphere.
- To the left in southern hemisphere
Reverse fault
Dips greater than 45 degrees.
Steam Fog
Cool air moves over a warm water and moisture is added to the air.
Sources of sea salts
- Chemical Weathering of rocks
- Outgassing - gasses from volcanic eruptions
Incoming solar radiation
Atmosphere is largely transparent to incoming solar radiation
Atmospheric effects:
- Reflection
- Scattering
- Absorption
- About 50% of solar radiation absorbed by earth surface.
Radiation
Consists of different wavelengths: Gamma (very short waves) X-rays Ultraviolet (UV) Visible Infrared Microwaves and radio waves
Water Vapor
Up to about 4 percent of the air’s volume
Forms clouds and precipitation
Absorbs heat energy from Earth
Faults
Fractures (breaks) in rocks along which appreciable displacement has taken place
Convergence
Air is flowing together and rising (low pressure_
