Oceanography - Exam 2 Flashcards
A water molecule is made up of _____ hydrogen atom(s) and one oxygen atom.
2
A polar molecule is one that ________.
has separated charge so one end is + charge and the other is - charged
Water is a polar molecule because _______
the hydrogen atoms are at an angle of 105°
Which end of the water molecule is negative?
the oxygen end
Which end of the water molecule is positive?
the hydrogen end
___ is caused by water molecules sticking to each other.
Cohesion
____ is caused by water molecules sticking to other molecules.
Adnesion
The hydrogen bonds in water absorb ___ the most
red light
______ is the amount of thermal energy contained by a substance.
Internal energy
______ is the amount of thermal energy added to or removed from a substance.
Heat
_____ is a measure of the amount of thermal energy contained by a substance.
Temperature
Water freezes at ____°F, ____°C, and ____ K.
32; 0; 273
Water boils at ____°F, ____°C, and ____ K.
212; 100; 373
Which has more internal energy, the water in a water heater or the water in a glass of ice tea?
The water in a water heater.
How does the heat capacity of water compare to other common substances?
It is one of the highest.
The process that changes water vapor to liquid water is ______.
condensation
The process that changes water vapor to ice is ___.
deposition
The process that changes ice to liquid water is ________.
melting
The process that changes ice to water vapor is ______.
sublimation
The process that changes liquid water to water vapor is _______.
evaporation
The process that changes liquid water to ice is ____.
freezing
Heat is _______ in the change from liquid water to ice.
Heat is removed
Heat is ______ in the change from liquid water to water vapor.
Heat is added
Areas far from water tend to have ____________________ than areas near water
larger temperature changes
A ______ is a liquid with one of more solid or gas dissolved in it.
solution
A ____ is more than one substance mixed together where each retains separate identities.
mixture
In a true solution the properties are ___ and in a mixture the properties are _______.
homogeneous; heterogeneous
Water dissolves salts such as NaCl by _________.
attaching themselves to the ions
The average surface salinity of the open oceans is ______.
35 ppt
Which of the following is NOT part of the principle of constant proportions?
A) Most of the constituents of seawater are “well mixed”.
B) So their relative concentrations vary widely.
C) Overall concentrations, salinity, may vary somewhat.
So their relative concentrations vary widely.
The _____ is how long a given constituent remains in the ocean
residence time
The _____ is the time it takes for currents to mix the water
mixing time
The principle of constant proportions is true because _________.
the mixing time is much shorter than the residence time of most of the minerals in seawater
_____ constituents change concentrations slowly or not at all.
Conservative
___ constituents change concentrations much more quickly.
Nonconservative
_____ constituents tend to have processes that add and/or remove them significantly.
Nonconservative
The amount of ___ dissolved in the water is relatively stable because, unlike the other gases listed, there are no processes that add or remove significant amounts of it from the water.
nitrogen
Seawater is ________.
very alkaline (basic)
Which of the following is least dense? A) ice at 0° C B) liquid water at 0° C C) liquid water at 4° C D) liquid water at 100° C
D) liquid water at 100° C
Which of the following is least dense? A) warm fresh water B) cold fresh water C) warm salty water D) cold salty water
A) warm fresh water
The density of water _______ as temperature increases from 0°C to 30°C.
increases
The density of water _______ as salinity decreases from 30 ppt to 0 ppt.
decreases
The ocean is divided vertically into 3 regions; the region near the surface that is mixed by currents, waves, and tides is the ______.
surface mixed zone
The ocean is divided vertically into 3 regions; the region where temperature and salinity rapidly change
is the __________.
pycnocline (transition zone)
The ocean is divided vertically into 3 regions; the region in the deep ocean that is very cold (about 4°C
or 40°F) is the ______.
deep zone
True or False: Water masses tend to stratify, stay separate, because mixing is discouraged by the differences
True
Salinity tends to be higher in the tropical region than in temperate or polar regions because in the tropical region, unlike the others, there is _____.
more evaporation than precipitation
__is the bending of a wave due to changes in wave velocity.
Refraction
True or False: Refraction works for light and sound waves but not other types of waves.
False
Light in any material is absorbed and scattered. Absorption removes the light energy by ______ while scattering just ___.
converting it to heat; changes the direction of the light
The region near the surface where there is light in the water is the ______.
photic zone
The Sofar layer holds sound in it allowing the sound to travel long distances because ___.
as sound moves out of it upward or downward it is bent back toward it
_____ uses sound produced by the “lookers” to measure underwater distances.
Passive sonar
Of the following primary components of air which has the highest percentage in air? A. Argon B. Nitrogen C. Oxygen D. Carbon Dioxide
B. Nitrogen
Of the following primary components of air which has that most effect on weather? A. Argon B. Nitrogen C. Oxygen D. Carbon Dioxide
D. Carbon Dioxide
Of the following variable components of air which low concentration at surface from lightning and pollution and higher concentrations in the stratosphere? A. Water Vapor B. Ozone C. Dust D. Volcanic Ash
B. Ozone
___________ pollutants are emitted directly into air.
Primary
___________ pollutants form in the air from those pollutants emitted directly into air.
Secondary
Which of the layer of the atmosphere is nearest the surface?
troposphere
In which of the layer of the atmosphere is the ozone layer, which has been depleted by human pollution, found?
stratosphere
In which of the layer of the atmosphere is there almost no air with high temperatures (1000ºC) but almost no heat?
thermosphere
The atmospheric layers are based on _______________.
changes in temperature
In the lowest atmospheric layer the temperature _________________.
decreases with altitude
Pressure ____________ as you go up in the atmosphere.
decreases
_____________ is a measure of actual amount of water in air (e.g. g of water/kg of air).
Specific humidity
_____________ is a ratio of air’s actual water vapor content to its capacity to hold water vapor.
Relative humidity
_____________ is the temperature to which air must be cooled to reach saturation (100% relative humidity).
Dew point
As the temperature of air decreases while the specific humidity remains the same the relative humidity ________________ .
increases
As the specific humidity decreases while the temperature of air remains the same the relative humidity ________________ .
decreases
As air subsides it ______________.
decreases in relative humidity
The height of the Sun in the sky depends on: A. Latitude B. Time of Day C. Time of year D. All of these
D. All of these
The amount of radiation from the Sun that is scattered and reflected back into space is about _____%.
30
Seasons are due to _________.
the tilt of the Earth’s axis
The Sun, like other hotter objects, emits ______.
shorter wavelength radiation (infrared)
The Earth, like other cooler objects, emits ________.
longer wavelength radiation (visible light)
The only heat flow that occurs in a vacuum is ___________.
radiation
The heat flow that transfers molecular vibrations from molecule to molecule is ______.
conduction
The heat flow that carries heat as the material flows is ___________.
convection
Wind is a direct effect of ___________.
convection
The Coriolis force acts on moving objects due to ________.
the rotation of the Earth
The deflection of a moving object due to the Coriolis force does NOT ___________.
act strongest at the equator and weakest at the poles
The underlying cause of wind is unequal heating of the Earth’s surface.
True
The circulation on a nonrotating Earth would be ___________.
a large convection cell in each of the northern and southern hemispheres
Rotation of the Earth breaks the nonrotating convection cells into three smaller convection cells with 2 low pressure regions and two high pressure region.
True
In a ______ breeze the air blows from the sea to the land because the land is ________ than the sea.
sea; warmer
In a ______ breeze the air blows from the land to the sea because the sea is ________ than the land.
land; warmer
A ___ air mass is cold and moist and drops a lot of precipitation out west.
maritime polar
A _____ air mass is warm and moist and causes much of precipitation in the east.
maritime tropical
A ________ air mass is cold and dry and causes the coldest weather in the US in the winter.
continental polar
A ____ air mass is warm and dry and makes the desert southwest US even drier.
continental tropical
A(n) ___________ front is represented on a weather map as a line with red semicircles.
warm
A(n) ___________ front is represented on a weather map as a line with blue triangles.
cold
A(n) ___________ front is represented on a weather map as a line with blue triangles and red semicircles on opposite sides.
stationary
A(n) ___________ front is represented on a weather map as a line with blue triangles and red semicircles on the same side.
occluded
A(n) _____________ is any weather pattern with circulation around a low-pressure zone.
cyclone
A ______________ is a very large low pressure area that often forms in the winter in the Gulf of Alaska (the northeastern Pacific Ocean) and moves west to east across the US.
mid-latitude cyclone
A ______________ is a low pressure area that is small, can be very intense, and last anywhere from minutes to a few hours.
tornado
Tropical cyclones go from tropical storms to hurricanes when their sustained winds reach _____ mph.
74
Generally most of the damage done by hurricanes as they come onshore is done by _______________.
storm surge
A _____ is not a type of cyclone.
thunderstorm
_____________ is the lessening of the ultraviolet protective layer in the stratosphere due to manmade pollution.
Ozone depletion
The natural increase in the Earth’s temperature due to the absorption of infrared radiation given off by the Earth is _____________________.
the greenhouse effect
The manmade increase in the Earth’s temperature due to more greenhouse gases in the air is ____________.
global warming
Surface currents are driven by __________.
winds
The Coriolis force causes winds and currents to _____________in the northern hemisphere.
turn right
The Coriolis force causes winds and currents to __________ in the southern hemisphere.
turn left
The winds found just north and south of the equator (between 0º and 30º latitude) that blow from the northeast north of the equator and from the southeast south of the equator and cause the transverse currents closest to the equator are called the _______________.
westerlies
Gyre currents travel ________________ in the southern hemisphere.
counterclockwise
The gyre currents that are driven by wind are the _____________
transverse currents
The water within the center of a gyre is not higher than it is because of _______.
gravity
Because of the rotation of the Earth the hill at the center of the gyre is moved _______.
to the west
What is the general term for the movement of water toward the surface?
upwelling
What is the general term for the movement of water away from the surface?
downwelling
Coastal upwelling along the California coast occurs when the wind is blowing _______.
westward
Coastal downwelling occurs when Ekman transport moves water __________.
onshore
What is the change in atmospheric conditions over the equatorial Pacific Ocean that leads to changes in the oceanic condition there called?
Southern Oscillation
What is the change in oceanic conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean caused by changes in the the atmospheric condition there called?
El Nino
What is the rapid return to normal oceanic conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that leads to changes in the ocean condition there called?
La Nina
The atmospheric conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean during a southern oscillation are ____________.
toward the center
The normal ocean conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean are __________
upwelling in the east along the coast of South America
What is another name for deep ocean circulation?
Thermohaline Circulation
Deep ocean circulation is driven by _____.
density differences
The sinking water that drives deep ocean circulation generally occurs ________.
near the poles
The density differences that drive thermohaline circulation are caused by ____________.
both temperature and salinity differences
What is the method of studying current that actually measured the movement of the water?
flow method
The method of studying currents that uses the movement of low concentrations of chemical compounds is ________.
tracers method
Simple float method devices such as drift bottles only determine their release point and collection point; they give no information on the path they took.
true
CDCs and other manmade chemicals are generally used in the tracers method for measuring _______.
surface currents
The energy for tides comes from ________.
the rotation of the Earth
What causes the Moon to orbit the Earth?
gravity and inertia
The driving force of tides is ____________.
the gravity of the Moon and the Sun
The solar tides are ______ the lunar tides.
smaller than
When the Moon is lined up with the Earth and the Sun it is a ___________.
spring tide
The equilibrium theory of tides relates to tides ____________.
on an Earth with a constant depth ocean
The dynamic theory of tides relates to tides _____________.
on an Earth with continents and bathymetry
Diurnal tides have ____________.
one high tide and one low tide per day
Semidiurnal tides have __________.
two equal high tides and two equal low tides per day
Mixed tides have ____________.
one larger and one smaller high tide and one larger and one smaller low tide per day
In the northern hemisphere when tides enter a wide confined basin they tend to _________.
act like a wave moving counterclockwise around the basin
_______ the tides are often larger than ___________.
In confined basins; along straight coasts
The strongest tidal currents tend to form ___________
at inlets
When tides are high or low there is little current, this is ___________
slack water
Water rushing in to flood a bay is _________.
a flood current (flood tide)
Water rushing out to empty a bay is ___________.
an ebb current
Tides can be _______________.
predicted to within a few inches years in advance
Weather has no effect on tides.
false
Meteorological tides are _________.
due to onshore and offshore winds
Within a few years tidal energy will be providing most of the electricity used in the US.
False
