Sign in to save your progress, vote, and build your own decks.Sign in
Ocean Flash Cards
40 cards·by Awesome Unicorn
What are streamline movements of water?
Ocean Currents
What three factors influence currents?
Wind, Earth rotation, and position of he continents
What are hurizontal movements of water that are caused by wind and occure at or near the
oceanssurface?
Surface currents
What are three factors that control surface currents?
Global Winds, the coriolis effect, and continental deflections.
Which way do the winds blow near the equator?
east to west.
How is the sun a major source os energy that powers surface currents?
it causes the wind to blow which causes surface currents.
What causes some wind and ocean currents to be deflected from paths they would take?
Earths rotation.
What deflection of moving objects from a straight path due to earths rotation called?
Coriolis Effect.
What happens to surface currents when the currents meet a continent?
They deflect and change directions.
What is the movement of ocean water located far below the surface?
Deep current.
What is the amount of matter in a given space or volume?
Density.
What is a measure of an amount of desolved salts or solids in a liquid?
Salinity.
What happens to the amount of ocean water as it becomes denser?
it takes the water from the surface to the deep oceans.
What is the deepest and densest layer of water in the ocean?
The Atlantic bottom
Why are the surface currents and the deep currents al so called convection currents?
Because their movements results partly from the differences in water density.
What are costal ares that have climates that are warmer than would be expected at their
latitude are affected by?
Warm-Water Currents.
Were does the gulf stream get its warmth?
From the tropics.
Why is the climate on the west coast of the United States cooler than the climate of inland areas
because of what effects?
Cold-Water Currents.
In what direction does El Nino and La Nina form?
The pacific ocean.
What is El Nino?
When the south pacific trades less warm water to the western pacific than usual.
What is La Nina?
A periodic change in the eastern pacific ocean in which the surface water temp becomes
unusually cool.
What do scientists need to study in order to predict the weather changes on land that might be
causes by El Nino?
By studying the atmosphere and ocean.
Why is it important for scientists to learn as much as possible about El Nino?
Because of its effects on organisms and land.
what is cold nutrient rich water from the deep ocean rises to the surface and replaces warm
surface water?
Upwelling.
What is a disturbance that transmits energy through matter or empty space?
Wave.
What is the highest part of a wave?
crest.
What is the lowest part of the wave?
trouh
What is he distance between tow adjacent wave crests or troughs?
Wavelength.
What is the vertical angle distance between the crest and the trough of a wave?
The Hight.
How do most ocean waves form?
As wind blowes across the waters surface and transfers energy in the water.
What happens to water when a wave of energy moves through it?
It becomes a wave.
Why are waves different sizes?
when winds begins to blow over water small waves or ripples form. If the ind keeps blowing the
waves will grow.
What is the time between the passage of two wave crests (or troughs) at a fixed point called?
Wave Period.
what does dividing wavelength by wave period give you?
Wave speed.
When a wave reaches the shore, what is transferred to the beach environment?
Energy.
How does a breaker form?
As a wave approaches the coastline. Water depth becomes shallower, and wave height
increases.
What are tides?
daily changes in the level of ocean water.
What two forces influence tides?
The gravity of the moon and the pull of liquids.
Why is the gravitational pull on liquids more noticeable than the pull on solids
because the liquids move more easily.
What does the pull of the moon on the part of the ocean that directly faces the moon causes?
The water on the side of the earth bulges.