History of Ocean Exploration
Formed in 1970, this US agency studies the world’s oceans and weather and includes such subsidiaries as the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Weather Service.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
This is the deepest zone in the ocean, occurring at depths greater than 4000 meters.
Abyssopelagic zone
Where is the largest tidal range in the world found?
Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia
This structure is found in the mouths of some cetaceans; made of keratin, it helps them filter prey items from water.
Baleen
First detected in 2013, this mass of warm surface water may have adversely affected marine life and caused the spreading of warm water fish to northern latitudes.
The Blob
The magnetic compass was first invented here between 300 and 200 BCE.
China
This benthic zone, which corresponds generally to the continental slope, extends from a depth of 200 meters to 4000 meters.
Bathyal zone
With a tidal period of 24 hours and 50 minutes, this is the tidal pattern common in shallow inland seas which has one high tide and one low tide each lunar day.
Diurnal tide pattern
This gas-filled, flexible organ aids many fishes in attaining neutral buoyancy.
Swim bladder
A 2016 study determined that this species may be the longest lived vertebrate, with a lifespan of over 400 years.
Greenland shark
This was the name of the first vehicle to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep in 1960.
Trieste (TREE-est)
Often referred to as the “false bottom”, this layer of marine organisms can scatter signals from an echo sounder and migrates vertically through the ocean throughout the day.
Deep scattering layer
This is the name for tides of minimal range (lower high tides and higher low tides) that occur approximately every two weeks, when the moon is in either first- or third-quarter phases.
Neap tides
These zooplankton are microscopic shrimplike members of subphylum Crustacea.
Copepods
This process, caused by the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxidy by the ocean, may cause coral bleaching and the dissolution of shellfish shells.
Ocean acidification
Which Greek mathematician and geographer developed the first system of latitude and longitude in the third century BCE?
Eratosthenes
Below the oxygen minimum layer, oxygen content ______ with depth.
Increases or Decreases
Increases
This is the name for a line connecting points where high tide occurs simultaneously.
Cotidal line
Which organisms form the base of the food chain at hydrothermal vents due to their ability to convert carbon and nutrients into organic matter in the absence of sunlight?
Chemosynthetic Bacteria
In a new study, researchers have found that the olfactory senses of the Atlantic stringray are severely impacted by oil concentrations such as those found in the Gulf of Mexico after this 2010 oil spill.
Deepwater Horizon Spill
This project, which ran from 1990 to 2002, aimed to establish how the world’s oceans affect global climate.
World Ocean Circulation Experiment
This is the depth at which the gentle slope of the continental shelf steepens appreciably.
Shelf break
This is the name for a tidal current that flows continuously, with the direction of flow changing through all points of the compass during a tidal cycle, usually found offshore where the direction of flow is not restricted by any barriers.
Rotary tidal current
Many fish are cold-blooded, so their body temperatures are very close to the temperature of the water around them. What is another term for “cold-blooded”?
Poikilothermic (poikilos = “spotted”, theromos = “heat”)
A 2018 study found that these chemicals, also known as PCBs, build up in the blubber of orcas in lethal doses, potentially causing the extinction of half the world's orca populations in the near future.
polychlorinated biphenyls