Water Cycle
Water that is stored underground in soil and rock layers, which can be accessed through wells.
Groundwater
What is the relationship between surface currents and climate?
Surface currents can have a cooling or warming effect on an area's climate.
What happens to density with increased salinity?
It increases
A deep, narrow depression in the ocean floor, typically formed by the subduction of one tectonic plate beneath another.
Trench
What percent of ocean water is salt?
3.5%
The process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil, replenishing groundwater supplies.
Infiltration
What is the primary cause of ocean currents?
Different densities of seawater.
What happens to density with decreased salinity?
It decreases
An underwater mountain that rises from the ocean floor but does not reach the surface, often formed by volcanic activity.
Seamount
How are waves created?
Waves are created when wind blows across a body of water, transferring energy to the water.
The release of water vapor from plant leaves into the atmosphere, contributing to the water cycle.
Transpiration
What happens to more dense seawater in density currents?
It sinks beneath less dense seawater.
What happens to water's salinity if you add freshwater?
It decreases
A flat or gently sloping area of the deep ocean floor, characterized by thick layers of sediment and a lack of significant features.
Abyssal Plain
What factors determine the height of a wave? (3 things)
The speed of the wind, the distance over which the wind blows, and the length of time the wind blows.
Any form of water, such as rain, snow, sleet, or hail, that falls from clouds to the ground.
Precipitation
What causes density currents?
Density currents are caused by differences in seawater density, influenced by temperature and salinity.
What would happen to a water's salinity if the water began to freeze?
It would increase
The gently sloping area at the base of the continental slope, formed by the accumulation of sediments.
Continental Rise
What is the Gulf Stream?
A surface current that moves warm water from the tropics to cooler regions around Europe.
The process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas or vapor, typically due to heat from the sun.
Evaporation
What is the Coriolis Effect?
The effect of Earth's rotation that causes winds and currents to curve.
What would happen to a water's salinity if the water began to evaporate?
It would increase
An underwater mountain range formed by plate tectonics, where new oceanic crust is created as tectonic plates pull apart.
Mid-ocean Ridge
Name all 5 oceans
Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic, Indian, and Southern