Name the five major oceans on Earth from largest to smallest.
What is Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Artic Ocean?
100
Where are the saltiest waters found? Why?
North pole and South pole or the Equator. This is because the oceans near the poles freeze faster and leave the salt behind. Near the equator, the water evaporates faster and leaves salt behind.
100
What is an ocean current in general?
An ocean current is a large amount of ocean water that moves, almost like a river, in a particular and unchanging direction.
100
What are tides caused by?
The gravitational pull between the Moon and the Earth.
100
What is plankton?
Microscopic fish and plants.
200
What are the wide, flat areas of ocean basins called?
Abyssal plains
200
What is a density current?
The movement of dense water beneath surface water.
200
What are two causes of deep ocean currents?
Two things that cause deep ocean currents are the temperature of the water and its salinity.
200
How often do spring tides occur?
Spring tides occur twice a month.
200
What are swells?
Swells are large rolling waves that form in the open ocean.
300
What is a continental shelf?
A flat area that extends from the continent's shoreline to the ocean basin.
300
List the three main causes of an ocean's surface currents?
Temperature, wind and density.
300
What are three causes of surface currents?
Three causes of surface currents are wind action, the Earth's spin, and the shape of continents.
300
How many tides a day does Earth experience?
There are two high and two low tides a day on any given point on Earth.
300
What are headlands?
Headlands are sections of the coastline that extend out into the ocean.
400
Name and describe the two types of tectonic plates?
Oceanic (those that lie under the ocean) and continental (those that lie under the continents).
400
What are bays?
Indented areas in the coastline where ocean reaches into the land.
400
How does wind action affect currents?
When the air becomes heated by the Sun, the particles expand and start to rise. Cooler air replaces the air that had risen and this causes movement in the air. This movement ruffles the ocean and creates a wave.
400
What is a tidal range?
The difference between a high and low tide.
400
What is convection?
Convection is the process of the sun heating up the surface of the ocean, as the heat is transferred to the air above causing the warm ocean water to bubble up.
500
What is a seamount?
A seamount is a occasional underwater peak.
500
Describe the layer thermocline?
The layer where the effects of the Sun cannot be felt and the water temperature drops rapidly.
500
How does Earth's spin affect ocean currents? What is the Coriolis effect?
As Earth spins counterclockwise, this can redirect paths of winds and currents depending on what side of the equator they are on. This altercation of direction is called the Coriolis effect.
500
What is the tidal range of the Gulf of Mexico?
The tidal range of the Gulf of Mexico is only 0.5 m.
500
What is el nino and la nina?
El nino refers to the warm ocean waters off the coast off the Ecuador and Peru, La nina is the period when upwelling causes colder-than-normal waters to come to the surface off the coast of South America.