Seawater and Sediment
Waves and Tides
Circulation
Geology and Coasts
Climate and Tools
100

This term is often used to descibe polar waters, because the density of the water column is similar at all depths

Isopycnal

100

A shallow-water wave occurs when the depth is less than this fraction of the wavelength

1/20

100

This movement of water will occur as wind blows toward the south off the coast of California.

Upwelling

100

This ocean feature is formed from the erosion of a seamount.

Guyot

100

These records are often analyzed for their oxygen isotope concentrations.

Sediment cores

200

This type of water, often found near estuaries, has a salinity between freshwater and saline water.

Brackish water

200

This type of tidal pattern has a period of 24 hours and 50 minutes

Diurnal tide

200

This water mass is formed at the Norweigan Sea

North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW)

200

The theory of coral reef development was proposed by this scientist.

Charles Darwin

200

This process occurs as more and more CO2 is absorbed by the oceans.

Ocean acidification

300

These calcareous organisms are the primary component of chalk deposits

Coccolithophores

300

This system uses the visual appearance of the ocean to estimate the wind speed.

Beaufort Wind Scale

300

This phenomenon affects sea surface temperatures in the North Pacific and occurs on a long timescale.

Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)

300

This feature of the continental margin has an average slope of 4 degrees

Continental slope

300

This tool uses sound waves to measure the speed of the water current.

Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)

400

This term refers to the average amount of time a substance, like sodium, stays in the ocean.

Residence time

400

This type of breaking wave is associated with an air pocket

Plunging breaker

400

As an ocean current meanders, this clockwise-rotating feature that exhibits downwelling can pinch off and form.

Warm-core ring/eddy

400

This type of hydrothermal vent contains high amounts of metals.

Black smoker

400

This term refers to the boundary between westerlies and trade winds.

Horse latitudes

500

These deposits, exhibiting graded bedding, are created by turbidity currents

Turbidite deposits

500

This term refers to locations on the Earth's surface where the tidal range is always 0.

Amphidromic points

500

This type of current occurs because the western side of a basin is at a higher elevation compared to the eastern side.

Equatorial countercurrent

500

This feature is the final step in the erosion of a headland.

Sea stack

500

This climate system refers to the north-south movement of the strong westerly winds that encircle Antarctica.

Southern Annular Mode (SAM)