General
This part of the ocean contributes the most to the global water budget.
What is the Pacific?
This type of plate movement creates earthquakes, including the San Andreas fault.
What are transformative boundaries?
An example of this large current is found in the North Pacific, and because of it's circular current, it traps trash and plastics near Midway.
What is a gyre?
A dramatic shift in oceanic plate tectonics can create this kind of wave.
What is a tsunami?
The gradual transition in environment and wildlife based on how close a certain part of the coastline is to the water.
What is zonation?
This term describes the general undersea world.
What is inner space?
GPS stations use signals to bounce off of these devices to pinpoint exact locations on earth, which is used for oceanic mapping.
What are satellites?
These currents are what move the majority of the ocean water, which involves density changes due to salinity.
What are thermohaline currents?
This type of tide occurs twice a month when the moon and sun align to form a stronger pull on oceanic tides which causes high and low tides.
What are spring tides?
This environment is where land, saltwater, and freshwater mix together, serving as the spawning ground for different fishes.
What is an estuary?
The salt concentration in this solution causes it to sink under another.
What is high salinity?
Lines found on bathymetric maps to show depth.
What are isobaths?
This occurrence brings nutrient-rich water from the bottom of the ocean to the surface.
What is upwelling?
This term is used for a large open ocean wave that is formed when two wave crests combine their energies.
What is a rogue wave?
This term is for water that is a mixture of saltwater and freshwater.
What is brackish water?
This kind of scientist would find use in a bathymetric map.
What is an ocean geologist?
Transducers emit a signal that bounces off of the seafloor to show ocean depth.
What is SONAR?
The term refers to the large path of currents across the Earth’s ocean.
What is the global ocean conveyor belt?
This interaction between water molecules and the ocean floor slows down waves as they approach the shore
What is friction?
This is the direct effect of plant life in the open ocean when turbidity increases.
What is less photosynthesis?
This elemental factor in water contributes to local biodiversity levels. For example, an algal bloom would diminish the amount of this element.
What is DO / dissolved oxygen?
This type of thin spot on the earth’s crust is responsible for some thermal water features, such as the Hawaiian archipelago.
What is a hot spot?
An effect which causes clockwise motion in the north, and counterclockwise motion in the south, due to the Earth’s rotation.
What is the Coriolis effect?
Wind is the direct element that moves surface waves. This term is used to describe the distance that water affects waves.
What is fetch?
The drying out of organisms due to sun exposure and lack of water, along with winds and high temperatures.
What is desiccation?