Bathymetry & Ocean Basins
What method uses sound waves to map the ocean floor?
What is sonar?
What is the % of salts dissolved in our oceans?
3.5% or 35 PPT
What is the highest point of a wave called?
What is the crest?
What drives surface currents in the ocean?
What is wind?
What conditions are necessary for hurricane formation?
What are warm ocean water, low wind shear, and the Coriolis effect?
Name the major features of the ocean floor that start 40 miles off of the coast of NC that extend towards the Mid -Atlantic Ridge
Continental Shelf, Slope, Rise, and Abyssal Plains
Name two factors that can decrease the salinity of ocean water.
What are precipitation and ice melting?
What geological event is primarily responsible for generating tsunamis?
What is tectonic activity such as earthquakes?
Describe the Coriolis effect in relation to ocean currents
What is the deflection of currents due to Earth's rotation?
Describe how hurricanes gain strength.
What is through the transfer of heat energy from the ocean to the atmosphere?
Identify the underwater volcanoes that rise from the ocean floor but do not reach the surface.
What are seamounts?
Explain how the polarity of water molecules affects their behavior
What is it leads to hydrogen bonding?
Define spring tides and explain when they occur.
What are tides that occur when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned?
What is the main driver of deep ocean currents?
What is density differences due to temperature and salinity?
What is the primary cause of storm surge?
What is the rise in sea level associated with hurricanes?
Describe the process by which tectonic plates create mid-ocean ridges.
What is seafloor spreading?
What property of water allows it to form beads on a surface?
What is surface tension?
What determines the size and power of a deep ocean wave as it gets closer to a coastline?
The Bathymetry of the Seafloor, and the strength of the storm that the wave originates from
What is the global conveyor belt?
What is the system of ocean currents that moves heat and nutrients globally?
How do currents affect the paths of hurricanes?
How do currents affect the paths of hurricanes?
What is the definition of bathymetry?
What is the study of underwater depth of ocean floors or lake beds?
What is the term for the layers of water in the ocean based on density?
What are thermocline, halocline, and pycnocline?
What is the difference between a diurnal tide and a semi diurnal tide
Diurnal = 1 high 1 low
Semidiurnal = 2 high 2 low
How does topography influence ocean current flow?
What is it alters the direction and speed of currents?
What is the name of the hurricane that hit North Carolina in 1954 that caused $382 million dollars in damage and killed 1200 people?
What is Hurricane Hazel