Oceanography
Essay Preview: Oceanography
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Chapter 5.
1. The water molecule H20 Has a dipole structure..
2. The quantity of solutes in seawater..
3. Salinity can be measured simply by..
4. The salt content of the ocean is..
5. The density of seawater depends..
6. Sources of gases in seawater include..
7. The hydrologic cycle..
8. Matter is recycled throughout the oceans,
Anaerobic bacteria — Bacteria that respire in the absence of free oxygen.
Anion — A negatively charged ion such as Cl- (chloride).
Anoxic — The absence of free oxygen.
Atom — The smallest component of an element, comprising neutrons, protons, and electrons.
Cation — A positively charged ion, such as K+ (potassium) and Na+ (sodium).
Conservative property — A property of water that is unaffected by biological processes and, consequently, remains stable over time.
Covalent bond — The linkage of atoms in a molecule by sharing electrons.
-Deep layer
-Density
Groundwater — Water beneath the ground surface that seeped into the soil and rock from above.
Halocline — A zone in the water column where the vertical change of salinity is relatively sharp.
Heat capacity — A measure of the quantity of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by 1 degree C.
Hydrologic cycle — The exchange of water among the ocean, atmosphere, and land by such processes as evaporation, precipitation, surface runoff, and groundwater percolation.
Ion — An atom or molecule having an electrical charge because of a gain or loss of electrons.
Kinetic energy — Energy of motion.
Molecule — Two or more atoms that constitute the smallest component of a compound while retaining its chemical characteristics.
Nonconservative property — A property of water that changes over time because it is affected by biological activity. Carbon dioxide and oxygen, which are used and produced by organisms, are examples of this kind of substances in seawater.
Nutrient — Chemical compounds required by plants for normal growth; nitrate and phosphate are important examples.
Parts per thousand — A unit of salinity; 35ppt indicates that 35 grams of salt are contained in 1,000 grams of seawater. In other words, salt comprises 3.5ppt by weight of a volume of seawater.
pH — The negative log of the hydrogen ion activity; a value of 7 denotes a neutral solution, lower than 7, an acidic solution, and higher than 7, an alkaline or basic solution.
Photosynthesis — Chemical reactions conducted in the presence of light by plants using chlorophyll whereby carbon dioxide and water are converted into carbohydrates and free oxygen.
Pycnocline — A zone having a marked change in water density as a function of water depth.
Residence time — The average amount of time that an element remains dissolved in seawater assuming steady state conditions.
Salinity — A measure of the total concentration of dissolved solids in seawater usually expressed as parts per thousand.
Thermocline — A sharp, vertical temperature gradient that marks a contact zone between water masses having markedly different temperatures.
Vaporization — The process by which a liquid is transformed into a gas
Chapter 6
1. Global Winds in each hemisphere are arranged..
2. Ocean circulation can be divided into wind-induced surface currents..
3. The large wind-powered circulation gyres..
4. In both hemispheres, the pattern of current flow..
5. The flow axis of western-boundary currents..
6. Under the influence of steadily blowing wind,
7. Subsurface flow, known as
8. Ocean Basins exchange water on a regular basis.
9. Climate exerts strong control on the.
-Anoxic
Bottom water — A general term applied to dense water masses that sink to the “bottom” of ocean basins.
Cold-core ring — Large eddies that have a core of cold water.
-Coriolis Deflection
-Deep water
Downwelling — The sinking of a fluid.
-Ekman spiral
Ekman transport — The net flow of water to the right of the wind in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left of the wind in the Southern Hemisphere which arises as a consequence of Coriolis deflection.
Geostrophic current — A current controlled by a balance between a pressure-gradient force and the Coriolis deflection.
Gyre — A large water-circulation system of geostrophic currents rotating clockwise (Northern Hemisphere) or counterclockwise (Southern Hemisphere).
Langmuir circulation — A series of parallel, counter-rotating circulation cells with long axes aligned parallel to the direction of the generating win.
Pressure-gradient force — A force that arises as a consequence of a water slope; the steeper the water slope the stronger this force becomes.
Thermohaline circulation — The vertical movement of water masses that results from differences in water density.
-Trade winds
Upwelling — The slow, upward transport of water to the surface from depth.