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65 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back

Ocean sediments have recorded past climates of earth, how have scientists determined thisrecord of past climate change?

Oxygen isotopes in calcareous plankton fossils in marine sediment coresreveal temperature

Deep ocean red clays were a possible location for what activity?

Storage of high level radioactive waste

Which ocean basin as the most abundant carbonate sediments?

Atlantic

What is the best method to sample ocean sediments for climate studies?

Drill Ship HPC cores

What is the most common biogenous sediment in the ocean?

carbonate shells and hard parts

Tektites are composed primarily of ______ sediments?

cosmogenic

What type of sediments is found in the southern ocean around Antarctica?

Glacial Marine Sediments

Where are marine sediments that have graded bedding found?

Continental rise and Abyssal Plains

What type of plankton is made out of silica and is a plant?

diatom

What type of plankton is made out of carbonate and is an animal?

foraminifera

What two characteristics are used to classify sediments?

Diameter and mineral composition

What carbonate chemical species is stable in normal ocean water pH (pH ~ 8)?

bicarbonate HCO3-

What is the pH of household ammonia?

11

What is the CCD?

Calcite Compensation Depth

Why is the absorption of anthropogenic CO2 in the oceans not effectively buffered in theoceans today?

carbonate sediments are not in contact with surface water, the ocean turnover time is 1000 yrs while Atm CO2 concentrations are increasing on a decades time scale

What drives the hyrological cycle?

excess evaporation over the oceans, excess precipitation over the continents, andcontinental runoff

Water is a good solvent because of what property?

polar molecule

Why are the major ions constituents that make up the salt in the ocean in constant proportions no matter what the salinity content?

the residence time of the major ions is relatively long compared to the mixing times

Temperature and salinity measurements are used to determine what important characteristicof the ocean?

temperature and salinity determine density and affect patterns of water circulation

Why does ice (solid) float on water (liquid)?

The solid molecular lattice structure in ice is ridged and expands compared to theliquid lattice structure in water

How many calories do you have to add to one gram of ice at -20oC to produce one gram ofsteam at 100oC? (Remember the heat capacity of water is 1 cal/gm/oC, but ice is only 0.5cal/gm/oC)

730 cal

When air masses are cooled and they descend and form high pressure zones, what is thedirection of air movement?

circular & anti-cyclonic or clockwise

What color of visible light is adsorbed first in clear ocean waters?

red

What depth in the ocean is the SOFAR channel found (depth of the minimum sound velocityzone)?

1 km

What area of the ocean is the most un-stratified, and where deep waters are formed anddescend to the ocean bottom?

High latitude Polar Oceans

Norfolk VA and San Francisco CA are the same latitude, which city has a more moderateclimate (less temperature variation)? Remember the wind tends to flow from west to east at thislatitude

San Francisco weather is more moderate

What characteristic of water controls ocean circulation and water movement?

Density

What type of atmospheric circulation occurs in a high latitudes (polar)?

Cold dry air sinks

Where does the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) move the most (north/south)during the course of a year and produce large rainfall events (monsoons)?

The Indian Ocean

What is a La Nina condition (the opposite of El Nino)?

a period of strong equatorial upwelling and strong circulation - cold climate

What type of weather does North Carolina have during an El Nino year?

cooler and wetter

Going from the surface to deep water, the halocline is a zone of rapidly ___________between the upper surface and deep water masses

increasing salinity

Conservative water mass properties (Cl concentration) are only effected by

mixing and diffusion

What moving object does Coriolis Effect not influence (greatly)?

automobile

Where in the ocean is the highest concentration of anthropogenic CO2 gas found?

cold sinking deep waters in the North Atlantic

If the average velocity of sound in the ocean is 1500 m/sec and a sonar ping takes 4 seconds to return to the hydrophone, how deep is the water?

3,000 meters

Why does oxygen have a minimum concentration in the thermocline at 1000 m water depth?

bacterial respiration

When is the direct (perpendicular) solar radiation at the most northern point on the globe?

Summer solstice

What quadrant of a hurricane (tropical cyclone) has the largest waves and highest stormsurge in the northern hemisphere?

north eastern quadrant

Why do hurricanes typically intensify as they approach the east coast of the USA?

Pickup energy from the warm Gulf Stream

Where do monsoons occur?

all of the above

Which type of front has gentle rains over a broad area?

warm front

As Sea Surface Temperature continues to increase, what do we expect will happen withtropical cyclones (hurricanes and typhoons)?

Destructive power of storms will increase

Since the 1975 the warm El Nino periods have

increased in number and intensity

Ocean pH is buffered and stays constant over long time scales even though acids fromvolcanos, rain and pollution regularly enter the ocean, what buffers ocean pH over long timescales?

bicarbonate in the water, calcium carbonate on the ocean floor

Why was Katrina so destructive to New Orleans in 2005?

flood levees broke that increased the amount of flooding in the city

What factor controls the power of tropical cyclones?

sea surface temperature

Hurricane Floyd in North Carolina will be remembered for what type of damage?

extensive flooding along I95 corridor

What fossil fuel energy source may dominate in the next century?

methane gas hydrates

Sediments record warmer periods during the past 68 million years than the present, what isthought to been the main control on climate since the KT boundary?

atmospheric CO2 concentrations

When atmospheric CO2 is absorbed into ocean waters, how does the water change?

Ocean pH decreases

How high do wind velocities need to be to form a hurricane in a tropical cyclonic storm?

74 mph

Where do the largest tropical cyclones form?

Western Equatorial Pacific Ocean

What time of year does the ITCZ move north and form the southwest monsoons in Africaand India that are so devastating to the local populations and cause flooding?

July

What important discover was recently made on Mars that is also featured in a movie thatopens this week starring Matt Damon?

There is water on Mars

What is an ooze that is found in deep sea sediments?

Organic accumulation of marine plankton hard parts on the ocean floor

What is the significance to dust blowing off the land and settling in the ocean surfacewaters?

Iron fertilization of the oceans and increased primary productivity

Where are the thinnest accumulation of sediments found in the oceans?

Mid ocean ridges

What type of sediment is associated with icebergs?

ice rafted debris IRD

How can the energy of the marine environment be determined from sediments?

Diameter of sedimentary particles

What type of marine sediment are the white cliffs of Dover made out of?

Biogenous calcareous Coccolith sediments

During the late Paleocene there was an abrupt warming of global climate of 4-8oC, whatcaused this change in climate that lasted about 100,000 years?

Collapse of the methane clathrates on the Blake Outer Ridge

Why haven’t the rich deposits of Manganese Nodules be recovered from the deep PacificOcean floor?

No Law of the Sea Treaty has been signed by the participatory nations

When does the land breeze occur?

During the night

What causes the Coriolis Effect to change the motion of moving objects on our planet?

The rotation of the earth and angular rotation velocity differences equator to pole