Oceanography 100 Mid-Term Study Guide

Front 1

Of the atmospheric gases, which one has the greatest concentration?

Back 1

Nitrogen

Front 2

Of the atmospheric gases, which one shows the greatest increase in concentration from atmosphere to sea (in other words, which one has the greatest solubility in sea water)?

Back 2

Carbon Dioxide

Front 3

Of the atmospheric gases, which one has the greatest heat capacity?

Back 3

Water(H20)

Front 4

which is the lightest atmospheric gas (discount argon, helium, methane, and other trace gases)?

Back 4

Water if vapor, hydrogen if not.

Front 5

Can cool air be less dense than warm air?

Back 5

Cold air is usually denser but if water if moist.

Front 6

Under normal atmospheric conditions, as you go up in elevations from the Earth's surface to the troposhere what happens to temperature?

Back 6

The temperature decreases because the sun is heating and bouncing off the surface of the earth.

Front 7

Season are caused by the?

Back 7

The tilt of the Earth.

Front 8

What is the tilt of the Earth's axis?

Back 8

23.45 degrees

Front 9

Looking toward the equator from the north pole, in which direction does the Earth turn?

Back 9

Counter clockwise

Front 10

Earth rotates at

Back 10

1675 km/hour

Front 11

What are the Earth's main atmospheric circulation cells, as named from the equator northward are

Back 11

Hadley, Ferrel, and polar

Front 12

North of the equator, the Coriolis effect causes deflection of air and water masses to veer to the

Back 12

West

Front 13

From what general direction would you expect wind on the Hawaiian Islands to be coming from?

Back 13

West

Front 14

What are the trade winds

Back 14

Easterlies in the Hadley cell

Front 15

What are the Doldrums?

Back 15

Areas of little wind by the equator

Front 16

Distinguish between the meteorological and geographical equators?

Back 16

The meteorological equator is five degrees north of the geographical equator.

Front 17

The term Tropical Cyclone is synonymous with

Back 17

Hurricane

Front 18

In the northern hemisphere, the winds within tropical storm rotate in what direction?

Back 18

Counter clockwise

Front 19

Hurricanes always originate in

Back 19

water with surface temperature above 26 degrees Celsius. This is because the water needs to be warm enough for condensation to occur.

Front 20

The system off boundary currents and transverse currents that make a circuit around the periphery of an ocean basin are called

Back 20

gyres

Front 21

According to the order of principals principle, the principle source of energy of circulation of the atmosphere and the surface of the oceans is

Back 21

wind

Front 22

Friction between the atmosphere and hydrosphere causes

Back 22

pressure gradients

Front 23

The one major ocean current that flows unimpeded across lines of longitude is the

Back 23

West wind drift/antarctic circumpolar current

Front 24

Major Eastern boundary currents of the world

Back 24

Canary current, Benguela Current, California Current, West Australian Current, Peru or Humboldt current

Front 25

Major Western boundary currents of the world

Back 25

Japan or Kuroshio, Brazil, Agulhas, East Australian

Front 26

The fastest, deepest, and relatively warmest ocean currents tend to be

Back 26

western boundary currents

Front 27

The marine layer of fog that rolls into San Francisco is caused by

Back 27

cool air from the ocean condensing and being trapped under a layer of warm air

Front 28

Some examples of undercurrents and counter currents are

Back 28

the Pacific Equatorial undercurrent or the Cromwell current

Front 29

The densest ocean water is transported by what type of ocean current?

Back 29

Eastern Boundary currents

Front 30

What does ENSO

Back 30

El Nino Southern Oscillation

Front 31

What happens during an El Nino event that is different from typical ocean circulation?

Back 31

Warm water that would normally flow westward backs up and flows eastward causing the Peru current to stop upwelling

Front 32

Which surface ocean current carries the greatest volume of water past a single point in a given unit of time?

Back 32

Western Wind drift (Antarctic Circumpolar Current)

Front 33

What are the units and values of a sverdrup?

Back 33

Sverdrups express volume transport in the oceans currents.
1 sverdrup= 1 million cubic meters per second

Front 34

In oceanography, what is typically measured in sverdrups?

Back 34

Volume transport in ocean currents

Front 35

Upwelling along the California coast is caused by

Back 35

wind

Front 36

Thermohaline circulation is largely due to a difference in density of water masses caused by a difference in salinity or a change in

Back 36

temperature as the current changes latitude

Front 37

Disturbing forces

Back 37

changes in atmospheric pressure, storm surge, tsunami, faulting of sea floor, volcanic eruption, landslide, gravitational attraction, rotation of Earth

Front 38

Restoring forces

Back 38

cohesion of water molecules, gravity

Front 39

Given the wavelengths of waves rank them from shortest to longest

Back 39

capillary, wind waves, seismic sea waves, tidal wave

Front 40

The orbits of deep-water, transitional, and shallow-water waves change their shape due to

Back 40

depth

Front 41

Deep water waves are defined as

Back 41

waves moving through water deeper than 1/2 their wave length

Front 42

Transitional waves are defined as

Back 42

waves deeper than 1/20 their wave length

Front 43

Shallow water waves

Back 43

waves in water shallower than 1/20 their wave length

Front 44

Wave crest-to-crest distance is known as

Back 44

wavelength

Front 45

Wave period

Back 45

the time it takes for one wave to move a distance of one wave length

Front 46

Wave frequency

Back 46

the number of waves passing a fixed point per second

Front 47

The longer the wave length the greater the

Back 47

period

Front 48

The restoring force for all ocean waves longer than 1/73cm is

Back 48

gravity

Front 49

What factors contribute to full development of wind waves

Back 49

wind strength, wind duration, and fetch

Front 50

What happens to waves as they move away from their zone of disturbance

Back 50

They are gradually flattened due to restoring forces

Front 51

The group velocity of a wave train is the velocity at which the wave energy propagates. How does this relate to individual wave velocity?

Back 51

The velocity of a wave train is 1/2 that of an individual wave.

Front 52

Individual wave velocity is defined as

Back 52

The speed proportional to the wavelength in deep water. It is a function of speed.

Front 53

Waves feel the bottom at

Back 53

1/2 their wavelength

Front 54

Waves approaching shore will break when the water depth is

Back 54

3:4 the height of the water depth

Front 55

Bottom contour has what affect on breaker shape?

Back 55

It can make the waves lose energy and make breakers smaller or even flat

Front 56

A rip current is

Back 56

a strong channel of water flowing seaward from the shore

Front 57

What types of waves have the longest wavelengths?

Back 57

Tidal Waves

Front 58

How do spring tides differ from neap tides?

Back 58

Spring tides are during the full of new moon and neap tides are during the quarter phases of the moon

Front 59

Tsunami have extremely long wavelengths that are generally only detectable when

Back 59

they enter shallow water

Front 60

The tides at any given locality on Earth result from the interaction of

Back 60

the sun, moon, and earth

Front 61

A tidal pattern with 2 high tides and 2 low tides within a 24 hour (plus 50 minutes) period is called

Back 61

semi diurnal

Front 62

What factors affect the height and intensity of tides?

Back 62

the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon.