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67 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Why is water such an effective solvent? |
electrostatic attraction = ionic bond - water molecules stick to other polar molecules/ions |
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Why does water have high melting and freezing points? |
-hydrogen bonding among molecules creates a high heat capacity so it takes a lot of energy to change states |
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what is the difference between heat and temperature? |
-heat is a transfer of energy from one object to another due to a temperature difference -temperature is the average energy of molecules in a substance |
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Heat capacity |
the measure of energy (heat) required to raise the temperature of a substance by 1 degree C |
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Latent heat |
- heat that is absorbed or released during a change of state |
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why is latent heat important for Earth's climate? |
- water can store and transport energy - water vapor warms the earth w precipitation |
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Thermal Contraction |
-the idea that when something get's hotter it expands and when something gets colder it contracts |
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Why is it odd that ice is less dense than water? |
-with thermal contraction you would expect that ice would be denser because it would be colder making the particles closer together but ice has a crystal lattice structure which is loose than water molecules (hydrogen bonds) |
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what ion is the most common in seawater? second-most? |
- most common ion is chloride, second is sodium -account for 85% of all solutes in the ocean |
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how can salinity be increased? |
- evaporation -sea ice formation -volcanic output -hydrothermals |
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how can salinity be decreased? |
-precipitation -biological activity -sea ice melting -sea spray |
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residence time = |
- amount of an element in the ocean/rate at which the element is added to (or removed from) the ocean |
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long residence |
- high in concentration |
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short residence |
- low in concentration |
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brackish water |
fresh water that's more salty than freshwater but less salty than salt water ex: caspian lake |
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hypersaline |
high evaporative conditions ex: dead sea |
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halocline |
region of rapid change in salinity |
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how and why does salinity vary with latitude? |
near the equator there is a lot of heat and evaporation but also because of latent heat there is a bunch of precipitation -near 30 degrees N/S there is colder air so it's dryer making it evaporate, and since the dry air sinks there is no new rainfall - moves to 60 degrees N/S which is a high pressure system again w less evaporation |
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What is the thermocline |
rapid change in temperature |
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pycnocline |
rapid change in density |
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relationship between thermocline and pycnocline |
warmer waters on top are less dense than the colder waters on the bottom |
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Why is the ocean layered? |
Density of different waters mixing |
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How does temperature affect O2 concentration? |
photosynthetic organisms take in CO2 and sunlight from the atmosphere and covert that to O2 - near the surface makes O2 levels high Co2 levels low - cold water absorbs more CO2 so the oxygen below the surface is taken in for aerobic respiration and produces O2 -olubility of oxygen decreases as water temperatureincreases |
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Ice fish |
-no hemoglobin so not transport of oxygen but very high levels of oxygen in the Antarctic waters |
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How does pH vary with depth? Why |
colder waters can hold more CO2, higher levels from respiration of aerobic organisms at lower levels makes the ocean more acidic |
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Why does ocean pH remain relatively constant? |
CO2 is absorbed into ocean; makes carbonic acid CO2 +H2O = H2CO3 - that dissociates lower into bicarbonate ions (HCO3 -) The other H+ from the H2CO3 is buffered by CO3 from organisms |
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normal surface pH of ocean |
8.1 |
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why is ocean acidification bad for organisms? |
at pH 7.8 pterapod shells erode CCD becomes shallower |
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When is the air most dense? |
Cold dry air (high pressure systems) most dense air |
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when is the air least dense? |
hot wet air is less dense (low pressure systems) |
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What are four controls on solar heating? |
-latitude/tilt - geographic position -ocean currents -differential heating of land and water - clouds and albedo - green house gases? (CO2, CH4, H2O) |
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What is the relationship between convection cells and air pressure? |
uneven heating of atmosphere Moves from high pressure to low pressure throughout the globe Hedley Cells low near equator high near 30 Ferrel Cells high near 30 low near 60 Polar Cells low near 60 high near 90 |
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albedo |
the more light you reflect the higher the albedo |
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Why does the wind blow? |
Moving from high pressure to low pressure |
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Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) |
trades converge near equator -moist air rises -little to no wind --> leads to rainforests |
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seasonal variation of the ITCZ |
- gets pushed around seasonally (tilt) - lead to Asian monsoons - warm low pressure system in the summer pushes towards the continents |
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Where the Coriolis Effect the greatest? Weakest? |
strongest at poles because they had least width - highest latitiude weakest at the equator where earth is widest and moves least |
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What way does the Coriolis affect blown in the northern hemisphere? Southern? |
To the right in Northern, left in Southern |
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How do circulation cells affect ocean salinity? |
Low pressure and high pressure with varying degrees of precipitation and evaporation |
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Wind belts and which direction do they blow |
Near the equator are the Northern and Southern Trade winds which blow east to west Near 30 degrees to 60 degrees are the prevailing westerlies which blow west to east near 60 degrees to 90 degrees are the polar easterlies which blow east to west |
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Why do wind belts and air pressure vary over time? |
- seasons -continents block -distribution of land and ocean |
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What is a front? |
boundaries between air masses cold - cold air mass moves towards a warmer air mass warm- warm air mass moves towards a colder air mass |
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What is air mass? |
a large volume of air with distinct properties |
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What is a jet stream? |
a fast narrow east-moving airflow - high altitude -steers air masses -separate warm and cold air and push them around the globe -affect precipitation and temperature |
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What is a polar vortex? |
warm, rising air along the jet stream is supposed to keep this cold air at bay - when it gets too wavy the cold air can get to lower latitudes which means extremely cold air moves south and down from the upper atmosphere |
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What is the difference between a hurricane, cyclone, and typhoon? |
different names for the same thing cyclones: Indian ocean and south pacific typhoons in NW pacific hurricanes: Atlantic and northeast pacific |
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what is needed for a hurricane to develop? How does the storm grow? |
air moves towards a low pressure center (spins left) - deflected by coriolis affect - low pressure cell draws in warm humid air and latent heat is released from the water vapor condensing fueling the hurricane -must be above 79 degrees |
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Why is it calm in the eye of a hurricane? |
the Coriolis affect deflects the wind trying to get to the low pressure system so no wind ever gets there |
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Why do hurricanes move the way they do? What stops them from crossing the equator? |
Hurricanes move towards the low pressure system but are deflected by the Coriolis affect, the doldrums stop the hurricanes from crossing the equator |
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Major Hazards of Hurricanes? |
Loss of life - more people living in coastal areas will wipe out their homes |
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What is the main driver of surface currents? |
Wind-blown |
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how does an Ekman spiral form |
-the wind hitting the top of the water moves that water which drags the water below it which has a lag somewhat etc. average direction of the current is 90 degrees to the wind direction |
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What is a gyre and how does it form? |
Near the equator the wind on the top pushes the waves west and south pushes east this along with the lagging water from the ekman spiral creates a circle current which is a gyre |
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Gulf stream |
western boundary current that carries warm water north |
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Western versus eastern boundary currents |
Western is faster and warmer right next to right edge of continent, eastern is shallower and colder and slower and left of continent |
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What kinds of waters are found in upwelling zones? |
cold, nutrient rich, high productivity |
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what kinds of waters are found in downwelling zones? |
warmer, nutrient-poor, low productivity |
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where can you find upwelling? |
surface water divergence - coastal welling -barrier |
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where can you find downwelling |
- opposite of upwelling -coastal - surface water convergence |
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Why is there upwelling along the equator |
the trade winds diverge
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El Nino |
starts when the trade winds start to die down creating a warmer pool flowing back -more water vapor warmer atmosphere - weak winds reduce upwelling -nutrient poor waters bad for fishing |
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La Nina |
intensification of trade winds blowing E to W which creates upwelling near the east side of continents |
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Thermohaline circulation |
deep ocean current driven by salinity and temperature |
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How do different water masses tend to move? |
-Surface water moves relatively fast while deep water moves very slow - like one circulation every 2000 years slow |
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Where do bottom waters form? |
Antarctic Bottom Water -Greenland Seas Form in high latitudes in both hemispheres |
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What is the structure of water masses in the Atlantic Ocean? |
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How does the thermohaline circulation in the Atlantic? |
- connected to surface water - upwelling -warmish bottom ocean |
