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ocean currents
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What are currents are influenced by?
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stuff about waves
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| ocean currents | Ocean water that contains stream-like movements of water. |
| What are currents are influenced by? | The weather, the Earth’s rotation, and the position of the continents. |
| surface currents | Horizontal, stream-like movements of water that occur at or near the surface of the ocean. |
| What is one of the longest surface currents? | The Gulf Stream |
| What creates surface currents in the ocean? | Winds that blow across the Earth’s surface. |
| Where do the winds blow ocean water east to west? | Near the equator |
| Where do the winds blow ocean water west to east? | Near the poles |
| What causes wind and surface currents to move in curved paths instead of in straight lines? | The Earth’s rotation |
| Coriolis effect | The curving of moving objects from a straight path due to the Earth’s rotation. |
| What causes surface currents in the Northern Hemisphere to turn clockwise? | Coriolis effect |
| What causes surface currents in the Southern Hemisphere to turn counterclockwise? | Coriolis effect |
| deflect | A change direction |
| What happens when surface currents meet continents? | They deflect |
| How much of continents rise above sea level? | Roughly 1/3 |
| What three factors form a pattern of surface currents on Earth? | Global winds, the Coriolis effect, and continental deflections |
| Current are affected by... | The water that they are formed in. |
| What currents begin near the equator and carry warm water to other parts of the ocean? | Warm water currents |
| What currents begin closer to the poles and carry cool water to other parts of the ocean? | Cold water currents |
| deep currents | Stream-like movements of ocean water located far below the surface. |
| Where do deep currents form? | Deep currents form in parts of the ocean where water density increases. |
| Density | The amount of matter in a given space, or volume. |
| salinity | A measure of the amount of dissolved salts or solids in a liquid. |
| What can increase the water’s density? | Decreasing the temperature of ocean water and increasing the water’s salinity. |
| What is density of ocean water affected by? | Temperature and salinity |
| trough | the lowest point of a wave. |
| wavelength | The distance between two wave crests or wave troughs. |
| wave height | The vertical distance between the crest and trough of a wave. |
| crest | The highest point of a wave. |
| what are the two main parts of a wave? | crests and troughs |
| Wave period | The time between the passage of two wave crests or troughs at a certain point. |
| How do find wave speed? | Dividing wavelength by wave period |
| How do most waves form? | Wind blows across the water’s surface and transfers energy to the water. |
| Deep-water waves | Waves that move in water deeper than one-half their wavelength. |
| shallow-water waves | When the waves reach water shallower than one-half their wavelength. |
| How do deep-water waves become shallow-water waves? | They move toward the shore |
| What can form different types of waves? | Underwater earthquakes and landslides |
| undertow | This movement of water, which carries sand, rock particles, and plankton away from the shore. |
| breakers | Gravity pulls the high wave crests down, and causes them to crash into the ocean floor. |
| longshore current | When waves hit the shore at an angle, they cause water to move along the shore in a current. |
| breaker zone | The area where waves first begin to tumble downward, or break. |
| surf | The area between the breaker zone and the shore. |
| What transports most of the sediment in beach environments? | Longshore currents |
| Whitecaps | White, foaming waves with very steep crests that break in the open ocean before the waves get close to the shore. |
| Swells | Rolling waves that move steadily across the ocean. |
| Tsunamis | waves that form when a large volume of ocean water is suddenly moved up or down. |
| What can cause Tsunamis? | Underwater earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, underwater explosions, or the impact of a meteorite or comet. |
| storm surge | A local rise in sea level near the shore that is caused by strong winds from a storm, such as a hurricane. |
| Why are storm surges difficult to study? | Storm surges often disappear as quickly as they form. |
| How can winds form a storm surge? | By blowing water into a big pile under the storm. |
| When is the moon’s pull strongest? | On the part of the Earth directly facing the moon. |
| Is the pull on liquids or solids more noticeable? | liquid |
| high tides | Water on the opposite side of the Earth bulges because of the rotation of the Earth and the motion of the moon around the Earth. |
| low tides | When high tides occur, water is drawn away from the area between the high tides. |
| What causes the water to bulge? | The position of the moon. |
| What determines when tides occur? | The rotation of the Earth and the moon’s revolution around the Earth. |
| When do spring tides occur? | When the sun, Earth, and moon are aligned. |
| Spring tides | Tides with the largest daily tidal range and occur during the new and full moons. |
| How often do spring tides occur? | Every 14 days |
| tidal range | The difference between levels of ocean water at high tide and low. |
| Neap tides | Tides with the smallest daily tidal range and occur during the first and third quarters of the moon. |
| When do neap tides occur? | When the sun, Earth, and moon form a 90° angle. |
| How often do neap tides occur? | Neap tides occur halfway between the occurrences of spring tides. |
| tidal bore | A body of water that rushes up through a narrow bay, estuary, or river channel during the rise of high tide and causes a very sudden tidal rise. |
| Where do tidal bores occur? | In some coastal areas that have narrow inlets. |
| What affects tides? | The sun & the moon |
| What happens when neap tides occur? | The gravitational forces on the Earth by the sun and moon work against each other. |
| Upwelling | A process in which cold, nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean rises to the surface and replaces warm surface water. |
Created by:
jaslyn