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The Oceans
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| salinity | The total amount of dissolved salts in a water sample. |
| sonar | A system that uses reflected sound waves to locate and determine the distance to objects under water |
| seamount | A steep-sided volcanic mountain rising from the deep-ocean floor. |
| trench | A deep, steep-sided canyon in the ocean floor. |
| continental slope | A steep incline of the ocean floor leading down from the edge of the continental shelf. |
| continental shelf | A gently sloping, shallow area of the ocean floor that extends outward from the age of a continent. |
| abyssal plain | A smooth, nearly flat region of the deep ocean floor. |
| mid-ocean ridge | An undersea mountain chain where new ocean floor is produced a divergent pate boundary under the ocean. |
| wave | A disturbance that transfers energy from place to place. |
| wavelength | The distance between two corresponding parts of a wave, such as the distance between two crests. |
| frequency | The number of complete waves that pass a given point in a certain amount of time. |
| wave height | The vertical distance from the crest of a wave to the trough. |
| tsunami | A giant wave usually cause by an earthquake beneath the ocean floor. |
| longshore drift | The movement of water and sediment down a beach caused by waves coming in a shore at an angle. |
| rip current | A strong, narrow current that flows briefly from the shore back toward the ocean through a narrow opening. |
| groin | A well made of rocks or concrete that is built outward from a beach to reduce erosion. |
| current | A large stream of moving water that flows through oceans. |
| Coriolis effect | The affect of earth's rotation on the direction of winds and currents. |
| climate | The average annual conditions of temperature, precipitation, winds and clouds in an area. |
| El Nino | An abnormal climate event that occurs every two to seven years in the Pacific ocean causing changes in winds, current, and weather patterns for the one to two years. |
| La Nina | A climate event in the eastern Pacific ocean in which surface waters are colder than normal. |
| intertidal zone | An area between the highest high-tide line on land and the point on the continental shelf exposed by the lowest low-tide line. |
| neritic zone | The are of the ocean that extends from the low-tide line out to the edge of the continental shelf. |
| open-ocean zone | The deepest, darkest area of the ocean beyond the edge of the continental shelf. |
| plankton | Tiny algae and animals that float in water and are carried by waves and currents. |
| nekton | Free-swimming animals that can move throughout the water column. |
| benthos | Organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean or another body of water. |
| food web | The pattern of overlapping feeding relationships or food chains among the various organisms in an ecosystem. |