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The oceans 1-4 vocab
| 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 edge 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 plate 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 length | The distance between two corresponding parts of a wave, such as the distance between two crests. |
| Tsunami | A giant wave usually caused by an earthquake beneath the ocean floor. |
| Longshore drift | The movement of water and sediment down a beach caused by waves coming in to shore at an angle. |
| Rip current | A strong, narrow current that flows briefly from the shore bake toward the ocean through a narrow opening. |
| Groin | A wall 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 the oceans. |
| Coriolis effect | The effect of Earth's rotation on the direction of winds and currents. |
| Climate | The average annual conditions of temperature precipitation, winds and clouds in the area. |
| El Niño | An abnormal climate event that occurs every 2 to 7 years in the pacific ocean, causing changes in winds currents and weather patterns for 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 tide line. |
| Neritic zone | The area of the ocean that extends from the low tide line out to the edge of the normal 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 in our period 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 the ecosystem. |