Ocean Vocabulary

1
Ocean Vocabulary

• Make a flip book or notecards with the words and
  definitions.
• You WILL need to keep these and study them for
  the unit and EOG.

2
Wave

• The movement of energy through a body of water.
• Most waves form when winds blowing across the
  waters surface transmit their energy to the
  water.

3
Breakers

• A white-capped wave that is near shore that
  crashes onto the shore.
• They have increased height and decreased
  wavelength.

4
Rip Current

• A rush of water that flows rapidly back to sea
  through a narrow opening in a sandbar.

5
Tides

• The daily rise and fall of Earths waters on its
  coastlines.
• Caused by interaction of Earth, moon and sun

6
Spring Tide and Neap Tide

• Spring Tide - A tide with the greatest difference
  between high and low tide that occurs when the
  sun and moon are aligned with Earth at the new
  moon and the full moon.
• Neap Tide A tide with the least difference
  between high and low tide that occurs when the
  sun and moon pull at right angles to each other
  at the first and third quarters of the moon.

7

• Salinity - The total amount of dissolved salts in
  a water sample.

• Current A large stream of moving water that
  flows through the oceans.

8

• Coriolis Effect
• The effect of Earths rotation on the direction
  of winds and current.

• El Nino
• An abnormal climate event that occurs every two
  to seven years in the Pacific Ocean, causing
  changes in winds, currents, and weather patterns
  for one to two years.

9
Climate

• The pattern of temperature and precipitation
  typical of an area over a long period of time.
• Tsunami
• A giant wave usually caused by an earthquake
  beneath the ocean floor.

10
Upwelling

• The movement of cold water upward from the deep
  ocean that is caused by wind.
• Upwelling brings up tiny ocean organisms,
  minerals, and other nutrients from the deeper
  layers of the water.
• Without upwelling, the surface waters of the open
  ocean would not have many nutrients.

11

• Submersible
• An underwater vehicle built of strong materials
  to resist pressure.

• Sonar
• A system that uses sound waves to calculate the
  distance to an object, and that gets its name
  from sound navigation and ranging.

12
Continental Shelf

• A gently sloping, shallow area of the ocean floor
  that extends outward from the edge of a
  continent.

13
Continental Slope

• A steep incline of the ocean floor leading down
  from the edge of the continental shelf.

14
Abyssal Plain

• A smooth, nearly flat region of the deep ocean
  floor.

15

• Mid-ocean Ridge
• A continuous range of mountains on the ocean
  floor that winds around Earth.

• Trench
• A deep, steep-sided canyon in the ocean floor.

16

• Plate
• One of the major pieces of solid rock that make
  up Earths upper layers.
• Divergent plates - two plates move apart from
  each other. The space that this creates is filled
  with new crustal material sourced from molten
  magma that forms below.

• Sea-floor Spreading
• A process by which new rock is added to the ocean
  floor along the boundary between diverging plates.

17
Intertidal Zone

• An area that stretches from the highest high-tide
  line on land out to the point on the continental
  shelf exposed by the lowest low tide.

18

• Neritic Zone
• The area 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.

19
Plankton

• Tiny algae and animals that float in water and
  are carried by waves and currents.

20
Nekton

• Free-swimming animals that can move throughout
  the water column.

21
Benthos

• Organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean or
  other body of water.

22
Food Web

• The feeding relationships in a habitat.
• Who eats who!

23
Estuary

• A coastal inlet or bay where fresh water from
  rivers mixes with salty ocean water.

24
Coral Reef

• Created by colonies of tiny coral animals that
  produce a hard structure that surrounds its soft
  body.
• Reefs form when the empty structure stays after
  the animal dies and new animals build on top of
  the old structure.

25
Bioluminescence

• The production of light by living things.
• Happens through chemical reactions in the cells
  of the organisms

26
Hydrothermal Vents

• Where hot water rises out of cracks in the ocean
  floor.
• Water coming from these vents carries gases and
  minerals coming from Earths interior. Bacteria
  feed on the gases and minerals and begin the food
  web.

27

• Methane Cold Seeps
• An area of the ocean floor where hydrogen
  sulfide, methane and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid
  seepage occurs.

• Submarine Hot Spring
• A spring of water issuing from the bottom of the
  sea.

28
STOP!!

• We are sorry that your hand is going to fall off
  and that you are bored, but you have to learn
  these terms!!
• YOU ARE DONE!