Oceanography - High School

Interested in "current" events? Then you'll want to review this list of words related to oceanography. Get your feet wet and learn all about waves, tides, and marine life.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. abyssal
    relating to ocean depths from 2000 to 5000 meters
  2. abyssal zone
    the deep sea (2000 meters or more) where there is no light
  3. algae
    primitive chlorophyll-containing aquatic organisms
  4. Antarctic Ocean
    the southern waters surrounding Antarctica
  5. aphotic
    lacking light; especially not reached by sunlight
  6. Arctic Ocean
    ice covered waters surrounding the North Pole
  7. Atlantic Ocean
    the 2nd largest ocean
  8. atmosphere
    the mass of air surrounding the Earth
  9. bathymetry
    measuring the depths of the oceans
  10. benthos
    a region including the bottom of the sea and the littoral zones
  11. breaker
    waves breaking on the shore
  12. chemosynthesis
    synthesis of carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water
  13. continental shelf
    the relatively shallow seabed surrounding a continent
  14. continental slope
    the steep descent of the seabed from the continental shelf to the abyssal zone
  15. Coriolis effect
    (physics) an effect whereby a body moving in a rotating frame of reference experiences the Coriolis force acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation; on Earth the Coriolis effect deflects moving bodies to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere
  16. crest
    the top line of a hill, mountain, or wave
  17. crustacean
    mainly aquatic arthropod usually having a segmented body
  18. current
    a steady flow of a fluid or gas
  19. density
    the amount per unit size
  20. El Nino
    a warm ocean current in the Pacific that sets off a chain of weather events
  21. equator
    an imaginary line around the Earth forming a great circle
  22. food chain
    community of organisms where each member is eaten by another
  23. friction
    the resistance when a body is moved in contact with another
  24. glacier
    a slowly moving mass of ice
  25. gravity
    the force of attraction between all masses in the universe
  26. guyot
    a seamount of volcanic origin
  27. gyre
    a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles
  28. ice floe
    a flat mass of ice floating at sea
  29. iceberg
    a large frozen mass floating at sea
  30. Indian Ocean
    the 3rd largest ocean
  31. krill
    small shrimp-like crustaceans
  32. Mid-Atlantic Ridge
    a very long narrow elevation on the ocean floor that runs all the way from Iceland in the North Atlantic to Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic
  33. neap tide
    a less than average tide occurring at the first and third quarters of the moon
  34. nekton
    the aggregate of actively swimming animals in a body of water ranging from microscopic organisms to whales
  35. neritic zone
    the ocean waters from the low tide mark to a depth of about 100 fathoms
  36. ocean current
    the steady flow of surface ocean water in a prevailing direction
  37. oceanography
    the branch of science dealing with physical and biological aspects of the oceans
  38. Pacific Ocean
    the largest ocean in the world
  39. pelagic
    relating to, occurring in, or living in the open ocean
  40. photic
    of or relating to or caused by light
  41. photosynthesis
    formation of compounds in plants aided by radiant energy
  42. phytoplankton
    photosynthetic or plant constituent of plankton
  43. plankton
    aggregate of small organisms that float or drift in water
  44. pole
    either of the two endpoints of the Earth's axis of rotation
  45. rift valley
    a valley with steep sides
  46. salinity
    the relative proportion of salt in a solution
  47. seamount
    an underwater mountain rising above the ocean floor
  48. sonar
    a method of finding objects under water using sound waves
  49. swell
    a rising and falling movement of the surface of the sea
  50. tide
    the periodic rise and fall of the sea level
  51. trench
    a long steep-sided depression in the ocean floor
  52. trough
    a narrow depression, as between waves
  53. undertow
    a current that flows away from the shore after waves break
  54. wave
    a ridge that moves across the surface of a liquid
  55. wavelength
    distance between successive crests of a periodic disturbance
  56. whitecap
    a wave that is blown by the wind so its crest is broken and appears white
  57. zooplankton
    animal constituent of plankton
Created on Mon Feb 13 11:30:17 EST 2017 (updated Wed Apr 05 14:05:42 EDT 2017)

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