Physical Oceanography

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Physical Oceanography

• Chapter 15

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Branches of Oceanography

• Physical Oceanography - study of the motions of
  seawater, particularly waves currents and tidal
  motion.
• Chemical Oceanography - chemistry of seawater and
  reactions between the atmosphere and hydrosphere.
  More recently looks at how changes in seawater
  temperature (El Nino) and salinity affect global
  climate.

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• Biological Oceanography - study of life in the
  oceans, includes marine biology and ecology.
• Geological Oceanography - study of the shape and
  geologic features of the ocean floor.

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Major Oceans

• The three major oceans are
  1._______-largest,
  deepest, coldest, least salty. 2.__________-
  second largest, shallow, warm, salty.
  3.
  _________- intermediate in depth, temperature,
  and salinity.
• The _______Ocean near the north pole, and the
  ____________ Ocean near the south pole contain
  vast expanses of sea ice.
  

Pacific
Atlantic
Indian
Arctic
Antarctic
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Methods of Studying the Ocean
The Topex/Poseidon _____________ orbits 1331 km
above the Earth, gathering information about the
oceans.
satellite
Sonar
_____________ maps ocean floor topography by
timing how long it takes sound waves to bounce
off the ocean floor.
submersibles
Underwater vessels called _________________
investigate the deepest ocean trenches.
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Sonar (also called echo-sounding)

• Sound waves travel how fast in seawater?
• How deep is the water if it takes ten seconds for
  the sound wave to go from ship to ocean floor and
  back to ship?

1,454 m/s
7,270 m
Calculation (10 s times 1,454 m/s divided by 2 )
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submersible

• The picture below is of a _____________.

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Salinity
The amount of salt per unit water is known as
salinity.
NaCl
The most abundant salt in seawater is ________,
but there are many other salts present in the
form of ions.
The average salinity of seawater is _____ ppt.
Therefore, for every 1,000 ml water, there are
___ grams of dissolved salts.
35
35
Near the equator salinity is __________ than
average due to ___________________.
lower
greater precipitation
lower
Near the poles salinity is __________ than
average due to _______________.
melting sea ice
higher
In the Mediterranean the salinity is
__________than average due to __________.
evaporation