Oceanography Chapter 5

Atmospheric pressure: 3

Air pressure, Coriolis Deflection, General Wind circulation

Pacific ocean: The_______ prevents much influx of arctic water into the Pacific and Antartic Deep water(AADW) and Antartic bottom water(AABW) water in the south pacific is_____. The water column in the Pacific is weakly _____ and subsurface circulation is _____. _____(CoW) is the dominant water mass, a mixture of Antartic Bottom Water and North Atlantic Deep Water(NADW) that is shot from the South Atlantic, through the Indian Ocean, and into the Pacific by the ____________ current. Antartic intermediate water(AAIW) and ________(NPIW) dominate above 2000 meters. A narrow bottom current of Antartic bottom water(AABW) flows toward western_____ is the swiftest-moving deep- sea current ever discovered.

Bering straight, modest, layered, sluggish, Common water, Antarctic Circumpolar, North Pacific Intermediate water, Australia

Types of surface flows:_________ form because each layer of water that moves curves to the right (in the northern hemisphere) of the layer above it, due to Coriolis deflection._________ dictates that the net transport of water moved by the Ekman spiral runs 90 degrees to the right of the wind( again, in the northern hemisphere). If the wind blows in the appropriate direction along a coastline, Ekman transport can move water away from the shore, thus drawing up water from below in a process called_______. ______ is caused by winds that blow parallel to the shoreline because Ekman transport drives water towards the shore, causing water to sink.______ and______ can also occur in the open ocean, far from coastlines. _________ occurs when the wind blows strongly enough and water flows parallel to the wind, causing corkscrew-like cells to form.

Ekman spirals, Ekman transport, upwelling, downwelling, upwelling, downwelling, Langmuir circulation

Wind Drag: As wind blows over water, ______ are dragged across the water's surface. creating____ and_____. Air moves____, or almost parallel, to lines of latitude due to differential _____ across the globe and Coriolis deflection; this pattern is called____________. Currents are deflected by_____ causing them to bend and form large current loops called __________.

air molecules, waves, currents, parallel, heating, zonal wind flow, continents, circulation gyres

Subsurface currents are collectively known as _______ circulation because they arise from differences between water masses due to_____ and sailinity variations. Thermohaline circulation involves _____ of the ocean's volume of water.

Thermohaline, temperature, 90%

The wind- driven currents of the sea surface:

Wind drag, pressure gradients, Coriolis deflection

The pattern of wind-driven surface circulation results from the interaction of ________,__________, and_______.

Wind drag, pressure gradients, and Coriolis Deflection

Atlantic Ocean: The deep and bottom waters of the Atlantic are dominated by cold, ______, water. ________(AABW) is produced at the surface of the Weddell Sea during the winter. It is the_____ water in the global ocean, thus sinks to the bottom and moves northward up into the ______ Atlantic. ________ (AADW) is slightly warmer and less saline than AABW. It flows northward at the surface until it reaches the Antartic ______, where it sinks beneath the surface and flows above the AABW and below the less dense ____________(NADW)._____ originates near Greenland and is the most common water mass in the Atlantic. _______(AIW) is formed in the subartic, and sinks below the Sargasso Sea. Its southern hemisphere counterpart is the__________(AAIW). The_______(MIW) is generated in the Mediterranean sea, where intense sunlight raises the temperature and salinity. When it spills out of the sea, it forms a long, salty tongue of ____ in the mid-depths of the North Atlantic

dense, Antartic Bottom water, densest, North, Antartic Deep Water, Convergence, North Atlantic Deep Water, North Atlantic Deep water, Arctic Intermediate water, Antartic intermediate water, Mediterranean intermediate water, water

Atmospheric processes: Air pressure; Cold air is _____ than warm air, and dry air is_____ than air with water vapor in it. Pressure is related to____,_______, and the________ of the mass in question. The pressure exerted by 1 in2 of air at the top of the atmosphere(over sea level) is referred to as the___________. This is equivalent to one_____. When the density of air is lower than normal, it forms a __________; when the density of air is higher than normal, it forms a_________. Air flowing down a pressure gradient from high-pressure to low-pressure zones creates______. The bigger the difference between the high and low, the steeper the______, and the stronger the_____. Winds are called by the _______ from which they come- north winds come from the north etc.

denser, denser, density, gravity, height, standard atmospheric pressure, atmosphere, low pressure zone, high pressure zone, wind, gradient, winds, direction

Indian Ocean: Common water(CoW) is present at all ____ and dominates the ocean. Antarctic Intermediate water(AAIW) is produced in modest quantities at the ________. A tongue of ____________ penetrates into CoW at moderate depths.

depths, Antarctic Convergence, Red Sea Intermediate water

A general model of Thermohaline circulation: Water temperature _____ with increasing latitude and increasing depth. Water warmer than 10 degrees celsius is a thin ____ extending from the equator to 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south, affected by_______. Between 45 degrees latitude and the poles, water ____ and becomes denser, sinking below warmer water masses as it travels _______ward. Over time(about 1000 years), mixing and other processes that are not well understood, change the water____, and eventually makes its way back up to the ____.

drops, lens, geostrophic currents, cools, equator, mass, surface

Water masses and Density- driven water flow: The processes that control density, like_____,_______ etc.... occur at the surface. Once a mass of water sinks, its temperature and salinity are essentially_____, changing slightly as mixing occurs with other water masses. The fixed temperature and salinity of water masses can help scientists ____ them over space and time. Most of the water that fills the oceans originated at the ______ latitudes, and has flowed elsewhere over time. Ocean basins are not _____; they exchange water with one another.

evaporation, solar insolation, fixed, track, polar, closed

A model of Geostrophic flow: The steady- state currents that result from a balance of pressure gradient and Coriolis deflection are called_______. Ocean currents in a circulation gyre flow parallel to the________ not because of wind drag but because of__________. The current flows alongslope instead of______.

geostrophic currents, prevailing winds, geostrophic flow, downslope

Pressure Gradients: Near the sea surface, pressure gradients occur because of _____ variations in the ____ of the water surface. The water inside gyres can be significantly _____ than the periphery of the gyre.

horizontal, height, higher

Coriolis Deflection: Because of deflection, water currents flow down at an angle to the ___________

pressure gradient

Atmospheric processes: Coriolis Deflection: The distribution of ________ varies across the globe, which causes variations in atmospheric pressure from place to place. If the earth weren't rotating, air would flow from the poles towards the ______, where it would warm and _____, then return to the poles.____ of the earth causes Coriolis deflection, this produces a body traveling relative to the ground in the northern hemisphere to appear to veer____. In the southern hemisphere, the body appears to veer left. This is the result of_________, like when a car turns sharply and the passengers momentarily keep going straight. The amount of deflection depends upon the _____ of the body and its ____ on Earth. Coriolis deflection increases with _____ and______ from the equator.

solar radiation, equator, rise, rotation, right, Centrifugal acceleration, speed, location, speed, distance

Atmospheric processes: General Wind Circulation: The ________ are created by warm, moist air rising in the tropics, losing its moisture as ________ as it moves poleward, and eventually becoming so dense that it sinks and flows back towards the______(and is deflected in the process). The cells created by the trade winds are called______. The area of little wind where the northern and southern hemisphere trade winds converge is called the ________. _______ cells dominate air circulation in the mid-latitudes of both hemispheres, creating the______. Air that does not complete the Ferrel cells but rather travels farther pole ward to enter the polar cells, which create the _________

trade winds, precipitation, equator, Hadley cells, doldrums, Ferrel, westerlies, polar easterlies

This chapter deals with how_____ moves in the ocean. There are two types of ocean currents, the__________ currents, or wind-driven currents, which are driven (ie., get their energy from) the wind stress transferred from the overlying__________ to the surface ocean, and the deep ocean currents. These deeper(below the surface currents) currents are made to move by virtue of their differing ______ compared to the seawater around them. They are responsible for moving surface water at the ______, in downward direction and then horizontally to fill the ocean's_____. Whenever anything moves over very large distances over long periods of time, it does not follow a ________ path but rather a curves or deflects to the left or right. This phenomenon is called the_________. It effects the direction of____ movement in the atmosphere and also the direction of movement of the__________.

water, surface ocean, wind belts, density, poles, interior, straight-lined, Coriolis Effect, wind, surface ocean currents

Refinement of the Geostrophic flow model: The powerful, swift flow of the western arm of all ocean gyres is called______________. This occurs because Coriolis deflection _____ poleward, so eastern- flowing currents in the middle and high latitudes turn to the south much more_____ than western- flowing currents nearer the equator turn to the____. This causes a large amount of water to pile up against_____ in the ocean's western basin, which necessitates increased_______. The mound of water around which geostrophic currents flow is not located in the middle of the ocean, but is displaced to the_____. The western edge of the mound is ______ than the eastern edge because the pressure gradient must be______ here to balance the increased Coriolis deflection produced by higher_______ in the west. A classic example of this type of circulation system is the_________ in the North Atlantic. The______ current meanders over time; if the curvature of the meander is significant enough, it can break off from the current and form a rotating ring, with either a warm or cold ____, depending on where it breaks off from the ____.

western-boundary intensification, increases, quickly, north, landmasses, geostrophic flow, west, higher, stronger, current speeds, Sargasso sea, Gulf stream, core, current

Most surface currents are driven by the_____. Sub-surface currents are driven by _____.

wind, density