oceanography

___ is the circular-rotating current in the ocean formed as a current flows past an obstacle in the ocean such as an island or peninsula, or as a current interacts with an adjacent body of water (relatively non-moving, or another current).

Eddy

___ is the progressively greater deflection of deeper, slower-moving surface water current due to the coriolis effect, which forces water toward the center of the ocean basin. The direction is typically 45 to 90 degrees from the direction of wind flow.

Ekman spiral/transport

The continental borderland has formed over the past 19 years by the movement of the ___ and the ___, creating ocean basins and banks. Prior to 19 million years ago, there was a passive margin.

San Andreas Fault, oblique-slip faults

Large-scale circulation of earth's atmosphere occurs due to unequal heating of earth's surface by solar energy-it's hottest near equator, and coldest near poles. This causes the atmosphere to ___, which generates ___ whose directions are influenced by the Coriolis effect. The gyre currents carry the warm water from the equator and circulate it through the world ocean which moderates earth's temperature

convect, prevailing surface winds

The San Clemente Island to Manhattan Beach portion of the Continental Borderland shows the classic borderline features of deep, wide ___ bounded by ___. It is so different from the Patton Escarpment to Tanner Bank Profile portion because the earthquake activity near the fault line is constantly destroying ocean crust, so the basins are closer to ___. Also, ___ from the ___ fills the basin as well.

basins, active faults, sea level, sediment, continent

The California Continental Borderland, offshore of SoCal, is characterized by a number of ___ that are collecting ___ sediments eroding from the continent and from islands, and ___ sediment composed of plankton skeletons and other organic debris. Basins bounded by steep slopes, known as ___, on each side of a basin. In addition, the Borderland has numerous uplifted areas such as ___ and ___ (which are elevated features just below the ocean surface)

basins, terrigenous, biogenous, escarpments, islands, banks

___ is an indentation of a coastline

bight

Surf zone is the turbulent water between the ___ zone and the ___ zone. ___ flows only within the surf zone.

breaker, swash, longshore current

Gyres are major ___ of surface ocean water present in all ocean basins, formed by ___ in combination with the ___ force and ___. Gyres are composed of ___ and ___ currents.

circular currents, prevailing winds, coriolis, gravity, boundary, transverse

The Catalina Basin is filling with sediment at a much slower rate than the San Pedro basin because the San Pedro basin is (closer to/farther from) the continents.

closer to

The ___ connects points of equal elevation (on land) or depth (on ocean floor)

contour line

The oil slicks on the ocean made it easy for the SAR image to show the eddy because it helped improve the ___ of the eddy ___ despite the wind gusts

definition, flow pattern

A wave base is the ___ to which an ocean wave will disturb water molecules as the wave passes through the ocean water. The wave bases of ___ waves do not touch the ocean floor. But, waves approaching the shore begin to feel bottom-they become ___ waves, disturbing sediment and slowing the wave's velocity.

depth, deep-ocean, shallow-water

___ is a machine designed to vacuum sediment from the ocean floor, and then pump it onshore through large flexible tubes. A mix of sediment and water pours from the end of the tube onto the beach, with the sediment settling out, and the water flowing back into the ocean.

dredge

A seawall could provide a solution to the problem of beach erosion to Surfside Beach, because it would protect the houses by stopping the natural ___ of sand by the waves. However, since when waves hit a seawall, the wave is reflected back toward the ocean. This can make matters worse because the reflected wave takes ___ with it.

movement, beach sand

___ is the ocean current which flows from the shoreline out past the breaking waves. They can form for a variety of reasons, especially where an ___-shaped beach forces longshore currents to flow toward each other.

rip current, arc

Higher winds lead to stronger waves that interfere with eddy flow, causing it to ___, inhibiting the SAR from picking it up

scatter

Ocean basin is a relatively deep part of the ocean floor surrounded by ___ ocean floor; eventually basins fill with ___.

shallower, sediment

___ is a major westward or eastward flow of surface ocean water; connects to boundary currents.

transverse current

Submarine fans are large fan-shaped ___ of sediments composed of ___ delivered from the end of a ___; fans are part of the ___.

wedges, turbidites, submarine canyon continental rise

A beach is a dynamic shoreline environment composed mainly of sand (smaller grains are carried away by waves and currents, and larger grains are broken down by wave action). Beaches grow ___ when small waves wash sediment ashore, but they can shrink in size when ___ waves pound on the beach face and remove sediment from the beach.

wider, larger

Although ___ waves can interfere with SAR imaging, it is better for identifying and studying small eddies than SST imaging because SAR imaging is not limited by ___ and has a higher ___ useful for identifying the small scale eddies found in SCB

wind-generated, cloud cover, spatial resolution

___ is a major poleward or equatorward flow of surface ocean water along the edge of an ___.

Boundary current, ocean basin

___ is the deflection of surface air and water currents (to (right/left) in northern hemisphere, to (right/left) in southern hemisphere) induced by Earth's rotation about its axis.

Coriolis effect, right, left

___ is a side view of a portion of Earth's surface

Profile view

___ is the movement of sediment or surfers within the surf zone.

Longshore transport

When a wave reaches a beach or coastline, it releases a burst of ___ that generates a longshore current, which runs parallel to the shoreline. Longshore currents are affected by the ___ and ___ of a wave. When a wave breaks at a more steep angle on a beach, encounters a steeper beach slope, or is very high, longshore currents (increase/decrease) in velocity. Conversely, a wider breaking angle, gentler beach slope, and lower wave height (quickens/slows) a longshore current's velocity. Longshore current flows faster in the (winter/summer) than in the (winter/summer) because the waves are bigger in the winter.

energy, velocity, angle, increase, slows, winter, summer

Seasonal changes affect the flow of the Southern California Countercurrent because the strongest ___ winds are found during spring along most of the California coast. At this time, the CC moves closer to shore and ___, impeding on the SCC. Thus, ___ in the SCB experiences a minimum during spring when the CC impinges on the Bight, and a maximum in summer when the CC moves further ___ and spreads out, allowing more water to shear from the CC, promoting the flow of the SCC.

equatorward, accelerates, poleward flow, offshore

Source rock for the terrigenous components of surfside beach is ___. Source location is local mountains. Source location for the biogenous components of this beach is the ___.

granite, ocean

jetty: human-constructed wall of rocks built out from a shoreline; designed to protect a ___ from waves

harbor entrance

Longshore current is the near-shore flow of ocean water formed as waves intersecting the shoreline break at an angle to the shoreline. Some water moves up and down the beach face within the swash zone. The rest of the wave water is deflected ___ to the shoreline to form the longshore current. Note that ___ waves release more energy into the surf zone, making the longshore current current flow more rapidly.

intersecting, angle, parallel, bigger

The grain size at surfside beach is (large/small), and (well/poorly) sorted compared to that at alamitos bay. Composition: ___ (orange/pink), ___ (grey, white), and ___ (black)

large, poorly, feldspar, quartz, magnetite

The Beach Replenishment Project was put into action because the area of Surfside Beach nearest the jetty eroded to the point that the last 8 houses were about to wash into the ocean. It was replenished with sediment dredged from a mile offshore, but another replenishment project will be required in the near future. This is because the sizes of the sediment grains near the leading edge of the beach near the jetty are ___, and ___ grains erode more quickly. The jetties affect longshore current flow and therefore sediment deposition at this beach because sediment that would've been carried by longshore current is blocked by the jetty. The jetty actually promotes active beach erosion at this end of Surfside Beach because waves ___ off the jetty with more ___ than a wave washing back off a normal sand beach, it picks up sediment, and wash it away from the beach.

smaller, small, reflect, energy

Borderland features of basins and islands/banks are associated with movements of the Pacific and North American plates along the San Andreas Fault. There is a major bend in the fault, called the Big Bend. As the Pacific Plate slides around the west end of the Big Bend, a combination of ___, along with ___ or ___, is being exerted on the crust of the Borderland. This results in the Borderland being broken into a number of ___ that are shifting and folding along ___ faults that are roughly parallel to the master fault, the San Andreas Fault.

stress, tension, compression, crustal fragments, oblique-slip

Course terrigenous sediment, which is typical of very shallow water, can be deposited on a ___ because ___ can carry shallow water sediment down through a ___ and eventually deposit it into deeper water.

submarine fan, turbidity currents, submarine canyon

As wind flows across the surface of the ocean, it drags some of the ___ along with it. Essentially, the wind is transferring its energy into the ocean due to ___ between the two masses, ___ and ___. This energy transference is not very efficient though, so surface ocean currents only flow at about 2 to 5% of the velocity of the wind. ___ can have a greater impact on slower moving currents, so water currents tend to flow at about a ___ degree angle to the direction of wind flow. Since there are major ___ of ___ at certain latitudes, there are also major surface ocean currents that result from the winds. These ocean currents transfer ___ from the equator to the poles, and bring cooler water to the equator.

surface water, friction, air, water, the coriolis effect, 45, belts, prevailing winds, heat energy