Introduction to Ocean Sciences

tectonic estuary

San Francisco Bay is primarily a

true

Organisms that live in the water column are called pelagic species.

false

The dominant process of primary production in the oceans in chemosynthesis.

along the west coasts of continents

Among the following areas, the highest primary productivity occurs

They spend part of their life in freshwater and part of their life in saltwater

Atlantic salmon and Austrian long-finned eels share what characteristics?

density differences due to variations in sea surface heights

Below the pyncocline, currents are driven primarily by

false

Benthic microalgae and macroalgae are abundant below the photic zone.

True

Biogeochemical cycles on our planet are thought to be at an approximate steady state.

11,000 km

California gray whales migrate as far as

transferring heat from low latitudes to high latitudes

Circulation in the atmosphere and the oceans plays a critical role in the heat budget by

true

Coastal upwelling is often enhanced and more persistent near capes.

food webs

Complex food relationships in ecosystems are described by

from within sediments

Deposit feeders obtain food

the trade winds weaken or reverse

During the early phase of the development of an El Nino

trophic level

Each step in a food chain is called a

stopping upwelling of nutrient rich water

El Nino generally reduces the abundance of anchovy in the eastern equatorial Pacific near Peru by

provide abundant food and offer substantial protection from predators

Estuaries are often ideal habitats for the larvae and juvenile stages of marine animals because they

flow of surface water seaward and bottom water landward

Estuarine circulation is almost always characterized by

anadromous fish

Fish that live most of their life in the ocean but return to fresh water to spawn are called

attract prey and as a defensive mechanism

Fish use lures to

all of the above

Geologic history is preserved in marine sediments because

temperate ocean climate zone off of the west coast

Given the climatic winds that blow over the continental United States, we are bordered by the

latent heat

Heat added to a substance that changes its physical state without raising its temperature is called

3

How many atmospheric convection cells is/are there in each hemisphere?

70

How much larger is the total quantity of carbon dioxide dissolved in the ocean water than the total carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere?

true

Humans have only been on the Earth for less than one percent of the time since the Earth was first formed.

true

If you travel around the world at a latitude of 30 degrees north you will travel across 360 degrees of longitude.

true

If you travel around the world at a latitude of 30 degrees north you will travel across the same number of degrees of longitude as if you traveled around the world along the equator.

100

In a food chain with three trophic levels, approximately how many grams of phytoplankton biomass would be needed to be produced for a consumer species at the top level to increase its weight by one gram

A and D

In the northern hemisphere, the Coriolis effect results in an apparent deflection of

the photic zone extends to the bottom

Kelp and other macroalgae can live and photosynthesize on the seafloor where

false

Land cools down much more slowly than the oceans after the sun goes down in the evening.

true

Marine sediment becomes progressively older with greater depth beneath the seafloor.

electromagnetic radiation is absorbed by water, pressure increases rapidly with depth in the oceans, and seawater is corrosive

Our knowledge of the deep ocean is limited and has been difficult to gain because

true

Moist air has a lower density than dry air at the same pressure.

sound waves

Most of our knowledge of seafloor bathymetry comes from information obtained by

tend to be distributed along the coast in the direction of the prevailing coastal current

Nutrients discharged by rivers

this was a distance easily measured by stretching each length of rope from one hand to another as it was hauled back onto the boat

Ocean water depths were originally measured in fathoms because

10

On average, what is the percentage of food consumed by and organism used for growth

Coriolis Effect

Once set in motion, the direction of a wind-driven current (or a football) in the open ocean is modified by the

marine species are widely dispersed over three dimensions

One factor that makes it more difficult to study marine organisms than land species is that

present in all three states of matter at the surface of Earth

One reason that water is a unique compound is because it is the only known substance that is

they cannot survive the dramatic decrease in pressure

One significant factor that makes it difficult to recover healthy organisms that live on the deep seafloor is that

true

Plants are autotrophs.

colonial animals

Reef-building corals are

B/E

Refer to Figure 5. In which locations would you find the ocean surface current that is being driven by trade winds?

E

Refer to Figure 5. Where would you be most likely to encounter a newly formed hurricane?

cold water upwelled from below has high concentrations of nutrients

Regions where there is upwelling often have high rates of primary productivity because

None of the above

Sonar uses what kind of energy to measure ocean depths?

locate icebergs following the sinking of the Titanic

Sonar was first developed to

retained within the estuary by the estuarine circulation

Suspended particles in estuaries tend to be

generally clear skies and light winds, making beach vacations a popular activity

The "horse latitudes" at latitude north and south are regions where an excess descends vertically, and where atmospheric pressure is high. These regions are characterized by

by moving surface water to create a sloping sea surface

The Ekman transport associated with wind-driven currents creates horizontal pressure gradients below the sea surface

false

The Moon is thought to have been created when a piece of the Earth broke off as part of a major volcanic eruption.

false

The addition of water vapor to the atmosphere increases the density of the air because the molecular weight is higher than that of the gases of the atmosphere.

35 PSU

The average salinity of seawater is about

density differences

The circulation of deep water masses in the deep-ocean currents is driven primarily by

the release of the latent heat of vaporization warms the air

The condensation of water vapor helps air rise because

westerly climatic winds

The continental United States is in the zone of

climate refers to multi-year average conditions while weather refers to conditions at a specific time

The difference between climate and weather is that

true

The distribution of living organisms in the oceans depends on the distribution and growth rate of autotrophs.

true

The first step in the formation of a hurricane is rising warm, moist air, creating a low-pressure zone.

transport equatorial heat to high latitudes and moderate the climate of coastal regions

The high heat capacity of water allows it to

latent heat

The major driving force behind the creation of hurricanes is

latent heat

The major driving force behind the creation of thunderhead clouds is

phytoplankton

The majority of primary production in the oceans is performed by

true

The manned space vehicles used by astronauts could not be used to study the deep oceans because they would collapse under the pressure.

ocean water absorbs light and other electromagnetic radiation

The maps that we have of the surface of the planet Mars are much more detailed than the maps we have of the ocean floor because

sounding

The measurement of water depth beneath a ship is called a

enhanced greenhouse effect

The most important and complex environmental problems we currently face is the

1 billion years ago

The oceans and atmosphere reached a steady state approximately

A and C

The oceans contain much more heat energy than the atmosphere because

true

The open-ocean gyres in the northern hemisphere all flow clockwise.

winds

The primary source of energy that drives the major surface currents of ocean circulation is

true

The reproductive strategy in which each individual has bother male and female reproductive organs is called her hermaphrodism.

Atlantic Ocean

The single location for formation of deep-water masses in the northern hemisphere is in the north

Marine ecology

The study of relationships between species and between the species and their environment

do not swim but live in the water column

The term plankton includes all organisms that

true

The total quantity of water in Earth's oceans, lakes, rivers, and ice caps has remained fairly constant for millions of years.

river discharge and coastal upwelling

The two most important mechanisms supplying nutrients to coastal zone are

latitude, longitude

The two numbers that describe a specific location on the Earth's surface are called

echolocation

The use of sound pulses by whales and dolphins to "see" in the oceans is called

false

There are multiple locations in the northern hemisphere where deep water masses form and sink into the deep ocean later.

true

Water can dissolve more substances than any other known liquid.

false

Water of high salinity will arise above water of low salinity (at the same temperature).

Dinoflagellate (plankton) toxins

What are often selective, and some are specifically toxic vertebrates and are toxic only to marine species and not to humans?

map projection

What are rules to represent the features of the spherical earth in two dimensions?

high density and no pycnocline

What are two factors that can result in the sinking of deep water masses?

pelagic

What environment have marine biologists defined as the water column

97

What percentage of the world's water is stored in the oceans?

Major challenges faced by species

Where to live; how to avoid predators; where, how, and when to reproduce; and what food to eat and where to find it

high-pressure zone

Which factor is not a favorable condition for the formulation of a hurricane?

Chlorine

Which of the following elements has the longest residence time in seawater?

low sound velocity

Which of the following is NOT an anomalous property of water?

The depth of the deepest part of the oceans is greater than the elevation of the world's highest mountain.

Which of the following is a correct statement?

All of the above

Which of the following is a reason why the oceans, as well as the atmosphere, must be studied if we are to understand and perhaps predict the climate change that the greenhouse effect will bring about?

osmoregulation

Which of the following is not a strategy used by some species in hunting their prey?

anemone

Which of the following predators does not use speed in their hunting strategy?

Pycnocline

is a region where density of the water changes rapidly with increasing depth