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Oceanography Essentials
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Oceanography Essentials
Oceanography Essentials
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1
Question
What percentage of Earth's surface is covered by water?
Page 1
Answer
71%
2
Question
What are the four main aspects of oceanography?
Page 4
Answer
Physical, chemical, biological, geological
3
Question
What is the goal of physical oceanography?
Page 4
Answer
Systematic, quantitative description of ocean waters, distribution, and movements
4
Question
What processes does physical oceanography study?
Page 4
Answer
How and why oceans move, heat transfer, water cycles, waves, tides, currents, temperature, sea level
5
Question
What does chemical oceanography study?
Page 4
Answer
Salinity, dissolved gases, nutrients, biogeochemical cycles, pollution, isotopes, hydrothermal vents
6
Question
How does chemical oceanography relate to other fields?
Page 5
Answer
Most interdisciplinary, influenced by physical properties and biological processes
7
Question
What is the focus of biological oceanography?
Page 5
Answer
Abundance, production, variability of life in oceans, with ecological ties to physics, chemistry, geology
8
Question
What differs biological oceanography from marine biology?
Page 5
Answer
More ecological focus related to ocean physics, chemistry, and geology
9
Question
What topics does geological oceanography cover?
Page 5
Answer
Ocean genesis, marine sedimentation, coastal margins, basin formation, geomorphology, tectonic plates
10
Question
How is geological oceanography tied to physical oceanography?
Page 5
Answer
Strong connection through physical processes shaping geological features
11
Question
Why are oceans important in the climate system?
Page 4
Answer
Energy and water reservoir, temperature regulator
12
Question
What methods are used in oceanography?
Page 4
Answer
In situ, satellite, modeling
13
Question
What is climate?
Page 6
Answer
Statistical summary of meteorological conditions over 30 years, including temperature, humidity, pressure, wind, precipitation
14
Question
What is weather?
Page 6
Answer
Meteorological conditions on scales of hours to weeks, using same variables as climate
15
Question
How do climate and weather differ in scales?
Page 6
Answer
Climate: long-term (30 years); Weather: short-term (hours to weeks)
16
Question
What are the four scales in environmental science?
Page 6
Answer
Global (1000-10000 km, years+), Synoptic (10-100 km, days-months), Mesos (100m-1km, hours-days), Small (mm-100m, seconds)
17
Question
What phenomena occur at global scale?
Page 6
Answer
Seasonal variations, ocean currents, ocean-atmosphere oscillations, thermohaline circulation
18
Question
What are examples of synoptic scale phenomena?
Page 6
Answer
Oceanic vortices, Rossby waves
19
Question
What defines mesoscale in oceanography?
Page 6
Answer
100m-1km, hours to days: local phenomena, internal waves, tidal oscillations
20
Question
What small-scale ocean features exist?
Page 6
Answer
Vertical turbulence, microstructure layer, acoustic waves, capillary waves
21
Question
What is descriptive oceanography?
Page 7
Answer
Understanding specific processes through description
22
Question
What is dynamic oceanography?
Page 7
Answer
Simulation of ocean motion
23
Question
How many oceans are there, and what are they?
Page 7
Answer
Five: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, Southern (Antarctic)
24
Question
What defines a sea?
Page 7
Answer
Smaller than ocean, partially enclosed by land; exception: Sargasso Sea defined by currents
25
Question
What are the largest seas?
Page 7
Answer
South China Sea, Caribbean Sea, Mediterranean Sea
26
Question
What is the largest island?
Page 7
Answer
Greenland
27
Question
What is the deepest ocean part?
Page 7
Answer
Mariana Trench, over 11,000 m deep
28
Question
Who proposed continental drift in 1912?
Page 7
Answer
Alfred Wegener
29
Question
What supercontinent existed 300-200 million years ago?
Page 7
Answer
Pangaea
30
Question
What theory did Harry Hess propose in 1945?
Page 7
Answer
Seafloor spreading