Oceanography 270 - Final

Final vocab and concepts

Station profile

a series of vertical measurements taken at a specific location in the ocean. These measurements typically capture parameters like temperature, salinity, oxygen, and pressure, from the surface to a certain depth.

Vertical Section Profile

series of oceanographic measurements collected along a transect or a specific line across an ocean region. This creates a two-dimensional view (depth vs. horizontal distance) of how properties like temperature, salinity, and oxygen vary within the water column.

Contour plots

graphical representations that display lines of constant values (isolines) for a specific oceanographic parameter (e.g., temperature, salinity, or density) over a geographical area or within a vertical section. They are used to visualize spatial variations and identify features like fronts or eddies.

Bubble chart

type of chart that displays three dimensions of data. Each data point is represented as a disk (bubble) on an xy-plane, with the size of the bubble corresponding to a third quantitative variable. They can be used to visualize relationships between different marine variables, such as comparing temperature, salinity, and oxygen levels, where bubble size might represent oxygen concentration.

Time series

refers to a sequence of data points measured at successive points in time, typically at uniform intervals. This type of data is crucial for observing trends, cycles, and anomalies in oceanographic parameters like sea surface temperature, sea level, current velocity, or biogeochemical properties over a period.

Bathymetric chart

a map that illustrates the depths of the ocean floor, analogous to a topographic map for land. It uses contour lines, known as isobaths, to connect points of equal depth, thereby visualizing underwater topography, including features such as seamounts, trenches, continental shelves, and ridges.

Describe challenges of ocean observations, and why we have a better map of the moon & mars than the deep sea. 

• Visiting ocean depth is difficult because we can’t breathe underwater

• Water absorbs light and other electromagnetic radiation 

• Oceans are extremely deep 

• Pressure increases with ocean depth 

• Seawater is corrosive 

• Sea surface is dynamic 

• Wave motion is dynamic, no stable platform for research

Secondary coast

a shoreline significantly shaped by marine processes (waves, currents, tides, marine organisms) and sea level changes, rather than by land-based geological forces

emergent shore

a shore where the land is rising relative to sea level, or sea level is falling, exposing new land, often characterized by uplifted marine terraces, cliffs, and rocky features

Depositional shore

a coast where sediment (sand, mud, pebbles) is dropped by waves, currents, or rivers faster than it's removed