Oceanography Quiz 5

How do oceanographers describe tides?

as the balance between gravitational and centrifugal force

What is centripetal force?

real force directed towards the center that keeps objects in rotation

What is centrifugal force?

bogus force directed outwards

what is the centripetal force when the moon is orbiting?

gravity

if the distance between two objects increases, the gravitational force

decreases

if the masses of two objects get bigger, the gravitational force

increases

Where is the center of rotation of the earth and moon system?

on the edge of earth because of the difference in mass of the earth and moon

is the centrifugal force from the moon on the earth the same everywhere or different? and what direction does it point?

its the same everywhere and it points away from the moon

How is the tidal force found?

by adding the gravitational force to the centrifugal force

What are spring tides?

the highest tides that happen when the sun and moon align

What are neap tides?

lower tides that happen when the sun and moon are perpendicular

why do we follow the dynamic theory of tides?

we follow it because tides are shallow water waves which means they are slow and can’t be locked to the moon when earth’s rotating. the continents also obstruct the bulges.

What is the equilibrium theory of tides?

an idealized model that says there is two high tides and two low that happen daily

What is the dynamic theory of tides?

a complex model that says tides varies and that in an ocean basin tidal waves rotate around an amphidromic point

What force is the reason why tidal waves rotate around an amphidromic point?

the Coriolis force

What are the consequences of tides?

earth’s spin is slowing down because of tidal friction (longer days) and the moon is receding

Who connected independent observations of variability in atmospheric pressure and sea level pressure to ENSO?

Bjerknes

What are the El Nino conditions?

weak trade winds lead to warm water moving eastward, less upwelling, precipitation is enhanced in the central ocean, and the thermocline flattens

What did Gilbert discover about sea level pressure in the southern oscillation?

slp in Darwin(by Australia) is lower than slp in Tahiti(by South America) during normal conditions

What is the difference between El Nino and Southern Oscillation?

El Nino is the oceanic component of warming sea surface temp in ENSO and Southern Oscillation is the atmospheric component of high and low pressure in ENSO

What happens during normal conditions of ENSO?

upwelling on the west coast of South America which improves fishing and warm water moves west

A graph of temperature and dissolved nutrients during El Nino would show..

warmer temperature and less dissolved nutrients

What are the global impacts of El Nino?

droughts and fires, crop failures, fisheries collapse, and temperature and pressure anomalies

Does El Nino increase or decrease Co2 accumulation in the atmosphere?

increase

What is the effect of the North Atlantic Oscillation when the pressure difference in icelandic low and azores high is greater?

the westerlies are stronger which directs storms toward northern Europe and eastern US

What is the effect of the North Atlantic Oscillation when the pressure difference in icelandic low and azores high is lower?

weak westerlies which causes more storms in southern Europe and drier conditions in northern Europe and eastern US

What are the four challenges of wildlife in the ocean?

buoyancy, osmosis and salinity, temperature, and nutrients and lights

How do fish and plants solve buoyancy?

fish have empty chambers and plants have bulbs

What is osmosis?

the movement of water to equalize salt concentrations

What is isotonic, hypertonic, and hypotonic?

isotonic means no net movement, hypertonic means water moves outwards, and hypotonic means water moves inward

How to fish regulate their salinity of body fluids in the ocean?

they drink lots of water and filter the salt out through their gills

Why do humans get wrinkles on their skin in freshwater?

our bodies are more salty than the water, so the wrinkles are our skin growing with water intake

Higher temperature to leads to blank growth and movement

higher

What are poikilotherms?

animal’s temperature depends on their environment so they have limited range of motion

What are homeotherms?

animal’s actively physiologically maintain body temperature so they have a wider range of motion

What is gene flow?

transfer of genetic material through migration. it can increase genetic variation

What is speciation?

evolutionary process where new species are formed because of genetic variation

What is natural selection?

process of organisms with favorable traits surviving and reproducing

What evidence shows evolution?

the similarities in embryos and skeleton structure between species

What’s the 2nd law of thermodynamics?

energy conversion efficiency is less than 100%, so entropy of the system increases with time

what are primary producers?

organisms that create their own food

what are marine primary producers called?

phytoplankton

As you go up the trophic pyramid, you loose

energy

What are diatoms?

phytoplankton with a glass-like cell wall that remove carbon from the atmosphere and reproduce with cell division

What are coccolithophorids?

phytoplankton with an outer sphere of calcium carbonate who can reflect sunlight and are seen in the ocean as a milky green color

What are dinoflagellates?

phytoplankton that cause red rides which emit toxins and deplete oxygen in the ocean

The ocean is more efficient in photosynthesis because?

even with less biomass it still produces as much carbon as land

what is gross primary production?

the total amount produced by photosynthesis

What is net primary production?

the GPP minus plant respiration, this is the amount left for higher trophic levels

What is chemosynthesis?

using chemical energy instead of light to produce sugars

What are the two primary places where chemosynthetic organisms operate?

mid ocean ridges and whale bones