Final Exam ESCI

  • Mixed Layer: wind driven surface currents that change in response to weather conditions/ stirring by the wind produces a well-mixed layer with a uniform temperature  

  • Pycnocline: middle layer where density increases rapidly with depth (thermohaline & halocline) 

  • Thermocline: temperature changes with depth 

  • Halocline: salinity changes with depth 

  • Deep Layer: beneath pycnocline/ cold & dark/ density increases with depth/ slow water movement, holds most of the ocean’s mass but not many organisms 

  • Gyre: large systems of rotating ocean currents 

  • Continuity: connection with no sharp breaks (ocean currents keep going without stopping/ have to move in a circle so that fluid replaces old fluid that has moved away)  

  • Polynya: area of open water surrounded by sea ice often caused by a heat source that prevents that area from freezing 

  • Deep Water: formed in salty and cold areas, causing water to become dense, and sink to the bottom of the ocean 

  • Diurnal Tide: 1 high and 1 low/ day with little difference b/w the two  

  • Semi-Diurnal Tide: 2 highs and 2 lows/day with a big difference b/w the two 

  • Mixed Semidiurnal: lower, high tide/ higher, high tide/ lower, low tide/ higher, low tide 

  • Microtidal: smallest/ less than 2 meters 

  • Mesotidal: middle/ b/w 2-4 meters 

  • Macrotidal: biggest/ more than 4 meters 

  • Tidal Bore: wave of incoming tide  

  • Tidal Amplitude: height difference b/w high & low tide in a specific area 

  • High Tide Flooding: overflow of ocean water during high tide that covers low-lying areas/ increase due to climate change 

  • Ecosystem: subdivision of Earth’s systems where organism communities interact with each other and their physical environment 

  • Autotroph: producers: photosynthesis or chemosynthesis/ gain energy from itself 

  • Heterotroph: consumers: get energy from eating other organisms (dependent on others for energy) 

  • Photosynthesis: energy from light/ Formula:  

  • Trophic Level: position that an organism occupies in a food chain food web, or ecological pyramid 

  • Phytoplankton: primary producer in photic zone 

  • Zooplankton: primary consumer/ drift with currents 

  • Plankton: drift with currents (float) 

  • Nekton: denser than water but use muscles to swim and not sink, pelagic zone 

  • Pelagic: AWAY FROM COAST 

  • Benthic: bottom of ocean 

  • Adaptation: genetically controlled trait that enhances an organism's chances for survival and reproduction 

  • Neutrally Buoyant: not floating or sinking (like a water balloon in a pool) 

  • Decomposers: organism that breaks down organic material (dead organisms) 

  • Chemotrophs: makes its own food through chemosynthesis 

  • Ecological Efficiency: fraction of total energy at one trophic level that transformed into energy at the next