Ocean Vocabulary Make a flip book or notecards with the words and definitions. You WILL need to keep these and study them for the unit and EOG.

Wave The movement of energy through a body of water. Most waves form when winds blowing across the water’s surface transmit their energy to the water.

Breakers A white-capped wave that is near shore that crashes onto the shore. They have increased height and decreased wavelength.

Rip Current A rush of water that flows rapidly back to sea through a narrow opening in a sandbar.

Tides The daily rise and fall of Earth’s waters on its coastlines. Caused by interaction of Earth, moon and sun

Spring Tide and Neap Tide Spring Tide - A tide with the greatest difference between high and low tide that occurs when the sun and moon are aligned with Earth at the new moon and the full moon. Neap Tide – A tide with the least difference between high and low tide that occurs when the sun and moon pull at right angles to each other at the first and third quarters of the moon.

Salinity - The total amount of dissolved salts in a water sample. Current – A large stream of moving water that flows through the oceans.

The effect of Earth’s rotation on the direction of winds and current. Coriolis Effect The effect of Earth’s rotation on the direction of winds and current. El Nino An abnormal climate event that occurs every two to seven years in the Pacific Ocean, causing changes in winds, currents, and weather patterns for one to two years.

Climate The pattern of temperature and precipitation typical of an area over a long period of time. Tsunami A giant wave usually caused by an earthquake beneath the ocean floor.

Upwelling The movement of cold water upward from the deep ocean that is caused by wind. Upwelling brings up tiny ocean organisms, minerals, and other nutrients from the deeper layers of the water. Without upwelling, the surface waters of the open ocean would not have many nutrients.

Submersible An underwater vehicle built of strong materials to resist pressure. Sonar A system that uses sound waves to calculate the distance to an object, and that gets its name from sound navigation and ranging.

Continental Shelf A gently sloping, shallow area of the ocean floor that extends outward from the edge of a continent.

Continental Slope A steep incline of the ocean floor leading down from the edge of the continental shelf.

Abyssal Plain A smooth, nearly flat region of the deep ocean floor.

Mid-ocean Ridge A continuous range of mountains on the ocean floor that winds around Earth. Trench A deep, steep-sided canyon in the ocean floor.

Plate One of the major pieces of solid rock that make up Earth’s upper layers. Divergent plates - two plates move apart from each other. The space that this creates is filled with new crustal material sourced from molten magma that forms below. Sea-floor Spreading A process by which new rock is added to the ocean floor along the boundary between diverging plates.

Intertidal Zone An area that stretches from the highest high-tide line on land out to the point on the continental shelf exposed by the lowest low tide.

Neritic Zone The area of the ocean that extends from the low-tide line out to the edge of the continental shelf. Open-ocean Zone The deepest, darkest area of the ocean beyond the edge of the continental shelf.

Plankton Tiny algae and animals that float in water and are carried by waves and currents.

Nekton Free-swimming animals that can move throughout the water column.

Benthos Organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean or other body of water.

Food Web The feeding relationships in a habitat. Who eats who!

Estuary A coastal inlet or bay where fresh water from rivers mixes with salty ocean water.

Coral Reef Created by colonies of tiny coral animals that produce a hard structure that surrounds its soft body. Reefs form when the empty structure stays after the animal dies and new animals build on top of the old structure.

Bioluminescence The production of light by living things. Happens through chemical reactions in the cells of the organisms

Hydrothermal Vents Where hot water rises out of cracks in the ocean floor. Water coming from these vents carries gases and minerals coming from Earth’s interior. Bacteria feed on the gases and minerals and begin the food web.

Methane Cold Seeps Submarine Hot Spring An area of the ocean floor where hydrogen sulfide, methane and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occurs. Submarine Hot Spring A spring of water issuing from the bottom of the sea.

STOP!! We are sorry that your hand is going to fall off and that you are bored, but you have to learn these terms!! YOU ARE DONE!