Deck 15: Ocean Waters: the Blue of the Blue Marble

Question 1

The __________ is the rapid change in seawater density from less dense water above to more dense water below, whereas the __________ is the gradual boundary between warmer water above and colder water below.

A)pycnocline; thermocline
B)thermocline; pycnocline
C)insolation; halocline
D)halocline; insolation

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What caused the shapes and positions of today's ocean basins to differ from their appearance in the past?

A)plate tectonics
B)weather and climate
C)ocean currents
D)sea level rise

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Two negative ions that are found in seawater are

A)potassium and sodium.
B)calcium and magnesium.
C)chloride and potassium.
D)chloride and sulfate.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

According to researchers, the recent rise in sea level can be explained primarily by a(n)

A)increase in seawater salinity.
B)decrease in seawater salinity.
C)increase in seawater temperature.
D)decrease in seawater temperature.

Question 5

Thermohaline circulation carries __________ water from the poles to the equator, where the water becomes __________

A)warm; cold
B)cold; warm
C)low density; more dense
D)low density; more salty

Question 6

What would happen to the continents if sea level were to rise significantly?

A)Large volumes of water may fill up all the valleys of the continents, forming lakes.
B)Ocean water may submerge large areas of continents, forming epicontinental seas.
C)Large volumes of water may expose islands.
D)An increase in volcanic eruptions would occur.

Question 7

A person is able to float more easily in the Red Sea than if they were floating in the Black Sea because the

A)Black Sea has a higher density than the Red Sea.
B)Red Sea has a higher density than the Black Sea.
C)Red Sea is warmer than the Black Sea.
D)Black Sea is warmer than the Red Sea.

Question 8

By the beginning of the 17th century, ocean voyages had helped map the basic layout of the

A)orogeny.
B)bathymetry.
C)topography
D)shorelines.

Question 9

Which of the following provides the largest tide-generating force?

A)the Sun
B)the Moon
C)Earth
D)the ocean

Question 10

Major oceanic surface currents travel

A)parallel to the prevailing wind direction in a region.
B)in direct opposition to prevailing winds as a result of the Coriolis effect.
C)in a similar direction to the prevailing winds as a result of the Coriolis effect.
D)at an angle to prevailing winds as a result of the Doppler effect.

Question 11

The sea surface salinity is __________ at the mouth of the Amazon River and _________ in the Great Salt Lake, Utah.

A)low; low
B)high; low
C)low; high
D)high; high

Question 12

Which of the following would be an area of the ocean with the LEAST dense water?

A)the mouth of the Amazon River
B)off the coast of Africa
C)the middle of the Pacific Ocean
D)off the coast of Madagascar

Question 13

A streamlike flow of the ocean water is referred to as __________ , and the development of local undulations produce __________

A)waves; tides
B)tides; currents
C)eddies; gyres
D)currents; waves

Question 14

When oceanographers discuss the elevation of the boundary between ocean water and the air above, they are referring to the

A)altitude.
B)sea level.
C)isolines.
D)horizon

Question 15

The water mass located on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean would be expected to have _________density and __________ temperature.

A)lower; lower
B)higher; higher
C)higher; lower
D)lower; higher

Question 16

The early maps of the continental shorelines are distorted from what they really look like because early ocean navigators

A)used a GPS device that was not accurate.
B)knew how to find longitude but not latitude.
C)knew how to find latitude but not longitude.
D)were unable to sail close enough to the shorelines.

Question 17

The shallowest portions of an ocean found along the margins of continents are the

A)abyssal plains.
B)continental rises.
C)continental shelves.
D)continental slopes.

Question 18

Compared with the sea surface salinity of the tropical latitudes, the sea surface salinity of the polar latitudes is __________ saline.

A)less
B)more
C)approximately the same
D)exactly twice as

Question 19

The density of seawater increases as temperature __________ and salinity __________ .

A)increases; increases
B)decreases; increases
C)increases; decreases
D)decreases; decreases

Question 20

Imagine you are an oceanographer mapping the sea surface temperature variations throughout the Atlantic Ocean for the Northern Hemisphere. What phenomenon best explains the difference in sea surface temperatures of two coastal cities located at the same latitude located on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean?

A)Brazil current
B)jet stream
C)Guinea current
D)gulf stream

Question 21

The Coriolis effect causes the apparent deflection of currents as a result of

A)changes in wind speed.
B)the rotation of Earth.
C)changes in ocean currents.
D)the location of the Moon.

Question 22

Surface currents flow __________ in the Northern Hemisphere and __________ in the Southern Hemisphere.

A)counterclockwise; clockwise
B)upward; downward
C)clockwise; counterclockwise
D)equatorward; poleward

Question 23

If two wind-driven waves moving from different directions came together in such a way that the wave crests overlap to form a single crest, what would happen to the size of the waves? The newly formed wave would

A)become larger than that of the two original waves.
B)become smaller than that of the two original waves.
C)triple in size.
D)be destroyed by the two original waves.

Question 24

As a wave passes through the open ocean, the water molecules move

A)horizontally.
B)diagonally.
C)in a circular path.
D)straight up and down.

Question 25

According to this map, upwelling currents are most likely found at the

A)North Pole.
B)equator.
C)tropics.
D)South Pole

Question 26

What prevents the individual water masses from becoming one single water mass?

A)a heterogeneous makeup
B)a homogenous makeup
C)Unrelated temperatures
D)Unrelated density

Question 27

A wave will disturb the water to a depth equal to

A)its wavelength.
B)its surface amplitude.
C)the bottom of the seafloor.
D)one-half of its wavelength.

Question 28

The prevailing global wind patterns influence

A)atmospheric currents.
B)frictional currents.
C)ocean currents.
D)Coriolis force.

Question 29

The size of open ocean waves generated by the wind depend on the wind __________, the __________ of the wind, and the duration of the wind blowing.

A)strength; fetch
B)drift; speed
C)twice; strength
D)period; frequency

Question 30

Ripples are the result of

A)waves.
B)frictional drag.
C)upwelling.
D)wave drift.

Question 31

What affect would the Coriolis effect have on the Space Station? The space station would

A)curve to the right because it is above the Northern Hemisphere.
B)curve to the left because it is above the Southern Hemisphere.
C)not curve because it is above the equator and not affected.
D)not be affected because it is not in Earth's atmosphere.

Question 32

The interior of the North Pacific Gyre has collected vast quantities of floating plastic garbage and chemical sludge referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. What impacts might this phenomenon have on the overall health of the ocean?

A)It might become a part of our food web.
B)It might be difficult to clean up.
C)Consumers might mistake plastic for food and ingest the plastic.
D)All of these answer choices are true.

Question 33

In the figure below, which letters represent the crest and trough?

A)A and B
B)E and D
C)C and D
D)C and B

Question 34

Imagine a person is sailing across the Pacific Ocean and the deck of the boat is suddenly swamped by a wave twice as high as the waves have been during this entire journey. They have encountered a ____________wave.

A)tsunami
B)rogue
C)swell
D)seismic

Question 35

Where do the deep ocean currents rise to the surface?

A)equator
B)North Pole
C)tropics
D)South Pole

Question 36

What are the major surface currents on Earth that display a circlelike path and follow the ocean basin margins?

A)eddies
B)lochs
C)pools
D)gyres

Question 37

Waves are created by

A)tides.
B)wind.
C)the crust.
D)the Moon.

Question 38

Why are waves larger during storms?

A)The larger wind speeds create more shear.
B)The storm increases the amount of upwelling.
C)There is more water pulled in by the storm.
D)The motion of the water becomes more elliptical.

Question 39

Using the figure below, identify the photic zone, the aphotic zone, and the benthic zone.

A)littoral zone = A, neritic zone = B, oceanic zone = C
B)littoral zone = C, neritic zone = A, oceanic zone = B
C)littoral zone = C, neritic zone = B, oceanic zone = A
D)littoral zone = B, neritic zone = C, oceanic zone = A

Question 40

The Ekman transport causes a slow drift of water to the center of the ocean. As a result of this converging flow, sea level in the center of the ocean becomes slightly __________ than at the ocean's margins.

A)higher
B)lower
C)greater
D)lesser

Question 41

According to the different categories of ocean life, an organism that can actively swim in the open ocean against currents is called

A)plankton.
B)zooplankton.
C)nekton.
D)phytoplankton

Question 42

Phytoplankton __________and zooplankton __________.

A)live on the ocean floor; live on the surface of the ocean
B)carry out photosynthesis; ingest other organisms
C)live on the surface of the ocean; live on the ocean floor
D)ingest other organisms; carry out photosynthesis

Question 43

The interior of the North Pacific Gyre has collected vast quantities of floating plastic garbage and chemical sludge, so the region has come to be known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Explain how the marine debris became trapped in the relatively still water that lies in the center of the gyre.

Question 44

Explain the effects of geostrophic balance in the ocean and how geostrophic currents form?

Question 45

Organisms that live on, just above, or just below the seafloor are known as benthos. The varied nature of benthos organisms can be explained by

A)differences in depth.
B)by differences in salinity.
C)differences in the amount of available nutrients.
D)all of the following: depth, salinity, sunlight penetration, density, and distance from coastal runoff.

Question 46

Marine biologists distinguish between the photic and aphotic zones because within the aphotic zone,__________ , whereas in the photic zone, __________ .

A)water is lit by sunlight; sunlight does not penetrate water
B)sunlight does not penetrate water; water is lit by sunlight
C)all sunlight is refracted by water; sunlight is reflected
D)sunlight is reflected; sunlight is all refracted by water

Question 47

Label the ocean currents of ocean basins shown in the image below using the following word bank (hint: not all of the words will be used).

Alaska Current
Benguela Current
California Current
Canary Current
Equatorial Counter Current
East Australian Current
West Greenland Current
West Wind Drift

Question 48

How does the desalinization process convert ocean water into freshwater?

Question 49

Define the flow of the Ekman transport and explain its process.

Question 50

Draw a representation of the motion of an ocean wave, including labels denoting the different parts of the motion in an ocean wave. Students should include the following labels: amplitude, wavelength, wave height, crest, trough, and directional arrows.

Question 51

Oceanographers distinguish between the aphotic and photic zone based on

A)light penetration.
B)amount of water above the seafloor.
C)pressure differences.
D)distance from coastline.

Question 52

Which of the following briefly summarizes the food web and its group of organisms associated by feeding relationships?

A)Primary producers are heterotrophs.
B)Consumers bring energy into the web.
C)Primary producers are organisms that survive by extracting nutrients from nonliving energy sources.
D)Consumers include any organism that is not an autotroph.

Question 53

Oceanographers distinguish between the different oceanic zones by using

A)sonar.
B)salinity and temperature.
C)the amount of organisms in each zone.
D)depth and distance from shore.

Question 54

Which of the following accounts for the largest amount of biomass in our oceans?

A)plankton
B)nekton
C)dinoflagellates
D)mammals

Question 55

Autotrophs need __________ in order to survive.

A)salts
B)sulfates
C)zooplankton
D)nutrients

Question 56

Which part of the visible spectrum does not get absorbed by water efficiently, thereby making it the color that can penetrate the deepest?

A)blue
B)yellow
C)red
D)orange

Question 57

Describe a rogue wave and explain the impact this type of wave can have on sailors, coastal infrastructure, and ocean enthusiasts.

Question 58

The presence of abundant phytoplankton which contain __________ chlorophyll can make water appear __________.

A)blue; bluish
B)green; greenish
C)red; reddish
D)brown; brownish

Question 59

Outline the impacts of our ocean dead zones, and discuss where they are forming.

Question 60

What is thermohaline circulation and how does it work?

Question 61

Outline the similarities and differences between plankton and nekton using a Venn diagram.