| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Bathymetry | the measurement of ocean depths and the charting of the shape or topography of the ocean floor |
| Sonar | a measuring instrument that sends out an acoustic pulse in water and measures distances in terms of the time for the echo of the pulse to return |
| Continental Shelf | begins at the shoreline and slopes gently toward the ocean; continues until the ocean floor beginsto slope steeply downward |
| Continental Slope | the steep descent of the seabed from the continental shelf to the abyssal zone |
| Continental Rise | which is the base of the continental slope, is made of large piles of sediment |
| Abyssal Plains | Abyssal plains are wide, slightly rolling plains in the ocean at depths of more than 13,000 ft. |
| Seamount | A submerged mountainor hill rising from the sea floor |
| Guyot | A large, flat-topped seamount resulting from erosion of an island volcano when it was above sea level. |
| Salinity | a measure of the total amount of dissolved ions in seawater |
| Isotherm | line on a map connecting points of equal temperature values |
| Halocline | a layer of water in which there is a high rate of change in salinity in the vertical dimension |
| Parts per thousand | The amount of a given substance in a total amount of 1000 (regardless of units of measure as long as they are in the same category, eg., 1 g per kg, 1 km per m) |
| Dissolution | the action or process of dissolving |
| Solute | the substance that is dissolved |
| Solvent | the substance in which the solute dissolves |
| Evaporation | the process by which water changes from liquid form to an atmospheric gas |
| Surface Current | an ocean current that generally flows in the upper 1000 meters of the ocean and is primarily driven by the wind |
| Gyre | A huge circle of moving ocean water found above or below the equator |
| Thermohaline Circulation | Water circulation produced by differences in temperature and/or salinity (and therefore density). |
| Coriolis | Force An apparent force acting on the parcel of air due to the Earth's rotation, in the northern hemisphere the air is deflected to the right and in the southern hemisphere the air is deflected to the left. |
| Upwelling | an upward flow of cold water from the ocean depths brings nutrients and oxygen to the surface. |
| Global Conveyor Belt | The thermohaline circulation that carries cold saline water from the Arctic Ocean through the deep Atlantic towards the Pacific |
| Wave | A disturbance that transfers energy from place to place |
| Tide | the rise and fall of the water level of the ocean near the shore that is caused by the pull of gravity of the moon |
| Wave Impact | The force of water striking the shore from waves |
| Refraction | The bending of waves due to a change in speed |
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