Marine Geography Exam 3
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148 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Reasons for why humans occupy shore zones- | food resources, base for ships to embark to seek sea resources and for transport of people and goods, in war- critical barriers to be defended from invaders arriving by sea, and recreational facility. |
| Shoreline | shifting line of contact between water and land; line of contact between water and land. |
| Coastline/coast | zone in which coastal processes operate or have a strong influence. This includes the shallow water zone as well as beaches, cliffs shaped by waves and coastal dunes. |
| Breaker | when waves reach shallow water, the drag on bottom slows and steepens the wave until it leaps forward and collapse |
| Marine Scarp | the waves from erosion form a steep bank, the waves then retrear steadily under the erosion of the storm waves |
| Abrasion platform | as a sea cliff retreats landward, the continued wave abrasion (from the water-carried sand and gravel). This will continue to widen by abrasion beneath the breakers. Usually a thin layer of gravel and cobblestones |
| Beach | thich, wedge-shaped accumulation of sand, gravel or cobbles in a zone of breaking waves |
| Swash | a foamy turbulent sheet of water ridges up the beach, after a breaker collapses. |
| Backwash | a return flow that pours down the beach after the force of a swash is spent on the beach. San and gravel is swept seaward and can be felt as a strong seaward current. |
| Undercurrent/undertow | a strong seaward current that can build and be strong enough to sweep swimmers off their feet and carry them seaward |
| Rip tide | a strong enough undercurrent/undertow that can sweep swimmers off their feet and carry them seaward |
| Beach drift | the unceasing shifting of beach materials with the swash and backwash of breaking waves, results in a sidewise movement of material down the beach. |
| Longshore current | when waves approach shorelines under the influence of strong winds, water level becomes slightly raised near the shore by a slow shoreward drift of water. The excess water escapes by a parallel current to the shore in a dirrection away from the wind. |
| Longshore drift | When wave and wind conditions are favorable, this longshore current is capable of moving sand along the sea bottom in a direction parallel to shore |
| Longshore or littoral current | an ocean current caused by approach of waves to a coast at an angle. It flows parallel to and near the shore. |
| Littoral drift/ longshore drift | transport of sediment parallel with the shoreline by the combined action of beach drift and longshore current transport |
| pocket beach | a crescent shaped beach caused by where the coastline consists of prominent headlands projecting seaward and with deep bays the erosional energy of the waves is concentrated on the headlands and wave cut cliffs develop. |
| Progradation | the widening and building shoreward of a beach...sand arrives at a particular section of the beach more rapidly than it can be carried away. |
| Retrogradation | the narrowing of the beach with the shoreline moving landward..sand is leaving a section of beach more rapidly than it is being brought in. |
| Groin | wall or embankment built at right angles to the shoreline; may be constructed of large rocks masses, concrete or wood pilings. |
| Ocean tides | a rhythmis rise and fall of sea level under the influence of changing attractive forces of moon and the sun or the rotating Earth. |
| Tidal currents | rising tides set in motion in bays and estuaries currents of water |
| Ebb current | when tides begin to fall, set in and water flow is seaward |
| Flood current | when tide begins to rise, a landward flow starts |
| Mudflat | barren expanses of silt and clay exposed at low tide but covered at high tide |
| Salt Marsh | a mudflat where salt-tolerent plants take hold, the plant stems entrap more sediment and the flat is built up to approximately the level of high tide |
| What are the 7 common types of Coastlines? | Ria Coast, Foird Coast, Barrier Island Coast, Delta Coast, Volcano Coast, Coarl Reef Coast, and Fault Coast |
| Submergence | the partial drowning of a coast by a rise of sea level or a sinking of the crust, Example: Fault Coast |
| Emergence | exposed of submarine landforms by a falling sea level or a rising of the crust |
| New Land | built out into the ocean by volcanoes and lava flows, by the growth of deltas or by growth of coral reefs |
| Ria Coast | a deeply embayed coast resulting from submergence of a landmass dissected by stream. This coast has many offshore islands. |
| Fiord Coast | deeply indented by steep-walled fiords, which are submerged glacial troughs (glacial valleys) |
| Barrier Island Coast | associated with recently emerged (new land) coastal plain. Offshore slope is very gentle and an island of sand is usually thrown up by a wave action some distance off shore. Behind lays a lagoon. |
| Lagoon | a broad expanse of shallow water, often several kilometers wide and in places largely filled with tidal deposits |
| Delta coast | coast effected by delta |
| Delta | is a sediment deposit built by a stream entering a body of standing water and formed by the stream load |
| Volcano Coast | formed by the erosion of volcanoes and lava flows.. partly constructed below the water level. |
| Coral Reef coast | reef building corals create new land. There are 3 basic types, fringing, barrier, and Atolls |
| Fringing reefs | built as platforms attached to shore. They are widest in front of headlands where wave attach is strongest and the corals recieve clean water with abundant food supply |
| Barrier reefs | lie out from shore and are seperated from the mainland by a lagoon. Narrow gaps occure at intervals in the barrier reefs allowing circulation of the lagoon water with the sea. |
| Atolls | are more or less circular coral reefs enclosing a lagoon but without any land inside (just lagoon). Most are built on a foundation of volcanic rock- volcanoes rising from ocean floor. |
| What are the 3 types of coral reef coasts? | Fringing, barrier, and atolls |
| Fault coast | down faulting of a coastal margin of a continent can allow the shoreline to come to rest against a fault scarp |
| Raised shoreline | former shoreline lifted above the limit of wave action-- also called elevated shoreline. Common along coastal environments |
| Marine terrace | former abrasion platform elevated to become a step-like coastal platform. |
| Deflation | loose particles lying on the ground surface may be lifted into the air or rolled or bounced along the ground by the wind |
| Abrasion | where the wind drives sand and dust particles against an exposed rock or soil surface causing it to be worn away by the impact of the particles |
| Blowout | a shallow depression caused by deflation. This depression may be anywhere from a few feet to 1/2 miles in size but usually only a few yards deep. Common in dry climated and steppes (West Texas) |
| Desert pavement | a residual concentration of wind polished closely packed pebbles and other rock fragments, mantling a desert surface where wind has removed smaller particles and usually protecting the underlying material from further deflation |
| Dust storms | strong turbulent winds blowing over desert surfaces lift great quantities of fine dust into the air, forming a dense high cloud |
| San dunes | any hill of loose sand shaped by the wind |
| Crescent dune | isolated sand dune having a crescent outline-- horns of dunes are directed downward. Windward side of the crest of the sand slope is gentle and smoothly rounded |
| Slip face | steep face of an active sand dune recieving sand by saltation over the dun crest and repeatedly sliding down because of oversteepening of the dune crest.. this is how dune will move or migrate. Angle is at 35 degrees |
| Saltation | sediment transport in which particles are moved forward in a series of short leaps or bounces |
| Transvere dunes | where sand is so abundant that it completely covers the solid ground, dunes take the form of wavelike ridges seperated by though-like furrows. At right angles to the direct wind |
| Sand Sea | (fields of transverse dunes) which require enormous amounts of sand |
| Erg | landscape of the Sahara Desert, a sand sea |
| Reg | also a landscape of the Sahara Desert.. a stoney desert (desert pavement) |
| Star dune | large hill of sand whose base resembles a many-pointed star. Radial ridges of sand rise toward the dune center and culminate in sharp peaks as high as 300 feet above the base.. formed by shifting wind patterns. Ramin fixed in position often serving as landmarks for centuries |
| Parabolic dunes | several types; coastal blowout dunes, parabolic dunes on semiarid plains and parabolic dunes drawn out into hairpins. The horns of the dunes point upwind and there is no slip face, so no migration of the dunes |
| Coastal blowout dune | high sand dune of the parabolic dune class formed adjacent to a beach, usually with a deep deflation hollow or blowout enclosed within a deflation hollow |
| Longitudinal dunes | consist of long, narrow ridges orientated parallel with the direction of the prevailing wind and may be many miles long and only a few yards high.. or may have a Sief dune |
| Sief Dune | type of longitudinal dune which is up to 400 yards high |
| Foredunes | landward of sand beaches, such as Galveston, usually fin a narrow belt of dunes in the form of irregularly shaped hills and depressions; irregularly shaped sand dunes typically found adjacent to beaches on lowlying coasts and bearing a partial cover of plants |
| Humidity | amount of water vapor in the air |
| Saturation point | at any given temperature, the total quantity of water vapor that can by "held" by the air has a definite limit |
| Relative humidity | ratio expressed as a percent water vapor present in the air to the maximum quantity possible for saturated air at the same temperature |
| How is the relative humidity effected? | through evaporation or a change in temperature |
| Condensation | process of change of water vapor to either a liquid or a solid state (ex: rain or hail) |
| Dew point | critical temperature at which air becomes saturated during cooling-- below the dew point, condensation usually sets in and the result is dew, fog or frost. |
| Specific Humidity | denotes actual quantity of moisture present; defined as the mass of water vapor contained in a given mass. Measured in terms of grams of water vapor/kilograms. |
| Precipitation | (ppm) falling rain, snow, sleet or hail; only occurs in appreciable amounts where large masses of air are experiencing a steady drop in temperature below the dew point. |
| What is an important law in meteorology? | rising air experiences a drop in temperature, even though no heat energy is lost to the outside |
| Adiabatic process | change of temperature within a gas because of compression or exmpansion, without gain or loss of heat form the outside. Therefore, expansion always results in cooling and compression results in warming |
| Adiabatic lapse rate | within a rising body of air, the rate of the drop of temperature; has two types |
| Dry adiabatic lapse rate | rate of the drop of temperature is 5.5 degress F per 1000 ft. The dry rate applies only when there is no condensation taking place. |
| Wet adiabatic lapse rate | redced adiabatic lapse when condensation is taking place in the rising air. The rate is 2.5 degrees F per 1000 and the reduced rate is a result of the latent heat via condensation |
| Latent heat | heat absorbed and held in storage in a gas or liquid during the process of evaporation or melting, respectively. |
| Sensible heat | heat measured by a thermometer-- heat you can feel |
| Evaporation | process in which water in a liquid or solid state passes into the vapor state. cools off |
| Sublimation | process in which water vapor passes directly into a solid state as ice and the reverse process, from ice directly into water |
| Calorie | amount of hea required at a pressure of one atmosphere to raise the temperature on one gram of water one degree centigrade. |
| Cloud | a dense mass of suspended water or ice particles ranging in diameter from 20-50 microns (micron= one one-millionth of meter) |
| Supercooled | an interesting phenomena is that water in clouds in such minute from remains in the liquid state at temperatures far below freezing |
| Stratiform clouds | or layered/blanket clouds; cover large areas. represent air layers being forced to rise gradually over stable underlying air layers of greater density; also called stratus or nimbostratus |
| What are the 2 types of clouds | Stratiforms and Cumuliform |
| Cumuliform clouds | or globular clouds; globular masses representing bubble-like bodies of warmer air spontaneously rising because they are less dense than the surrounding air-- also called cumulus |
| Nimbostratus | a "rain" cloud or a stratiform clouds |
| Cumulonimbus | a cumuliform cloud that develop tall stalk-like shapes and penetrates high into the troposphere (thunderstorm clouds) |
| Fog | simply a cloud layer in contact with the land or sea surface or lying very close to the surface |
| Radiation fog | formed at night when temperature of the stagnant basal air falls below the dew point. Associated with a low-level temperature inversion (colder air closer to ground, wamer air above). |
| Advection fog | results from the movement of warm moist air over a cold or snow-covered ground surface... as it loses heat to the ground, the air layer undergoes a drop of temperature below the dew point and condensation sets in. |
| What is the first basic cause of Precipitation? | the horizontal convergence of moist air toward a center or line of low barometric pressure. The convergence, accompanied by the rise of air and its cooling by the adiabatic process results in the formation of clouds and production of ppt. |
| What is the second basic cause of precipitation? | the forced lift of moist air over mountain barrier. Generated by the forced ascent of moist air over a mountain barrier is termed orographic precipitation. |
| Orographic Precipitation | precipitation generated by the forced ascent of moist air over a mountain barrier |
| Rainshadow | a belt of dry climate, exists on the lee side of many mountain ranges. Several of the great deserts of the world are of this type. |
| Chinook winds | Results from turbulent mixing of lower and upper air in the lee range. The upper air, having little moisture to begin with is dried and heated by pressure and adiabatic warming as it quickly descends. Dry, warm winds often occur on the lee side of a mountain range. These winds cause extremely rapid evaporation of snow or soil moisture.. Santa Anna winds is an example. |
| Convectional Precipitation | when a body of warm moist air is forced to rise, this process can set off convection activity-- consists of strong updrafts taking place within a convection cell. |
| Convection cells | individual columns of strong updrafts |
| Thunderstorms | an intense, local convection storm associated with cumulonimbus cloud and yielding heavy ppt, along with lightning, thunder and someimtes the fall of hail or snow |
| What are the two classes of atmospheric pollutants? | particular matter and chemical pollutants |
| Particular matter | solid and liquid particles capable of residing for long periods in the atmosphere (dust and smoke); form the nuclei |
| Chemical Pollutants | compounds in the gaseous state, CO, SO2, NO, NO2, NO3; absorbed by water |
| Smog | when particles and chemical pollutants are present in considerable density over an urban area |
| Haze | when the concentration of particles and chemical pollutants are less dense but still obscuring visibility of distant objects |
| Acid rain | rainwater having an abnormally high content of the sulfate ion and showing a pH between 2 and 5 as a reasult of air pollution by combustion products of fuels having high sulfur, content |
| Acid fallout | in dry weather, sulfates and oxides of nitrogen can fall from the atmosphere and coat soils, plant, etc. |
| Acid deposition | combination of acid rain and fallout of acid particles from the atmosphere |
| What are the environmental effects of acid rain/deposition on natural systems? | acidification of lakes and streams; excessive leaching of nutrients from the soil; various metabolic disturbances to organisms; and upsetting the balances of predators to prey ratios in aquatic systems. |
| Squall lines | line of thunder clouds |
| cyclone | center of low atmospheric pressure |
| Cyclonic storms | intense weather disturbance within a moving cyclon generating strong winds, cloudiness and ppt |
| What are the 3 classes of Moving Cyclones? | Wave cyclone, Tropical cyclone, and Tornado |
| Air masses | body of air mass in which the upward gradients of temperature and moisture are fairly uniform over a large area-- may be as large as a continent. Characterized by a distinctive combo of temp, lapse rate, and specific humidity |
| Front | an air mass that has a sharply defined distinct boundary between itself and neighboring ir masses; surface contact between two unlike air masses |
| Source regions | land (forest or desert) or ocean which strongly affect the characteristics of air masses. Air masses move from one region to another following the patterns of barometric pressures. |
| Cold front | a strong cold air that invades a warm air mass; usually in a Wedge shape. Coldest and denses air mass remains in contact with the ground and forces warm air to rise, its slope is 1 to 40 km horizontal distance; associated with strong atmospheric disturbances |
| Warm front | moving weather front alonf which a warm air mass is sliding up over a cold air mass. Leads to the production of stratiform clouds and ppt. WIth this process cold air mass remains in contact with the ground and the warm air mass is forced to rise as if it were ascending a long ramp. Have a lower slope with the rise over run being 1 in 200. Represent more stable atmospheric conditions and lack the turbulent air motions of the cold front. |
| Occluded front | weather front along which a moving cold front has overtaken a warm front, forcing the warm air mass aloft |
| Wave Cyclone | traveling vortex-like cyclone involving interaction of cold and warm air masses along sharply defined fronts. The dominante type of weather disturbance common in the artic and mid-latitudes. Seen in Galvestion in late fall and winter. Steered by Jeet streams, and can be mild to severe |
| Jet streams | narrow meandering currents of high speed winds near the tropopause blowing from a generaly westerly direction and often exceeding a speed of 250 mph |
| Trough of low pressure | lies between two large anticyclones (high pressure systems) one of cold dry polar air and the other of warm moist maritime air mass. Air is converging from opposite directions on both sides of the front.. with the formation of the occluded fronts |
| Tornado | a small but very intense storm, 75- 318 miles/hr winds, base can be 300-315 feet, formed by cold air hitting warm air, fast rising cumulonumbus clouds, mainly north america |
| Tropical Cyclone | "willie willie" "typhoon" mild to intense storm, common in the subtropics and tropics. Have a depression or easterly wave (thunderstorm) to a hurricane |
| Water spouts | tornados over the water, not usually as stong as the lang version |
| What are the 7 characteristics of a Tropical Cyclone? | develops over 8deg to 15 deg N &S; but not close to the Equator, originates as aweak low which deepens and intensifies growing into a circular low, high sea surface temp of >80 deg., storm moves westward through the trade-wind belt, becomes almost circular storm with a center of extremely low pressure in which winds are spiralling at high speeds, storm diamete of hurricane may be 100-300 miles and wind speeds average 75 to 125 mph, central eye with calm winds |
| climate | average weather over a given time |
| The Koppen climate system | shorthand codes of letters designating major climate groups, subgroups within the major groups and further definition to distinguish seasonal characteristics. |
| What are the 5 major climate groups? | A- Tropical Rainy Climate, B- Dry Climate, C- Mild Humid Climate (subtropical), D- Snowy Forest (Temperate) Climate, and E- Polar Climate |
| A-? | Tropical Rainy Climate |
| Tropical Rainy Climate- | (A) average temperature of every month is above 64.4 deg. F, No winter season, water surplus. |
| B- ? | Dry Climate |
| Dry Climate- | (B) evaporation exceeds ppt on the average thoughout the year, no water surplus, no permanent streams originate in this climate zone |
| C- ? | Mild Humid (subtropical) Climate |
| Mild Humid (subtropical) Climate- | (C) coldest month has an average temp under 64.4 deg F but above 26.6 deg F. At least one moneth has an average temp above 50 deg F. Has both summer and winter. |
| D- ? | Snowy Forest (Temperate) Climate |
| Snowy Forest (Temperate) Climate- | (D) coldest month has an average temperaute < 26.6 deg. f. Average temp of the warmest month >50 deg F |
| E- ? | Polar Climate |
| Polar Climate- | (E) average temperature of every month is <50 deg F. NO true summer; "Boreal" |
| What are the 8 major climate subgroups? | S- Semiarid/steepe, W- arid (desert), f- moist, w- dry season in winter, s- dry season in summer, M- rainforest climate, despite short, dry season, T- tundra, F- forest |
| S- | Semiarid/Steppe |
| W- | Arid (desert) |
| f- | moist |
| w- | dry season in winter |
| s- | dry season in summer |
| M- | rainforest climate, despite short, dry seasons; Monsoon style ppt cycle; associated with A and D climates. |
| T- | tundra; associated with E climate |
| F- | frost; assocated with E Climate |
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