| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Hydrologic systems | the exchange of water between rivers, streams, tributaries, glaciers, etc. The surface and groundwater of earth. |
| Salinity | amount of dissolved salts in water. |
| Turbidity | A cloudy condition in water due to suspended silt or organic matter |
| Freshwater | Ponds, lakes, rivers; tied closely to terrestrial habitats. <3% of the Earth's surface. |
| Brackish water | slightly saline water (between 0.5 and 30 ppm salt), common in estuaries |
| The water cycle | Liquid water from the ocean evaporates, condenses to form clouds, falls to the Earth as precipitation, and returns to the ocean as runoff. |
| Archimede's principle | the magnitude of a buoyant force on a completely or partially submerged object always equals the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. |
| Turbulence | unstable flow of liquid or gas |
| Viscosity | resistance to flow; a lava with low viscosity spreads quickly, and one with high viscosity flows sluggishly |
| Hydrostatic pressure | Pressure exerted by a liquid on the surfaces of walls that contain the liquid |
| Watershed | an area of land from which all precipitation and sediments flow into the same major stream or stream system. |
| Ocean circulation | the large scale movement of waters in the ocean basins. Winds drive surface circulation, and the cooling and sinking of waters in the polar regions drive deep circulation. |
| Waves | Water surface ripples generated by wind. |
| Wave crest | The top peak of a wave |
| Trough | lowest point between waves. |
| Wave height | vertical distance from trough to peak. |
| Wavelength | The horizontal distance between wave peaks. |
| Tides | Daily changes in ocean height due to gravitational attraction between the Earth and the moon.( flood tides=, ebb tides= toward the ocean, spring tides=high, neap tides=low) |
| Tidal bores | high, breaking waves that advance up an estuary as the tide rises |
| Tsunami | a large wave created by an underwater earthquake or landslide. |
| Estuaries | environments where terrestrial, freshwater, and seawater habitats overlap. Act as 'kidneys' to the ocean |
| Bays | areas of water bordered by land on three sides that open into open water. |
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