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Updated on 05.05.2015

Ocean 115: Sample Quiz 2

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My Oceanography Courses Ocean-115: Oceanography Ocean-116: Oceanography Lab.

Poorna Pal, MS MBA Ph.D. Professor of Geology Chair, Physical Sciences Division Glendale Community College Phone: (818)240-1000 x 5517 ppal@glendale.edu Office: SG-152 Office Hours: MWF: 10.30 am - 12 noon, SG-152 TTh: 1-2 pm and 5.30-6.30 pm, SG-152 or by appointment

On this page:

True/False Propositions Each question below is either TRUE or FALSE

True

False

Seawater’s average salinity of 34.5‰ means that a gallon of average seawater carries 96.55% pure water (H₂O) and 3.45% dissolved sodium chloride (NaCl), the common salt.

Glendale’s latitude is 34.2°N: we can therefore expect the air pressure here to be generally low and average precipitation generally high.

Water’s density increases as its temperature decreases.

Canary current is a cold water current in the North Atlantic in much the same way as California current is a cold water current in the North Pacific.

Deuterium is a hydrogen isotope with atomic number = 1 and atomic mass = 1.

Multiple-Choice Questions
Each question-item below is a contextually relevant 'TRUE/FALSE' proposition.

This is because these continental margins tend to have poor biological productivity

the surface waters are richer in O₂, and poorer in CO₂, than the deeper waters because of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.

The top layer, X, has high O₂ and low CO₂ content because
this region has abundant photosynthesis that consumes carbon dioxide and produces oxygen.
 

this behavior of changes in density with temperature is clearly because water is an electrically polarized molecule?

global warming will cause sea level world-wide to rise because water absorbs heat and warmer water has lower density than colder water?

water's density increases with salinity?
 

the low air pressures shown here at the equator, 60°N and 60°S latitudes explain why deserts generally cluster about these latitudes?

 the low air pressures shown here at the equator, 60°N and 60°S latitudes explain why rain forests generally cluster about these latitudes, except that no rain forests are seen at 60°S because that region is largely oceanic?

equatorial surface winds blow westwards, against the Earth’s spin, because of Earth's equatorial bulge?
 

the density of 1.027 g/cm³?

the density greater than 1.027 g/cm³?

the temperature of ~6ºC and the salinity a little under 33‰?

Hawaii is so far from the Aleutian trench that, by the time the tsunami reaches Hawaii, it will be too weak to wreck any havoc.

the tides tabulated here are spring tides?

the tides tabulated here are semidiurnal tides?

Short notes
If you can answer these questions, you have prepared well for the first class test. All that remains to be done is to be able to write 50-75 word answers, with sketches and concept maps, as and when appropriate.
 

	Can you name the 4 different kinds of sediments and tell a bit about the origin of each?
	Sediments have been called “the memory of the ocean.”  Is it a long memory?  About how old are the oldest marine sediments?
	How is heat different from temperature?
	What comprises a water molecule?  What are the differences between covalent bonds and hydrogen bonds?
	What is heat capacity?  Is there anything unusual about water’s heat capacity?
	What happens when water freezes?  Boils?
	What is meant by “latent” heat? Can you explain the latent heat of fusion? How about the latent heat of evaporation? Will global warming melt Greenland ice faster, or slower, than evaporating the tropical waters?
	Remember “density stratification?”  Can you think of how seawater might be density stratified?  (Hint:  think of the effects of heat and salinity on seawater’s density.)
	What’s a SOFAR layer?  Does sound travel faster or slower in one?  Why is it a Big Deal?
	What colors of light penetrate deepest into the ocean?  What limits that penetration?
	What’s the “photic zone?” What’s a thermocline?  A halocline?  A pycnocline?
	What carries most of the heat between the equator and the polar regions?  (If this heat were not redistributed, the ocean would boil at the equator and freeze at the poles.)
	What’s average ocean salinity?  What are the most important ions dissolved in water to make seawater?
	Why is seawater salty? Could these salts have come from the land? Could water on Earth be of terrestrial origin? Extraterrestrial? What are the evidences?
	What causes the seasons?
	Can gases dissolve in seawater?  Where does the ocean’s oxygen and carbon dioxide come from?
	How fast does Earth rotate eastward? What is Coriolis effect?  How does it work, and which way does it go in the northern hemisphere? In the southern hemisphere?
	What are the general wind patterns of Earth?  Could you draw them?   Could you label the major winds?
	If I put you at some random place on Earth’s surface, could you predict (roughly) where the winds would be coming from?
	What is a tropical cyclone? Why is our Atlantic coast vulnerable to them? Why not the Pacific coast? Why does our hurricane season last from April through November?
	What about ocean currents?  What causes them?  What influences their direction of flow?
	Do you know what a gyre is?  How many gyres are in the world ocean? How is a western boundary current different from an eastern boundary current? Which surface currents are the fastest?  The warmest?  The coldest?
	Do ocean currents have anything to do with weather along the U.S. west coast?  If so, what influence do they have?
	Can a wind wave ever be in shallow water?  (Stated better:  Can a wind wave ever be considered a shallow water wave?)
	Can a tsunami ever be in deep water?  (Stated better:  Can a tsunami ever be considered a deep water wave?)
	Which ocean waves move fastest?  Is there a relationship between wavelength and wave speed?
	Can you name the parts of an ocean wave (crest, trough, height, period)?
	What’s the “fetch?”  Which ocean basin has the greatest potential fetch?
	Why do the waves break on reaching the shore? Does the geometry of shoreline affect how the waves break?
	What’s a tsunami like in the open sea, away from land?  What happens when a tsunami comes ashore?  Could you surf a tsunami?
	What causes ocean tides?  Which has the greatest effect:  sun or moon or Jupiter?
	How is a spring tide different from a neap tide? What are diurnal, semidiurnal and mixed tides? The California coastline has mixed tides: can we have diurnal tides sometimes? Semidiurnal?