Download Ocean Vocabulary

Ocean Vocabulary
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
Oceanographer - A scientist who studies oceans.
Sonar: ocean floor mapping which stands for sound navigation and ranging
Abyssal plain: a smooth, nearly flat region of the ocean floor
Mid-ocean Ridge: a continuous range of mountains that winds around Earth that are under water
Trench: A canyon in the ocean floor, it is so deep that you can’t see the bottom
Plates: pieces of the Earth’s crust along with parts of the upper mantle that move slowly
Seafloor Spreading: new strips of rock that are added to the ocean floor over millions of years
Plankton: tiny algae and animals that float in water and are carried by waves and currents.
Nekton: free-swimming animals that can move throughout the water column
Benthos: organisms that inhabit the ocean floor.
Water column: the layers of the ocean as they descend from the surface to the bottom. Surface zone: from surface to
200 meters. Transition zone from the bottom of the surface zone to 1km. Deep zone from 1 km to the ocean floor.
Food web: all the feeding relationships that exist in a habitat
Atoll :a ring shaped reef surrounding a shallow lagoon
Bioluminescence: the production of light by living things
Estuary - The area where the river meets the ocean, and the freshwater meets and mixes with saltwater.
Brackish - water that is a mixture of freshwater and saltwater.
Marine ecosystems - Part of the largest aquatic system on the planet, covering over 70% of the Earth's surface. Some
examples of important marine ecosystems are: oceans, estuaries and salt marshes, coral reefs, mangrove forests,
lagoons, seagrass beds, and intertidal systems.
Bicarbonates - A substance that forms when carbon dioxide is removed from water and used by marine organisms to
form calcium carbonate shells
Hydrothermal Vents - A deep sea opening through which hot nutrient rich water pours into the aphotic zone allowing
chemosynthesis to support extremophiles
Photic zone - The upper layer of a body of water delineated by the depth to which enough sunlight can penetrate to
permit photosynthesis.
Upwelling - A process in which deep, cold water rises toward the surface of the ocean.
Aphotic Zone - The portion of a lake or ocean where there is little or no sunlight.
Continental Shelf - The area of seabed around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow compared with the
open ocean. The continental shelf is geologically part of the continental crust.
Continental Slope - The slope between the outer edge of the continental shelf and the deep ocean floor.
Intertidal Zone - The area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide (in other words, the area between
tide marks)
Neritic Zone - The relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately 200m in
depth.
Oceanic Zone - Begins in the area offshore where the water measures 200 meters (656 feet) deep or deeper. It is the
region of open sea beyond the edge of the continental shelf and includes 65% of the ocean's completely open water.
Oceanography - The branch of science that deals with the physical and biological properties and phenomena of the sea.
North Atlantic Oscillation - A climatic phenomenon in the North Atlantic Ocean of fluctuations in the difference of
atmospheric pressure at sea level between the Icelandic low and the Azores high.
El Nino - An irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region and
beyond every few years, characterized by the appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off northern Peru and
Ecuador, typically in late December.
Hydrothermal vents - An opening in the sea floor out of which heated mineral-rich water flows.
Oceanic ridge - An elevated region with a central valley on an ocean floor at the boundary between two diverging
tectonic plates where new crust forms from upwelling magma.
Saltwater - Of or living in the sea.
Salinity - The saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water.
Submersibles: underwater vehicles that are built of strong materials to resist pressure, they can be man powered or by
remote
SCUBA: underwater breathing apparatus (an aqualung)
Buoy: an anchored float that is used as a navigation device
Phytoplankton: free floating algae and microscopic plants in the ocean
Zooplankton: tiny animals that float in the ocean
Pelagic zone: the open ocean or sea
Aquaculture : the rearing of aquatic animals or plants
Ocean Vocabulary
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
Oceanographer - A scientist who studies oceans.
Sonar: ocean floor mapping which stands for sound navigation and ranging
Abyssal plain: a smooth, nearly flat region of the ocean floor
Mid-ocean Ridge: a continuous range of mountains that winds around Earth that are under water
Trench: A canyon in the ocean floor, it is so deep that you can’t see the bottom
Plates: pieces of the Earth’s crust along with parts of the upper mantle that move slowly
Seafloor Spreading: new strips of rock that are added to the ocean floor over millions of years
Plankton: tiny algae and animals that float in water and are carried by waves and currents.
Nekton: free-swimming animals that can move throughout the water column
Benthos: organisms that inhabit the ocean floor.
Water column: the layers of the ocean as they descend from the surface to the bottom. Surface zone: from surface to
200 meters. Transition zone from the bottom of the surface zone to 1km. Deep zone from 1 km to the ocean floor.
Food web: all the feeding relationships that exist in a habitat
Atoll :a ring shaped reef surrounding a shallow lagoon
Bioluminescence: the production of light by living things
Estuary - The area where the river meets the ocean, and the freshwater meets and mixes with saltwater.
Brackish - water that is a mixture of freshwater and saltwater.
Marine ecosystems - Part of the largest aquatic system on the planet, covering over 70% of the Earth's surface. Some
examples of important marine ecosystems are: oceans, estuaries and salt marshes, coral reefs, mangrove forests,
lagoons, seagrass beds, and intertidal systems.
Bicarbonates - A substance that forms when carbon dioxide is removed from water and used by marine organisms to
form calcium carbonate shells
Hydrothermal Vents - A deep sea opening through which hot nutrient rich water pours into the aphotic zone allowing
chemosynthesis to support extremophiles
Photic zone - The upper layer of a body of water delineated by the depth to which enough sunlight can penetrate to
permit photosynthesis.
Upwelling - A process in which deep, cold water rises toward the surface of the ocean.
Aphotic Zone - The portion of a lake or ocean where there is little or no sunlight.
Continental Shelf - The area of seabed around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow compared with the
open ocean. The continental shelf is geologically part of the continental crust.
Continental Slope - The slope between the outer edge of the continental shelf and the deep ocean floor.
Intertidal Zone - The area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide (in other words, the area between
tide marks)
Neritic Zone - The relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately 200m in
depth.
Oceanic Zone - Begins in the area offshore where the water measures 200 meters (656 feet) deep or deeper. It is the
region of open sea beyond the edge of the continental shelf and includes 65% of the ocean's completely open water.
Oceanography - The branch of science that deals with the physical and biological properties and phenomena of the sea.
North Atlantic Oscillation - A climatic phenomenon in the North Atlantic Ocean of fluctuations in the difference of
atmospheric pressure at sea level between the Icelandic low and the Azores high.
El Nino - An irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region and
beyond every few years, characterized by the appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off northern Peru and
Ecuador, typically in late December.
Hydrothermal vents - An opening in the sea floor out of which heated mineral-rich water flows.
Oceanic ridge - An elevated region with a central valley on an ocean floor at the boundary between two diverging
tectonic plates where new crust forms from upwelling magma.
Saltwater - Of or living in the sea.
Salinity - The saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water.
Submersibles: underwater vehicles that are built of strong materials to resist pressure, they can be man powered or by
remote
SCUBA: underwater breathing apparatus (an aqualung)
Buoy: an anchored float that is used as a navigation device
Phytoplankton: free floating algae and microscopic plants in the ocean
Zooplankton: tiny animals that float in the ocean
Pelagic zone: the open ocean or sea
Aquaculture : the rearing of aquatic animals or plants