Ch. 14 Vocabulary

1. Ch. 14 Vocabulary

2. Ocean current • movement of ocean water that follows a regular pattern

3. Surface current • horizontal movement of ocean water that is caused by wind and that occurs at or near the ocean’s surface

4. Coriolis effect • apparent curving of the path of a moving object from an otherwise straight path due to the Earth’s rotation

5. Deep current • stream like movement of ocean water far below the surface

6. Upwelling • movement of deep, cold, and nutrient-rich water in the surface

7. El Nino • change in the water temperature in the Pacific Ocean that produces a warm current

8. La Nina • change in the eastern Pacific Ocean in which the surface water temperature becomes unusually cool

9. Undertow • subsurface current that is near shore and that pulls objects out to sea

10. Long shore current • water current that travels near and parallel to the shoreline

11. Whitecap • bubbles in the crest of a breaking wave

12. Swell • one of a group of long ocean waves that have steadily traveled a great distance from their point of generation

13. Tsunami • giant ocean wave that forms after a volcanic eruption, submarine earthquake

14. Storm surge • local rise in sea level near the shore that is caused by strong winds from a storm

15. Tide • periodically rise and fall of water level in oceans and other large bodies of water

16. Tidal range • difference in levels of ocean water at high tide and low tide

17. Spring tide • tide of increased range that occurs 2 times a month

18. Neap tide • tide of minimum range that occurs during the first and third quarters of the moon