Tom Rippeth practice questions

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The bathymetry of the ocean can be shown as?
The depth
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What body of water connects the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans
The Mediterranean Sea
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Why does the Moon have phases?
Due to different angular positions of the Moon, Earth and the Sun
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How does the gravitation attraction of a planet changes with distance away from the planet?
the force strength weakens with the distance squared from the source
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Why are there two tides a day?
As the Earth-moon system rotates around a common centre of mass, the gravitaional pull of the moon = one "bulge" The Centrifugal force pulls water away from the Earth's surface, creating second "bulge"
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Does mixing together of two water masses produce water which lighter or heavier than the denser of the two water masses used in the mixture.
Lighter
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Does sea ice formation increase or decrease salinity
Increase
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Does sea ice melting increase or decrease salinity
Decrease
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Does sea ice affect sea level rise
It does not
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The tide is characterised by a tidal amplitude, a tidal phase and a tidal range. Explain what each term refers to.
Amplitude - half the tidal range Tidal phase - time of high water relative to high water time at Greenwich Tidal range - difference between high and low tide
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What sort of current is the Kuroshio current in the North Pacific an example of?
Western thermohaline circulation
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The temperature near the bottom of the ocean, even at the equator, is close to zero degrees Centigrade. Why is this?
A typical ocean harvests a depth of 4-5km, whereas the suns rays can only penetrate a maximum of roughly 100m, meaning that the bottom water cannot be heated
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Which two forces balance to give a GEOSTROPHIC balance?
Pressure gradient force and the Coriolis force
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Explain the force balance involved in the formation of an Ekman Spiral?
1. The drag force imposed by a wind on an ocean surface pulls the water in the winds direction 2. The wind momentum is immediately deflected by the Coriolis force 3. Friction means that the top layer of the ocean drags the layer beneath it 4. This re
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Formula for flushing time
Time (secs) = Volume (m3) / freshwater discharge (Q)
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Difference between speed and velocity
Speed = scalar Velocity = Vector
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Is weight scalar or vector
Scalar
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What forces balance for Geostrophic flow
Pressure gradient force and Coriolis force
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What forces for steady state flow
Gravity and buoyancy
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What is the mean direction of the flow in an Ekman Spiral?
At an angle of 90 degrees to the wind
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In what features is most of the Ocean’s Kinetic Energy associated
Tides
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Identify Western and Eastern boundary currents.
Western - The gulf stream Eastern - the California Current
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What body of water connects the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans

Back

The Mediterranean Sea

Card 3

Front

Why does the Moon have phases?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

How does the gravitation attraction of a planet changes with distance away from the planet?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Why are there two tides a day?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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