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| The scientific study of oceans, the life that inhabits them, and their physical characteristics, including the depth and extent of ocean waters, their movement and chemical makeup, and the topography and composition of the ocean floors. Oceanography also includes ocean exploration. Also called oceanology. |
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| The relative proportion of salt in a solution |
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A submerged border of a continent that slopes gradually and extends to a point of steeper descent to the ocean bottom.
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n.
The descent from the continental shelf to the ocean bottom.
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| An abyssal plain is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor, usually found at depths between 3000 and 6000 meters. Lying generally between the foot of a continental rise and a mid-ocean ridge, abyssal plains cover more than 50% of the Earth’s surface.[1][2] They are among the flattest, smoothest and least explored regions on Earth.[3] |
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An underwater mountain rising from the ocean floor and having a peaked or flat-topped summit below the surface of the sea.
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1.
a. To convert or change into a vapor.
b. To draw off in the form of vapor.
2. To draw moisture from, as by heating, leaving only the dry solid portion.
3. To deposit (a metal) on a substrate by vacuum sublimation.
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a. Any form of water, such as rain, snow, sleet, or hail, that falls to the earth's surface.
b. The quantity of such water falling in a specific area within a specific period.
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a. The process by which a gas or vapor changes to a liquid.
b. The liquid so formed.
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| runoff - the occurrence of surplus liquid (as water) exceeding the limit or capacity |
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The process of giving off vapor containing water and waste products, especially through the stomata on leaves or the pores of the skin.
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Water that collects or flows beneath the Earth's surface, filling the porous spaces in soil, sediment, and rocks. Groundwater originates from rain and from melting snow and ice and is the source of water for aquifers, springs, and wells. The upper surface of groundwater is the water table.
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An underground bed or layer of permeable rock, sediment, or soil that yields water.
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1. To cause (liquid, for example) to pass through a porous substance or small holes; filter.
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[image]infiltration - the slow passage of a liquid through a filtering medium; "the percolation of rainwater through the soil"; "the infiltration of seawater through the lava"
percolation
filtration - the process whereby fluids pass through a filter or a filtering medium
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The upper surface of an area filled with groundwater, separating the zone of aeration (the subsurface region of soil and rocks in which the pores are filled with air and usually some water) from the zone of saturation (the subsurface region in which the pores are filled only with water). Water tables rise and fall with seasonal moisture, water absorption by vegetation, and the withdrawal of groundwater from wells, among other factors. The water table is not flat but has peaks and valleys that generally conform to the overlying land surface. Compare potentiometric surface.
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Capable of being passed through or permeated, especially by liquids or gases.
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1. Physics
a. The natural force of attraction exerted by a celestial body, such as Earth, upon objects at or near its surface, tending to draw them toward the center of the body.
b. The natural force of attraction between any two massive bodies, which is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
c. Gravitation.
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a. A disturbance traveling through a medium by which energy is transferred from one particle of the medium to another without causing any permanent displacement of the medium itself.
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The cycle of evaporation and condensation that controls the distribution of the earth's water as it evaporates from bodies of water, condenses, precipitates, and returns to those bodies of water. Also calledhydrologic cycle.
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b. The protection, preservation, management, or restoration of wildlife and of natural resources such as forests, soil, and water.
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a. The top, as of a hill or wave.
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| Noun |
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[image]trough - a narrow depression (as in the earth or between ocean waves or in the ocean bed)
natural depression, depression - a sunken or depressed geological formation
swale - a low area (especially a marshy area between ridges)
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| Coriolis effect - (physics) an effect whereby a body moving in a rotating frame of reference experiences the Coriolis force acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation; on Earth the Coriolis effect deflects moving bodies to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere |
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(hydrology)
A subsurface zone in which water fills the interstices and is under pressure greater than atmospheric pressure. Also known as phreatic zone; saturated zone.
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The subsurface sediment above the water table containing air and water. Also known as unsaturated zone; vadose zone; zone of suspended water. |
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Cyclic counterpart to El Niño, consisting of a cooling of surface waters of the Pacific Ocean along the western coast of South America. While its local effects on weather and climate are generally the opposite of those associated with El Niño, its global effects can be more complex. La Niña events often follow El Niños, which occur at irregular intervals of about 5–10 years.
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a warm seasonal surface current with lower salinity that occurs in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean.
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The process by which water rises from a deeper to a shallower depth, usually as a result of divergence of offshore currents. |
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| Point source pollution, on the most basic level, is water pollution that comes from a single, discrete place, typically a pipe |
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| Removal of dissolved salts from seawater and from the salty waters of inland seas, highly mineralized groundwaters, and municipal wastewaters. Desalination makes such otherwise unusable waters fit for human consumption, irrigation, industrial applications, and other purposes |
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a communication and position-finding device used in underwater navigation and target detection using echolocation
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| Non point source pollution |
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| Nonpoint source pollution comes from oil, pet waste, pesticide, herbicide, fertilizer, road salt, bacteria, sediment, and any other contaminant that ends up on the ground naturally or from human activity. |
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