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When waves travel into areas of shallow water, they begin to be affected by the ocean bottom. [1] The free orbital motion of the water is disrupted, and water particles in orbital motion no longer return to their original position. As the water becomes shallower, the swell becomes higher and steeper, ultimately assuming the familiar sharp ...
The water environment allows the organism to be soft, watery and huge. To be watery and transparent is a successful way to avoid predation. [1] Sea water can prevent desiccation although it is much saltier than fresh water. For oceanic organism, not like terrestrial plants and animals, water is never a problem.
Stratification in water is the formation in a body of water of relatively distinct and stable layers by density. It occurs in all water bodies where there is stable density variation with depth. Stratification is a barrier to the vertical mixing of water, which affects the exchange of heat, carbon, oxygen and nutrients. [1]
The typical tidal range in the open ocean is about 1 metre (3 feet) – mapped in blue and green at right. Mean ranges near coasts vary from near zero to 11.7 metres (38.4 feet), [ 4 ] with the range depending on the volume of water adjacent to the coast, and the geography of the basin the water sits in. Larger bodies of water have higher ...
The ocean body surrounding the Antarctic is currently the only continuous body of water where there is a wide latitude band of open water. It interconnects the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian oceans, and provide an uninterrupted stretch for the prevailing westerly winds to significantly increase wave amplitudes.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to Oceanography.. Thermohaline circulation. Oceanography (from Ancient Greek ὠκεανός (ōkeanós) 'ocean' and γραφή (graphḗ) 'writing'), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology.
The mixed layer plays an important role in the physical climate. Because the specific heat of ocean water is much larger than that of air, the top 2.5 m of the ocean holds as much heat as the entire atmosphere above it. Thus the heat required to change a mixed layer of 2.5 m by 1 °C would be sufficient to raise the temperature of the ...
Waves can occur on the thermocline, causing the depth of the thermocline as measured at a single location to oscillate (usually as a form of seiche). Alternately, the waves may be induced by flow over a raised bottom, producing a thermocline wave which does not change with time, but varies in depth as one moves into or against the flow.