Oceans {ocean} have salt water and currents.
Upwelling water can cause tropical Pacific Ocean warming {El Ni-o}|, every six years.
Downward flowing water can cause tropical Pacific Ocean cooling {La Ni-a}|.
Ocean has 0.9% salt concentration {salinity}|.
long-wave breaker {comber}|.
small bay {cove}|.
Ocean has water flows {current, ocean}|. Surface currents flow in same direction as wind. Beneath them, surface ocean currents have colder-water counter-currents flowing more slowly in opposite direction.
names
Gulf Stream flows along North-America east coast.
Labrador Current flows past Iceland to England.
Peru or Humboldt Current flows along South-America west coast.
California Current flows along North-America west coast.
Kuroshio Current flows off Japan.
Brazil Current flows along South-America east coast.
Besquela Current flows along Africa west coast.
Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) circles Antarctica and keeps tropic waters out.
Ocean has surface currents {drift, ocean}|.
narrow inlet {firth}|.
open ocean {main}|.
fast outward current {rip current}|.
fast outward beach current {riptide}|.
water area {strait}| between islands, allowing passage.
whirlpool {vortex, water}|.
Intersecting currents cause swirling water {whirlpool}|.
Sea meets land {coast, ocean}.
Sea can make small coastline indentations {bay}|.
At shore, low valleys {estuary}| can fill with rising water.
narrow bay {inlet}|, or narrow area between two islands.
At shore, steep glacier valleys {fjord} can fill with rising waters.
Sea can make big coastline indentations {gulf}|.
Oblique currents and waves create beaches, sandbars, and spits on shore, and make offshore sandbars if beach has shallow slope. Quiet water {lagoon}| can be between a sandbar and shore.
Sea has a region {littoral}| between high and low tides.
Water {sound, shore} can be between island and shore.
Ocean zones {ocean floor zones} relate to light. 0 to 600 feet has sunlight. 600 to 4000 feet has twilight. 4000 to 36,000 feet is dark. Deepest trench is 36,000 feet deep.
Sea floor {abyssal plain} is 34 F and has 1000-atmosphere pressure.
Under-sea continent region {continental shelf}| is 8% of ocean and is 400 to 600 feet deep.
Continental shelf goes down to sea floor {continental slope}.
Moon and Sun gravitation moves Earth sea and land {tide}|. Earth gravity and land-and-sea elasticity oppose tides. Shallow-water tide motion makes heat by friction, which takes energy from Earth rotational energy. Earth rotation slows, making each day slightly longer. Earth-Moon distance increases slightly each day.
When Moon is overhead or on opposite side of Earth, continents rise up to six inches and oceans rise several feet {high tide}.
When Moon is to right or left, continents and oceans are at low height {low tide} {slack tide}.
When Moon is overhead or on opposite side of Earth and Sun is to right or left, high tides {neap tide}| are lower, at first-quarter or third-quarter moon.
When Moon and Sun are both overhead or opposite sides of Earth, tide {spring tide}| is extra high, at new or full moon.
Difference {tidal range} between high and low tide is 2 feet in sheltered bays, 5 to 10 feet on open coast, and 30 to 50 feet in V-shaped bays. Tidal currents flow 5 to 10 miles per hour.
Winds cause waves {wave, ocean}|. Wave height and distance increase with wind speed, wind duration, and distance wave has traveled.
Sea bottom near shore slows wave bottom, and top wave part becomes narrow and falls over {breaker}|, where water level becomes less than wave height.
Small swells can superimpose to make big wave {tidal wave}|.
Wave water flows back to ocean along bottom {undertow}|.
Strong winds cause open-water waves {whitecap}| to break.
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Date Modified: 2022.0225