General Oceanography Essay

Each essay answer should be 150-250 words long, roughly 10 to 15 sentences. Begin your answers at first principles, be as thorough and comprehensive, as time allows, and do not assume that the grader knows anything about the subject matter.

1. Describe chemical composition of seawater and the sources of the chemical constituents that compose this liquid.
2. Describe the variation in sea surface water temperature, from the equator to the polar regions, both north and south, and explain the cause of this variation.
3. What is meant by the term, sea surface salinity, and describe the variation in sea surface salinity, from the equator to the polar regions, both north and south, and explain the factors that contribute to this variation.
4. How is oceanic salinity measured and calculated?
5. Describe the variation in ocean temperature, from the sea surface to the deep water (assuming a water depth of 5000 meters), and explain the factors that contribute to this variation.
6. How is ocean temperature measured?
7. What is meant by the term, seawater density, and describe the variation in seawater density, from the sea surface to the deep water (assuming a water depth of 5000 meters), and explain the factors that contribute to this variation.
8. Describe the physical and chemical conditions in roughly 75% of the world ocean, and the processes that influence these conditions.
9. What is meant by the term, dissolved oxygen in seawater, and describe the variation in dissolved oxygen in seawater, from the sea surface to the deep water (assuming a water depth of 5000 meters), and explain the factors that contribute to this variation.

10.What is meant by the term, biolimiting nutrients, and describe the variation in biolimiting nutrients in seawater, from the sea surface to the deep water (assuming a water depth of 5000 meters), and explain the factors that contribute to this variation.

11.What is meant by the term, biolimiting nutrients, and describe the variation in biolimiting nutrients in the surface water, from the equator to the polar regions, both north and south, and from the middle of the ocean to the coastline? Explain the factors that contribute to this variation.

12.What is meant by the term, marine primary productivity, and describe the variation in primary productivity in the surface water, from the equator to the polar regions, both north and south, and from the middle of the ocean to the coastline? Explain the factors that contribute to this variation.

13. What is meant by the term, trophic pyramid, and describe how this relates to a marine food web?

14. What is meant by the term, biological pump, and describe how this term relates to the transport and storage on carbon, and nutrients, in the ocean environment?

15. Describe the conditions that an organism experiences in the mid- water (twilight) environment and give an example of how these conditions might influence the metabolism, features or lifestyle of an organism in this environment.

16. Describe 5 examples of how scientists study the waters below the surface (mixed) layer and the organisms contained therein.

17. Describe how scientists locate hydrothermal vents on the seafloor.

18. Describe the complete cycle of hydrothermal circulation that results chimney features at seafloor vents.

19. Describe how hydrothermal circulation influences ocean salinity?

20.Describe the fluids that are expelled from a hydrothermal vent, and how these fluids support a marine ecosystem.

21.Describe how life-sustaining energy is obtained and converted into organic matter, and how this conversion forms of the basis for the hydrothermal vent ecosystem.

22. Describe the environmental conditions that organisms experience at a hydrothermal vent.

23. What is a harmful algal bloom (HAB), how might human activities contribute to the formation of HABs, and how might such a bloom influence a marine food web all the way up to marine mammals.

24. What is a “dead zone” and describe how this feature commonly forms in some coastal regions?

25. What is meant by the term, ocean acidification, explain how it is formed, and the potential impact on some organisms that make their shells out of calcium carbonate?

26.What is meant by the term, iron fertilization, explain what it was designed to potentially counteract and how, and what are some of the concerns about its long-term implementation?

27.Describe the SOFeX experiment, including some of the previous research that laid the groundwork for the project, the question that was addressed, the nature of the methodologies used in the experiment to test the iron hypothesis, and the results of the experiment.