Assignment 5
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Chapter 11
Review Q
1. What is the relationship between the degree of sorting of a sediment deposit and the range in particle size exhibited by the individual sedi-ments? Are well-sorted sediments more likely to be found in continental margins or on the deep-ocean floor? Explain your answer.
The degree of sorting helps describe the variations in the distribution of green size. It tells the extent to which the particles are dispersed on either side of the mean value. The sediment on the deep ocean floor will show more sorting them poorly sorted sediment found on the continental margin because the distance that sediment is transported by running water ocean currents and winds the better sorted it is.
3.
What are the two most common types of biogenous sediment on the ocean floor?
Siliceous ooze & calcareous ooze
5.
Compare the locations and accumulation rates of neritic and pelagic ocean sediment deposits.
Pelagic deposits are found on the deep ocean floor while neritic deposits of her on the continental
margin.
7. Why might it be uncommon to find carbonate ooze in the north central Pacific basin?
The North Pacific Ocean is deep. Any calcareous shells that are produced in the surface ocean dissolve as they fall through the water column. Because the depth is very high.
Critical Thinking Q
1. What sequence of events could account for the presence of relatively coarse sediments on the deep-ocean floor?
Temperature changes, erosion, decay, and decomposition
3.
How might a lower pH of ocean water affect the abundance of calcareous sediment that accumulates on the ocean floor?
Lowering the pH to less alkaline and more acidic levels would cause more calcareous materials to dissolve in the sea water so it would reduce the abundance of calcareous sediment on the seafloor
5.
What is the significance of the carbonate compensation depth (CCD)? How might ocean acidification affect the CCD?
Calcium carbonate dissolves below 3-4 km depth, so cannot accumulate on the ocean floor. Ocean acidification causes the CCD to move to shallower depth.
7.
What might the dominant sediment type along the eastern Pacific Ocean basin be? Explain.
Pelagic clay deposits are abundant in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin. The terrigenous sediments are low along the eastern continental margin of the Pacific Ocean.
Chapter 12
Review Q
1. Summarize the major lessons from the climate past. Climate changes over different time scales
and many forcing agents and mechanisms drive climate change.
3. Describe major features of the current Holocene epoch. From about 11,700 years ago until 5500 years ago, the Holocene was characterized by the(essentially) complete melting of the Laurentide ice sheet. The Holocene has been generally anepoch of highly variable patterns of temperature and precipitation in both time and space.
5.
Define global radiative equilibrium and describe its significance for Earth's climate. Global radiative equilibrium means that energy entering the earth's planetary system(absorbed solar radiation) equals the energy leaving the system ( infrared radiation emitted tospace). Any change in energy input would change energy output and would shift the earth's planetary system to a new equilibrium and change the entire planet's climate.
7.
Describe the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) has been stable for the past 30 million years and remains barely stable today. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) has undergone episodes of rapid disintegration and may have completely melted at least once in the past 600,000 years. Scientists are concerned about the possibility of a total collapse of WAIS, which could raise sea level an estimated 5.8 m.
Critical Thinking Q
1. How are proxy climatic data sources used to reconstruct past climate conditions?
It is not always clear whether the signal they record reflects only local conditions or is representative of regional or global conditions. Their accuracy is often unknown or untested.
They often reflect more than one variable, making interpretation difficult. The absolute, and even
the relative, timing of the record is often not certain.
3. How does the thermal inertia of the ocean affect global climate change?
Due to water's high heat capacity, this absorbed energy shows up as only a modest ocean warming, which in turn dampens the temperature change on land and lowers the global average trend.
5. Explain how a global climate model differs from a numerical weather prediction model.
Climate models are an extension of weather forecasting. But whereas weather models make predictions over specific areas and short timespans, climate models are broader and analyze long timespans. They predict how average conditions will change in a region over the coming decades
7.
Describe how polar ice can be positive feedback under warming and cooling conditions. Positive feedback is an amplifier. There's positive feedback in the climate system known as the ice albedo feedback, which operates on the state variable of temperature. An input perturbation, such as a rise in greenhouse gases, drives the temperature up a bit. Ice melts, reducing the albedo
(the reflectivity of the Earth), allowing the dark ground to absorb more sunlight than the ice would have, warming things up more. This is called positive feedback because the direction of the feedback loop agrees with each other. Positive feedback can work the opposite direction as well, taking a cold time and making it even colder. A positive feedback loop amplifies an excursion in either direction.
Chapter 13
Review Q
1.
What was the earliest period of major exploration and colonization in the tropical Pacific Ocean?
The earliest period of tropical Pacific Ocean exploration and colonization took place from about BCE 2000 to 500 when the Lapita people ventured from the western tropical Pacific.
3.
Why did the field of oceanography experience a boost during World War II and the Cold War?
Oceanography experienced a surge during World War II and the Cold War with advances in new technologies to observe the ocean and forecast weather to improve national defense of the West and the Soviet Bloc.
5.
How do remote sensing technologies improve the study of the ocean?
Remote sensing allows scientists to gather data on the properties of an object without being in direct contact with the object. Remote sensing technologies (e.g., by satellite) provide much greater and more detailed coverage of the ocean in a much shorter interval of time than is possible by ships at sea.
7.
What are the major research areas of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)?
IODP addresses scientific questions on a global scale in four main research areas: Earth's climate
system, the deep (subseafloor) biosphere, Earth's dynamics (plate dynamics), and Earth hazards, such as earthquakes.
Critical Thinking Q
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1.
Identify three seafaring communities, and describe how they used the ocean.
Three main types of submersibles have been used on recent NOAA Ocean Exploration-supported
missions: human-occupied vehicles (HOVs), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). ROVs can reach depths of 19685 feet, and transmit data to a ship, used to explore hydrothermal vents and mid-ocean ridges. AUV's can do that too, and they have robotic arms to take stuff back to the surface. Through the use of this technology, we have increased our knowledge of mid to deep ocean marine life.
3. How did the 1872-1876 Challenger Expedition serve as a model for the modern scientific study of the ocean? Modern oceanography began with the Challenger Expedition between 1872 and 1876. It was the first expedition organized specifically to gather data on a wide range of ocean features, including ocean temperatures, seawater chemistry, currents, marine life, and the geology of the seafloor.
5.
What are the advantages of satellite-based remote sensing over voyages of exploration?
They show considerable environmental detail while also providing the widest possible context and the detail and beauty they reveal have changed our knowledge and our view of the planet
7.
What is the significance of the Slocum glider for current and future oceanographic study?
The Slocum Glider is a unique mobile network component capable of moving to specific locations and depths and occupying controlled spatial and temporal grids. Driven in a saw tooth vertical profile by variable buoyancy, the glider moves both horizontally and vertically.
Chapter 14
Review Q
1. Define Ocean stewardship and name three essential components. Stewardship of the ocean and its resources involves responsibly managing all resources to ensure
a healthy ocean for future generations. Essential components of ocean stewardship include actions to protect the ocean and its living and non-living resources for now and in the future by restoring ecosystems, managing fisheries, and protecting threatened marine species.
3.
List the various ways that human activities can adversely affect ocean ecosystems and describe
each one briefly.
Human activities can harm ocean ecosystems by adding substances in large enough quantities or altering the ocean ecosystem sufficiently to cause adverse effects to species within the ecosystem. Examples of such activities include excessive discharges of harmful wastes such as
nutrients and carbon dioxide, overfishing, construction of structures, degradation of recreation and aesthetic value, and other human activities that adversely affect ocean ecosystems by changing currents, distributions of dissolved substances or heat, or sediment transport patterns.
5.
Describe why it is important to protect estuaries.
It is important to protect estuaries because they are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth and act as a protective nursery for many open ocean species.
7.
What is bycatch? Identify some of the ways bycatch occurs. Bycatch includes fish and other marine animals that are caught alongside the targeted commercial species. The non-targeted animals may become trapped in nets or gathered up during
trawling or dragging.
Critical Thinking Q
1.
Differentiate between contamination and pollution. Contamination is simply the presence of a substance where it should not be or at concentrations above background. Pollution is contamination that results in or can result in adverse biological effects to resident communities. All pollutants are contaminants, but not all contaminants are pollutants. 3.
Identify the two different approaches used to evaluate toxicity and discuss the limitations of each. Evaluation of toxicity involves two steps: hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. Hazard identification includes a description of the specific forms of toxicity (neurotoxicity, carcinogenicity, etc.) that can be caused by a chemical and an evaluation of the conditions under which these forms of toxicity might appear in exposed humans. Data used in Hazard identification typically are derived from animal studies and other types of experimental work, but
can also come from epidemiologic studies. Dose-response evaluation is a more complex examination of the conditions under which the toxic properties of a chemical might be evidenced
in exposed people, with particular emphasis on the quantitative relationship between dose and toxic response. 5.
How would adherence to the maximum sustainable yield help prevent overfishing? Adherence to the maximum sustainable yield will help prevent overfishing by less adult fish being killed.
7.
Why is the age of a fish an important consideration in the recovery of a fish population that has been depleted by overfishing? The age of a fish is an important consideration in the recovery of a fish population that has been depleted by overfishing because it provides projections of future events such as how many new fish will be born and survive from year to year.
Chapter 15
Review Q
1.
How far does the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extend seaward from the shore?
The EEZ extends seaward to 370 km (200 nm) or to the edge of the continental shelf, depending on which distance is greater.
3.
Why does the U.S. have the largest EEZ in the world?
The U.S. has the largest EEZ in the world due to the lengthy coastlines of the contiguous 48 states combined with the vast EEZ area associated with Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S.Virgin Islands, and various U.S. Pacific protectorates and islands, including American Samoa and Guam.
5. What are the goals of the Coastal Zone Management Program?
The Coastal Zone Management Program aims to balance multiple uses and preservation of the U.S. coastal zone. The specific goals are "to preserve, protect, develop, and where possible, to restore or enhance the resources of the Nation's coastal zone" and to encourage the states to develop and implement plans "to achieve wise use of the land and water resources of the coastal zone.
7. What are fossil fuels and how are they generally derived? Fossil fuels come from natural geologic processes that bury decomposing organic matter, compress, heat, and alter their chemical makeup. The three most commonly used fossil fuel types
are coal, petroleum (oil), and natural gas.
Critical Thinking Q's
1.
Describe how the ideas of Dutch legal scholar Hugo Grotius influenced international ocean policy.
Grotius believed that only wars with just causes should be allowed. Because there is no judge for
judicial settlement between nations, war as a means to solve conflicts must be tolerated. However, causes of war should be limited to causes for litigation. He urged freedom of the seas to all nations in his treatise Mare Liberum (Sea Free). It was premised on the assumption that the
seas major known resource-fish- exists in inexhaustible supply.
3.
What are some of the positive or negative political and environmental effects of the establishment of EEZs by UNCLOS?
It forms the basis for conducting maritime commerce so that one flag state does not hinge
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upon the rights of others and the resources of seas and oceans are fairly distributed. It codifies the laws of freedom of navigation, important for national security. However, people state that UNCLOS would also allow global bureaucrats to overrule U.S. naval operations and require U.S.
companies to pay royalties to the International Seabed Authority.
5.
Why are Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean given special stats for exploitation of marine resources?
Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean are given special status for the exploitation of marine resources due to the signing of the Antarctic Treaty. Essentially, a treaty was signed by many countries that decreed that these oceans were to be used only for scientific research.
7.
Describe the trends in global energy consumption and atmospheric CO since the 1960s.2 Between 1850 and 1960, the world generally experienced a constant growth of emissions, due largely to industrialization and population growth. In 1960-1970 the growth rate was slightly less
than about 1 ppm/y, but the growth-rate has been steadily increasing, reaching 2.40±0.26ppm/y (mean ± 2 std dev) by the middle of 2022. This means that currently, the concentration of carbon dioxide is growing by about 2.40 ppm per year.