Topography of the indian ocean including major ridges and basins. Describe the topography that you find in the middle of the atlantic ocean a plain, a valley, a mountain chain, etc. The four major oceans of the earth are pacific ocean, atlantic ocean, indian. The most striking feature of the atlantic ocean is the presence of midatlantic ridge which runs from north to the south paralleling the s shape of the ocean itself, dividing the atlantic into two deeper basins on the either side. An important characteristic in the ocean floors topography is the main system of sub. Bottom reliefs of various oceans oceanography geography.
Using an appropriate scale, label the vertical axis depth in kilometers. The ocean widens to the south of equator and attains the maximum width of 5,920 km at 35s latitude. A receiver intercepts the echo reflected from the ocean bottom and a clock measures the time it takes for the sound wave to travel to the ocean bottom and back. There is a printable worksheet available for download here so you can take the quiz with pen and paper from the quiz author. For example, floats in the atlantic and pacific oceans preferentially spread along fh contours rather than across them, indicating that flow responds to topography lacasce, 2000. North cayman and puerto rico are the two troughs and romanche and south sandwich are the two trenches in the atlantic ocean. The amoc is a meridionally coherent twolayer circulation with warm water flowing northward in the upper 1. The numbers in the longitude column give the ships location at 19 points in the atlantic ocean. Atlantic ocean, body of salt water covering about onefifth of earths surface. It is thought that the atlantic ocean formed about million years ago when the super continent pangaea started drifting apart due to sea floor spreading. It is only 2560 km wide between liberian coast and cape sao roque. The atlantic ocean is the second largest of the worlds five oceans after the pacific ocean, but larger than the indian ocean, southern ocean, and arctic ocean. The ocean basin model is based on a model by henry stommel written about in the westward intensification of winddriven ocean currents from transactions of the american geophysical union.
Ocean surface topography or sea surface topography, also called ocean dynamic topography, are highs and lows on the ocean surface, similar to the hills and valleys of earths land surface depicted on a topographic map. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. Map showing bottom topography of the midatlantic continental margin, cape cod to albemarle sound imap 1987 a by. North atlantic deep water and antarctic bottom water. Jinyi yu the state of oceans temperature warm on the upper ocean, cold in the deeper ocean. Dynamic ocean topography for the northeast pacific and its continental margins, geophys. Chapter 8 the pacific ocean after these two lengthy. Vortex merger near a topographic slope in a homogeneous. Atlantic ocean lacks significant troughs and trenches, which are most characteristic to the pacific ocean. Coastal topographynortheast atlantic coast, posthurricane sandy, 2012 hilary f. By plotting ocean depth data taken across the entire atlantic ocean from north america to europe students will reveal the major topographic features of the atlantic including. Map showing deepsea topography off the atlantic coast of the united states. The surface currents of the atlantic ocean primarily correspond to the system of prevailing winds with such modifications as are imposed on the movement of the water by land boundaries.
The oldest oceanic crust is around 280 ma in the eastern mediterranean, and the oldest parts of the open ocean are around 180 ma on either side of the north atlantic. The data are used to describe structures of the average eulerian circulation and of the. The spreading of the sea floor in the atlantic ocean continues to date at a rate of 110 centimeters 0. Midatlantic ridge, rift valley, continental shelf, deep ocean floor and seamounts. Examine the topography of the atlantic and pacific ocean basins you can see in figure 1. Ocean floor relief maps detailed maps of sea and ocean. Compare and contrast the size and topography of the atlantic ocean basin to that of the pacific ocean basin.
Theyll give your presentations a professional, memorable appearance the kind of sophisticated look that todays audiences expect. The ridge is about 14,000 km long and about 4,000 metres high. Indian ocean is the third largest of the worlds oceanic divisions. Temperature, salinity, density and ocean circulation. The atlantic ocean was formed due to drifting of north and south americas to the west due to plate tectonics. The atlantic ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans, with an area of about. The shading indicates the ocean floor is is not flat and featureless. The atlantic ocean is the worlds second largest ocean, behind the pacific ocean. In exploring hydrothermal vents and ocean ridges, he made more than 100 trips to the depths in submersibles like the american alvin, russian mirs, and japanese shinkais.
One of the most prominent ocean circulation systems is the atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc. North and central pacific characterized by maximum depth and a. Tropical rain belts in the atlantic ocean move farther southward. Other factors that influence the currents are regional excesses of evaporation or precipitation, regional differences in cooling or heating, friction, and earths. Construct an ocean bottom profile on the graph titled north atlantic ocean bottom profile using the ocean depth data provided. This article treats the physical and human geography of the atlantic ocean as a. What are the physical characteristics of the atlantic.
Atlantic ocean maps and geography and physical features. Figure 1 simulated ocean temperature change caused by freshwater input in the highlatitude north atlantic. It is difficult to notice when the weight hits the bottom, and the current can also. The open line is the gulf stream path after ring formation, the.
Smoothly connect the points and you will have a crosssectional map of the south atlantic ocean floor. While not suitable for navigational purposes, these maps show structure depths, bottom contours, dropoffs, etc. Winner of the standing ovation award for best powerpoint templates from presentations magazine. Compare and contrast the use of all satellites and submersibles to collect data about the topography of the seafloor. This distinctive physical map of the atlantic ocean floor appeared on national geographic as a supplement to the map of the atlantic. Climate model suggests collapse of atlantic circulation is.
Indeed, the two are often considered together in a single geological province as the atlanticgulf coastal plain. Ocean surface topography definition introduction springer. The effect of the collapse in the model includes a cooling of the northern atlantic ocean and a spread of arctic sea ice. Pdf a new insight into the north atlantic ocean seafloor topography. It may be surprising, considering that parts of the continental crust are close to 4,000 ma. Several outstanding topographic features distinguish the atlantic ocean from the pacific. The important features are the extensive continental shelves less than 250 m deep pink. Bottom photograph of terrigenous sediment on the continental rise south of new. Just as in the pacific ocean it is interspersed with eastward flow both at the surface and below the thermocline. Topographic maps of the sea floor, produced at a 1. Features like the one running down the middle of the atlantic ocean are called midocean ridges. Barotropic theory is often supported by observations. Ocean bottom topography, also known as bathymetry, is the measurement of the depth of large bodies of water. The topography of the northern atlantic ocean is shown in figure 18.
The atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc is part of the oceans global overturning circulation, and amoc variability is linked to climate variability on seasonal to multicentennial timescales delworth and mann, 2000. In reality, because the ocean is stratified, and veloc. Dynamic ocean topography for the northeast pacific and its. The atlantic ocean is bordered by northand south america on the west, while europe and africa on the east. With a total area of about 106,400,000 square kilometres 41,100,000 sq mi, it. Pages in category geology of the atlantic ocean the following 24 pages are in this category, out of 24 total. In part i of this exercise, we examined the depth of the atlantic ocean basin and observed the prominent mid ocean ridge mor near the center of the ocean basin. This is an online quiz called topography of the atlantic ocean.
This ocean is smaller and less deep than the atlantic ocean. The source of the images should be acknowledged as from the woce atlantic ocean atlas. The topography of the sea floor plays an important role in constraining the. It is governed by ocean currents from marginal seas and regional topography, rather than being. Ppt ocean bottom topography powerpoint presentation. Oceanic link between abrupt changes in the north atlantic. Ocean bottom relief with the floors of the three majors. There this water is cooled during winter and forms return currents that merge along the. Chapter 4, potential for abrupt change in the atlantic. Several outstanding topographic features distinguish the atlantic ocean from the pacific and indian.
These variations are expressed in terms of average sea surface height ssh relative to the earths geoid. It begins where the bottom of the continental shelf sharply drops off into a. The atlantic ocean is the youngest of the oceans in the world. Density small in the upper ocean, large in the deeper ocean.
Its shape is roughly triangular with its apex in the north at the bering strait. Upper ocean deep ocean deep ocean circulation surface circulation ess200a prof. Globe model with detailed topography without water. The kiel canal germany, oresund denmarksweden, bosporus turkey, strait of gibraltar moroccospain, and the saint lawrence seaway canadaus are important strategic access waterways. Salinity variations determined by evaporation, precipitation, seaice formation and melt, and river runoff. The main purpose of measuring ocean surface topography is to understand. Mapping the ocean floor now that you have all of your data, you will plot these depths on a graph. Study the map carefully and answer the questions below. The ocean environment unit 1 the ocean basins the once and future ocean 7 for the future atlantic ocean basin. This product is intended to aid fishermen and those needing seafloor features and potential fishing grounds. To access the grid images simply click on one of the outlined volumes in the map. This is particularly true of the north atlantic ocean, the home ground of many oceanographic research institutions.
Zoom in enough to see that although the ridge is a topographic high, it also has a valley the rift valley running along. The rectangular image shown above represents the atlantic ocean above the equator. Many marginal seas, bays and gulfs occur along its boundaries. The atlantic coastal plain stretches from the southern fringe of new england to the gentle topographic divide of the florida peninsula that separates it from the similar gulf coastal plain. Worlds best powerpoint templates crystalgraphics offers more powerpoint templates than anyone else in the world, with over 4 million to choose from.
Gooday introduction theatlanticoceanisalongsinuousoceanwhich originatedduringthemesozoicfollowingthebreak. Atlantic continental shelf and slope of the united states. Midatlantic ridge a submarine mountain range extending from iceland to 60 degrees south walvis ridge submarine ridge in the eastern trough of the south atlantic ocean. Trenches are more prevalent in pacific ocean then atlantic. Hydrographic atlas of the world ocean circulation experiment woce.
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