Name ______________________________________________
Date _____________________
Period _________
Currents, Tides & Waves, Severe Weather Final Test Review
Tides (use tide booklet and tide review handout)
1. Tides are the:
2. Tides are most strongly influenced by the __________________________.
3. When the moon is at full or new moon phases, the tidal current velocities are ________________________ and
are called ________________________ tides.
4. _____________________________ tides occur when the sun, earth, and moon form a right angle, and they are
associated with ____________________ and ______________________ quarter moons.
5. Spring tides occur when the sun, moon and earth ________________________________________.
6. The _______________________ and _____________________ tides occur twice a day, while the ______________________
and ________________________ tides occur twice per month.
Currents (use current notes and any completed handouts)
7. On earth, the ___________________________________________ gets more concentrated solar energy.
8. Seasons are cause by the earth’s ________________________________.
9. The _________________ _______________________ brought the Europeans to the Americas, and the
_____________________________________ sent them back home.
10. The East side of the continent is also the _____________________________ side of the ocean basin.
11. Generally, western boundary currents are __________________ (warm/cold) and flow towards the
_________________________. Eastern boundary currents are ____________________ (warm/cold) and flow towards
the ___________________________________.
12. There are two types of ocean currents:
a. _____________________________ currents, which make up 10% of the ocean.
b. ____________________ _________________________ (thermohaline) currents, which make up 90% of the
water in the ocean. These move around by ____________________-driven forces, such as salinity,
temperature, and gravity.
13. What are the factors that influence ocean currents?
Surface currents = ______________________________ (wind/density)
Deep currents = _________________________________ (wind/density)
14. What happens to cold, salty water (like in our density lab)?
15. What is the Coriolis Effect?
16. What is upwelling?
17. The Coriolis Effect moves water in a _________________________________________ motion in the N. hemisphere
and ___________________________________________ in the S. Hemisphere.
18. East coasts generally have ____________________ temperature currents, while west coasts will generally
have ______________________ currents.
19. The Western boundary current of the North Atlantic gyre is called the Gulf ______________________________.
20. There are _____________ (#) major gyres in the world.
21. Deep-ocean currents (cold) below 100 meters are driven by differences in the water’s density, in a
process known as ______________________________________ circulation.
Waves (from interactive wave notes)
22. What are waves?
23. Most ocean waves are generated by ______________________________.
24. A freakishly large wave, up to 100 feet, is called a _________________________ wave.
25. Compare tsunami waves and wind waves:
Tsunami Wave
Speed:
Height:
Wavelength:
26. Wave Anatomy: Label this diagram
Wind Wave
27. List 4 causes of tsunamis:
28. The most deadly tsunami struck in _____________________ (year) killing more than _____________________ (#)
people from Indonesia to _______________________________.
Tornadoes (from tornado notes, tornado interactive, and twister video handout)
29. Define Tornado:
30. Tornadoes form when:
31. Most tornadoes form in _____________________________ __________________________, an area stretching from Texas
to Nebraska.
32. Tornadoes peak during what time of year (which months)? ________________________________________________
33. The tornado Super Outbreak occurred in a two day period during ____________________ (year), when
__________________ (#) tornadoes were spotted in 11 states.
34. The state that experiences the most tornadoes in a year is _____________________, with an annual average of
_____________________ tornadoes.
35. Tornadoes can reach over ________________ miles wide, and exceed _____________________ mph.
36. ______________________________________________: an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure.
37. ______________________________________________: an instrument that measures wind speed.
38. ______________________________________________: water twisters that form over warm water.
39. ______________________________________________: large thunderstorms that have winds already in motion and
produce the most violent tornadoes.
40. ______________________________________________: a column of warm, moist air that rises in a thundercloud or
supercell.
41. ___________________________________________________________: violently rotating winds extending down from a
thunderstorm, but not touching the ground.
42. Scale used to rate the power of tornadoes (from F0 to F5):
43. A tornado ___________________________________ means tornadoes are possible. A tornado
_________________________________ means actual tornadoes have been sighted.
44. A tornado’s strength is based on the amount of ______________________________________ it causes.
Hurricanes (from hurricane notes, hurricane interactive, NOAA Hurricane packet)
45. Compare/contrast hurricane, cyclone, typhoon.
46. Three factors that causes these storms to form?
47. The three main parts of a hurricane:
48. What is the most turbulent part of a hurricane’s anatomy? _____________________
49. Direction of a storm’s winds is always _______________________________________ in the Northern hemisphere
due to the earth’s rotation.
50. How are hurricanes classified? _____________________________________________________ (Category 1 – Category 5)
51. When winds reach __________________ miles an hour, the storm is classified as a tropical storm.
52. Once the winds reach _________________ miles an hour, the storm is a hurricane.
53. Hurricanes grow stronger as more ____________________________________ and __________________________________
are gathered from the ocean.
54. ___________________________________________________: the dome of water in the hurricane that comes ashore and
destroys everything in its path.
55. Storm surges cause coastal flooding, can reach 20 feet tall, and cause _________ out of 10 deaths from
hurricanes.
56. How is the eye of the storm different from other parts of the hurricane?
57. Hurricanes die out when traveling over __________________________.
58. GOES is an acronym for what? What is the purpose of this system?
59. In the northern hemisphere, hurricanes like Hurricane George spin in a ____________________________________
rotation.
60. Be able to read the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
El Nino & La Nina (from El Nino notes, Ocean Explorer, foldable, El Nino SOI worksheet)
61. El Nino is also called ENSO or:
62. How often, on average, is there an El Nino event? ________________________________
63. What is the “SOI” and what does it measure?
64. A ___________________________________ SOI value indicates an El Nino.
65. A ___________________________________ SOI value indicates a La Nino.
66. Abnormal sea surface temperatures referred to as _____________ anomalies, are used to predict El Nino
events.
67. Sea surface temperatures in the eastern and western equatorial Pacific in normal conditions:
Eastern Pacific:
Western Pacific:
68. During El Nino, the temperature of the sea is much ____________________________ all across the equator, both
right at the surface and down several hundred meters.
69. ______________ winds and the strength of the _____________________________Currents are
____________________________ than normal during an El Nino.
70. Warm water builds up in the ____________________________Pacific because the forces of wind and water
moving west decline.
71. Normal weather in Indonesia, Australia, & Southwest Asia: ____________________ (dry/wet)
Normal weather in CA, Central America, Ecuador, & Peru: ______________________ (dry/wet)
72. El Nino weather in eastern Pacific: ________________________________________________
El Nino weather in western Pacific: ________________________________________________
73. Be able to identify a sketch of the ocean under normal, El Niño and La Niña conditions and label the
Thermocline.
74. Latitude where warm El Niño water is located: __________________________________
75. El Nino causes ____________________________ than normal hurricanes, and more tornadoes and
thunderstorms in southern US.
76. La Nina causes __________________________ than normal numbers of hurricanes, unusually warm weather for
most of the US and drought in the southwest.
77. Prediction of El Nino events has been facilitated by __________________________ like TOPEX/POSEIDON.
78. Define upwelling:
79. Study your foldables. How do El Nino and La Nina conditions affect equatorial upwelling in the Eastern
Pacific?
80. List five reasons why we care about El Nino (and La Nina) events (from notes):
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.