- Industry: Earth science
- Number of terms: 10770
- Number of blossaries: 1
- Company Profile:
The UK charity dedicated to the protection of the marine environment and its wildlife.
A generally southwestward-flowing ocean current of the Indian Ocean; one of the swiftest of ocean currents. Throughout the year, part of the south equatorial current turns south along the east coast of Africa and feeds the strong Agulhas current. To the south of latitude 30=AE$=AFS, the Agulhas current is a well-defined and narrow current that extends less than 100 km from the coast. To the south of South Africa the greatest volume of its waters bends sharply to the south and then toward the east, thus returning to the Indian Ocean by joining the flow from South Africa toward Australia across the southern part of that ocean. = However, a small portion of the Agulhas current water appears to round the Cape of Good Hope from the Indian Ocean and continue into the Atlantic Ocean.
Industry:Earth science
An approximation to the equations of motion whereby it is assumed the fluid is homogeneous and horizontal scales of interest are much larger than the depth of the fluid. Waves in this approximation are non-dispersive and have phase speed c=(gH)^(1/2) in which g is the acceleration due to gravity and H is the mean depth of the fluid.
Industry:Earth science
(1) Coarse grained deposit of sediment from a stream or ocean currents.
(2) A unit of measurement for quantifying force. Equivalent to 1,000,000 dynes per square centimeter.
Industry:Earth science
A nautical term for the strong and rather persistent westerly winds over the oceans in temperate latitudes. They occur between latitudes 40 and 65 in the northern hemisphere and 35 to 65 in the southern hemisphere, where they are more regular and are strongest between 40 and 50 (roaring forties). They are associated with the strong pressure gradient on the equatorial side of the frequent depressions passing eastward in sub-polar temperate latitudes; hence they fluctuate mainly between southwest and northwest.
Industry:Earth science
(1) Substance having a pH less than 7.
(2) Substance that releases hydrogen ions (H+).
Industry:Earth science
An instability associated with shear and jet flows that grows by extracting kinetic energy from the mean flow.
Industry:Earth science
A ring shaped reef composed largely of coral. These features are quite common in the tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Industry:Earth science
A line or surface showing the depths in oceans or lakes at which points have the same temperature. Isobathytherms are usually drawn to show cross sections of the water-mass.
Industry:Earth science
A core of sediment taken from the upper stratigraphy of the seabed to a designated depth. The hydraulic vibrocorer is deployed from the deck of a large survey vessel and the individual cores of sediment are held in the plastic liners fitted to the inside of the vibrocorer (essentially a vibrating steel tube) before deployment.
Industry:Earth science
A coherent mass of anticyclonically rotating, warm salty water in the Atlantic Ocean originating from the Mediterranian Sea. Also called ``Meddies'', these mesoscale lenses have been observed to persist for up to many months.
Industry:Earth science
