Ocean Atmosphere Interaction Questions and Answers

Q: The surface circulation of the oceans is driven principally by

Correct answer: the stress of the prevailing windsThe trades and the westerlies drag on the sea surface, and that stress drives the great subtropical gyres, which is why the gyre pattern mirrors the wind belts. Density differences drive the deep circulation instead, the tides move water back and forth without net transport, and the Earth’s rotation shapes the flow rather than causing it.

Q: Coastal upwelling occurs where the wind drives surface water

Correct answer: away from the coast, so deeper water risesWhen the wind blows so that the Ekman transport is offshore, the surface water carried away must be replaced from below, and cold nutrient-rich water rises to take its place. That is why the eastern boundary upwelling regions - off Peru, California, north-west and south-west Africa - support such productive fisheries despite lying in subtropical latitudes.

Q: Match each ocean feature with what characterises it.List IA. Western boundary currentB. Eastern boundary currentC. Equatorial currentD. Antarctic Circumpolar CurrentList II1. westward flow driven by the trades2. narrow, fast, deep and warm3. the largest transport of any current4. broad, slow, shallow and cool

Correct answer: A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3The asymmetry of the gyres is the point. Western boundary currents are narrow, fast, deep and warm, carrying heat polewards; eastern boundary currents are broad, slow, shallow and cool, and are where upwelling occurs. Equatorial currents flow westward under the trades. And the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, unobstructed by any continent, carries more water than any other.

Q: Western boundary currents such as the Gulf Stream are

Correct answer: narrow, fast and warmThe Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio are a hundred kilometres wide and move at metres per second, against the thousand-kilometre width and centimetres per second of their eastern counterparts. The intensification arises because the Coriolis parameter varies with latitude, which crowds the return flow of each gyre against the western boundary - and it is why these currents dominate the poleward transport of heat.

Q: The thermohaline circulation is driven by

Correct answer: density differences of temperature and saltThe thermohaline circulation is driven by density: cooling and salt rejection during sea ice formation at high latitudes make surface water dense enough to sink, and that sinking drives a slow global overturning with a timescale of a thousand years or so. Wind, tides and Coriolis all act on it, but density contrast is what sets it in motion.

The surface circulation of the oceans is driven principally by

A.the stress of the prevailing winds
B.differences in the salinity alone
C.the action of the tides alone
D.the rotation of the Earth alone

Answer: A

Correct answer: the stress of the prevailing winds

The trades and the westerlies drag on the sea surface, and that stress drives the great subtropical gyres, which is why the gyre pattern mirrors the wind belts. Density differences drive the deep circulation instead, the tides move water back and forth without net transport, and the Earth’s rotation shapes the flow rather than causing it.

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Assertion (A): Ekman transport carries surface water at an angle to the wind rather than along it.
Reason (R): The Coriolis force deflects the moving water to the right in the northern hemisphere.

A.A is false but R is true
B.Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
C.Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
D.A is true but R is false

Answer: B

Correct answer: Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Both are true and the reason gives the mechanism. Each layer of water is deflected by the Coriolis force and drags the layer beneath, producing the Ekman spiral; integrated through the layer the net transport is 90 degrees to the right of the wind in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern. That right-angle transport is what makes coastal upwelling possible.

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Coastal upwelling occurs where the wind drives surface water

A.along the coast with no net transport
B.downwards at the shore itself
C.away from the coast, so deeper water rises
D.towards the coast, piling the water up there

Answer: C

Correct answer: away from the coast, so deeper water rises

When the wind blows so that the Ekman transport is offshore, the surface water carried away must be replaced from below, and cold nutrient-rich water rises to take its place. That is why the eastern boundary upwelling regions - off Peru, California, north-west and south-west Africa - support such productive fisheries despite lying in subtropical latitudes.

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Assertion (A): The western coasts of continents in the subtropics are often foggy and arid.
Reason (R): Upwelling of cold water cools the air, producing fog but suppressing convection.

A.Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
B.A is true but R is false
C.A is false but R is true
D.Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Answer: D

Both are true and the reason gives both effects, and the Atacama and Namib deserts both lie beside such an upwelling system. Fog supplies what little moisture reaches them, since the cold air is too stable to produce any rain.

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Match each ocean feature with what characterises it.
List I
A. Western boundary current
B. Eastern boundary current
C. Equatorial current
D. Antarctic Circumpolar Current
List II
1. westward flow driven by the trades
2. narrow, fast, deep and warm
3. the largest transport of any current
4. broad, slow, shallow and cool

A.A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3
B.A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3
C.A-2, B-4, C-3, D-1
D.A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2

Answer: A

Correct answer: A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3

The asymmetry of the gyres is the point. Western boundary currents are narrow, fast, deep and warm, carrying heat polewards; eastern boundary currents are broad, slow, shallow and cool, and are where upwelling occurs. Equatorial currents flow westward under the trades. And the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, unobstructed by any continent, carries more water than any other.

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Western boundary currents such as the Gulf Stream are

A.driven entirely by density differences
B.narrow, fast and warm
C.broad, slow and rather cool
D.confined entirely to the tropics

Answer: B

Correct answer: narrow, fast and warm

The Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio are a hundred kilometres wide and move at metres per second, against the thousand-kilometre width and centimetres per second of their eastern counterparts. The intensification arises because the Coriolis parameter varies with latitude, which crowds the return flow of each gyre against the western boundary - and it is why these currents dominate the poleward transport of heat.

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Assertion (A): Ocean gyres are intensified on their western sides.
Reason (R): The Coriolis parameter varies with latitude, which concentrates the return flow against the western boundary.

A.A is true but R is false
B.A is false but R is true
C.Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
D.Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

Answer: C

Both are true and the reason gives the cause, and the result is that a handful of narrow currents carry most of the poleward heat transport of the ocean. The Coriolis parameter varies with latitude. A few narrow jets carry most of the transport.

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The thermohaline circulation is driven by

A.the wind stress acting at the surface alone
B.the action of the tides alone
C.the Coriolis force acting alone
D.density differences of temperature and salt

Answer: D

Correct answer: density differences of temperature and salt

The thermohaline circulation is driven by density: cooling and salt rejection during sea ice formation at high latitudes make surface water dense enough to sink, and that sinking drives a slow global overturning with a timescale of a thousand years or so. Wind, tides and Coriolis all act on it, but density contrast is what sets it in motion.

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Consider the following statements about the thermohaline circulation.
1. Deep water forms where surface water is both cold and saline.
2. The overturning timescale is of the order of a thousand years.
3. It is driven by the same winds as the surface gyres.

A.1 and 2 only
B.3 only
C.1 only
D.All of them

Answer: A

The first two are correct. The third confuses the two circulations, since the deep flow is driven by density and the surface flow by wind, though the two are coupled at the points where water sinks. Cold and salt together make water dense.

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10.

Three of the following favour the sinking of surface water. Which is the odd one out?

A.high evaporation raising the salinity
B.heavy rainfall freshening the surface
C.strong cooling at the surface
D.brine rejection during sea ice formation

Answer: B

Freshening lowers the density and opposes sinking, while the other three all raise it. The balance between them is what determines where deep water can form. Freshening opposes sinking. Cooling, evaporation and ice formation all raise density.

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