Ocean Currents & Global/Local Winds

Imagine you are on a voyage sailing around the world. Two weeks into your trip the motor on your boat dies. How are you going to complete your trip?

• By using the sails to continue sailing

• By waiting for rescue without doing anything

• By abandoning the boat and swimming to shore

• By using the motor despite it being broken

Tags

NGSS.MS-ETS1-2

What is an ocean current?

• streamlike, water

• mountainous, land

• cloudlike, air

• rocky, soil

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-4

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

Surface Currents: Fill in the blanks. ______, ________, ________ movements of water that occur at or ________ the surface of the ocean.

• warm, horizontal, streamlike, near

• cold, vertical, circular, above

• salty, diagonal, turbulent, below

• deep, slow, spiral, under

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

Deep Currents: Fill in the blanks. ________, ________ movements of ocean water located far ________ the surface.

• cold, streamlike, below

• warm, circular, above

• salty, slow, near

• shallow, rapid, across

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

What is the main cause of surface ocean currents?

• movement, surface, wind

• gravitational pull of the moon

• volcanic activity

• earthquake tremors

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

If wind alone caused surface ocean currents, the water would flow in a _________ line. Examine the diagram at right and you’ll see that the surface currents are __________. This is caused by the _________ of the Earth beneath the oceans.

• straight, curved, rotation

• curved, straight, gravity

• zigzag, circular, tilt

• wavy, spiral, revolution

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

The _________ curving of moving objects from a straight path due to the Earth’s rotation is called the _________ effect.

• apparent, Coriolis

• visible, Doppler

• gradual, Magnus

• sudden, Bernoulli

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

To understand the Coriolis effect, imagine trying to roll a ball ______ across a ______ merry-go-round. Because the merry-go-round is ___, the path of the ball will _______ before it reaches the other side.

• straight, turning, spinning, curve

• curved, still, spinning, stop

• straight, still, spinning, remain straight

• straight, turning, still, curve

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

The diagram shows how the Coriolis effect causes ___ currents in the Northern Hemisphere to turn ___, and currents in the Southern Hemisphere to turn ___.

• surface, clockwise, counterclockwise

• deep, counterclockwise, clockwise

• surface, counterclockwise, clockwise

• deep, clockwise, counterclockwise

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6

If the Earth's surface were covered only with ___, surface currents would travel ___ across the globe in a very ___ pattern.

• water, freely, uniform

• land, slowly, irregular

• ice, not, circular

• mountains, erratically, zigzag

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-6