Oceanography - Middle School

Interested in "current" events? Then you'll want to review this list of words related to oceanography. Get your feet wet and learn all about waves, tides, and marine life.
50 words 282 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. abyssal
    relating to ocean depths from 2000 to 5000 meters
  2. abyssal zone
    the deep sea (2000 meters or more) where there is no light
  3. algae
    primitive chlorophyll-containing aquatic organisms
  4. Antarctic Ocean
    the southern waters surrounding Antarctica
  5. aphotic
    lacking light; especially not reached by sunlight
  6. Arctic Ocean
    ice covered waters surrounding the North Pole
  7. Atlantic Ocean
    the 2nd largest ocean
  8. atmosphere
    the mass of air surrounding the Earth
  9. breaker
    waves breaking on the shore
  10. continental shelf
    the relatively shallow seabed surrounding a continent
  11. continental slope
    the steep descent of the seabed from the continental shelf to the abyssal zone
  12. Coriolis effect
    (physics) an effect whereby a body moving in a rotating frame of reference experiences the Coriolis force acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation; on Earth the Coriolis effect deflects moving bodies to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere
  13. crest
    the top line of a hill, mountain, or wave
  14. crustacean
    mainly aquatic arthropod usually having a segmented body
  15. current
    a steady flow of a fluid or gas
  16. density
    the amount per unit size
  17. El Nino
    a warm ocean current in the Pacific that sets off a chain of weather events
  18. equator
    an imaginary line around the Earth forming a great circle
  19. food chain
    community of organisms where each member is eaten by another
  20. friction
    the resistance when a body is moved in contact with another
  21. glacier
    a slowly moving mass of ice
  22. gravity
    the force of attraction between all masses in the universe
  23. ice floe
    a flat mass of ice floating at sea
  24. iceberg
    a large frozen mass floating at sea
  25. Indian Ocean
    the 3rd largest ocean
  26. krill
    small shrimp-like crustaceans
  27. Mid-Atlantic Ridge
    a very long narrow elevation on the ocean floor that runs all the way from Iceland in the North Atlantic to Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic
  28. neap tide
    a less than average tide occurring at the first and third quarters of the moon
  29. ocean current
    the steady flow of surface ocean water in a prevailing direction
  30. oceanography
    the branch of science dealing with physical and biological aspects of the oceans
  31. Pacific Ocean
    the largest ocean in the world
  32. pelagic
    relating to, occurring in, or living in the open ocean
  33. photic
    of or relating to or caused by light
  34. photosynthesis
    formation of compounds in plants aided by radiant energy
  35. phytoplankton
    photosynthetic or plant constituent of plankton
  36. plankton
    aggregate of small organisms that float or drift in water
  37. pole
    either of the two endpoints of the Earth's axis of rotation
  38. rift valley
    a valley with steep sides
  39. salinity
    the relative proportion of salt in a solution
  40. seamount
    an underwater mountain rising above the ocean floor
  41. sonar
    a method of finding objects under water using sound waves
  42. swell
    a rising and falling movement of the surface of the sea
  43. tide
    the periodic rise and fall of the sea level
  44. trench
    a long steep-sided depression in the ocean floor
  45. trough
    a narrow depression, as between waves
  46. undertow
    a current that flows away from the shore after waves break
  47. wave
    a ridge that moves across the surface of a liquid
  48. wavelength
    distance between successive crests of a periodic disturbance
  49. whitecap
    a wave that is blown by the wind so its crest is broken and appears white
  50. zooplankton
    animal constituent of plankton
Created on Mon Feb 13 12:07:11 EST 2017 (updated Wed Apr 05 13:42:10 EDT 2017)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.