2.In what sense are the ocean and atmosphere coupled during an El Nio event? 4.What are the early signs of a developing El Nio in the tropical
2.In what sense are the ocean and atmosphere coupled during an El Niño event?
4.What are the early signs of a developing El Niño in the tropical Pacific Ocean?
6.Why is La Niña more likely to follow a strong El Niño than a weak one?
8.No two El Niño events are the same. Explain the significance of this statement
Chapter 12
2.Distinguish between glacial climatic episodes and interglacial climatic episodes.
4.When did the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age occur and how did these climatic episodes influence Norse settlements in Greenland?
6.What is the potential climatic significance of the Maunder Minimum?
8.What human activities have contributed to the significant upward trend in the atmospheric carbon dioxide level over the past three centuries?
Critical Thinking
2.What role does plate tectonics play in global-scale climate change?
4.How might the great thermal inertia of the ocean affect global climate change?
6.Shrinking of the Arctic sea-ice cover is likely to have a positive feedback on any warming trend at high latitudes. Explain why.
8.Identify some of the limitations of proxy climatic data sources.
Chapter 13
Review Questions
2.What is the once widely accepted azoic hypothesis and how was it disproved?
4.How do remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) aid our understanding of marine life forms and their habitats?
6.Describe the basic principle of the buoyancy-changing technique used in the Argo float and the Slocum glider.
8.What are some of the services provided by undersea observatories?
Critical Thinking
2.How did the 1872-76 Challenger Expedition serve as a model for the modern scientific study of the ocean?
4.Why does bio-fouling pose a serious limitation to modern technologies directed at investigating the ocean?
6.Speculate on how the mission of near-coastal underwater observatories might differ from that of deep-water observatories.
8.What natural phenomena in the ocean are regularly monitored by sensors onboard Earth-orbiting satellites?
Chapter 14
Review Questions
2.What is meant by sustainability?
4.At what general size does a fish population have the greatest potential for growth and reproduction?
6.Identify some strategies for establishing sustainable fisheries.
8.Why are whales in demand by certain nations?
Critical Thinking
2.Why are “top predators” particularly subject to overfishing? What are some major implications for the rest of the food web?
4.What is the principal advantage of achieving ecologically sustainable yield?
6.Why is the age of a fish an important consideration in the recovery of a fish population that has been depleted by overfishing?
8.Speculate on why an overfished stock might never recover to its original population level.
Chapter 15
Review Questions
2.How far does the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extend seaward from the shore?
4.Define limiting factor.
6.How might a dam influence marine ecosystems?
8.Distinguish between a point source and a non-point source of pollution.
Critical Thinking
2.How does human population growth in the coastal zone impact the quality of the marine environment?
4.What can be done to restore a beach that was extensively eroded following construction of a dam across a river?
6.Why is a federal-state partnership needed for restoration of the Chesapeake Bay estuary?
8.What is the purpose of the Precautionary Principle?
