Glossary

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eddy	A current moving in a direction that is different from the main current; usually currents involve circular motion.	View
edifice	A building, usually one that is large and imposing.	View
embryo	An animal in a developmental stage before birth or hatching.	View
endangered	A population of an organism which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in number, or threatened by changing environmental or predation.	View
endemic	Native to or confined to a specific region.	View
Energy		View
enigmatic	Perplexing or mysterious.	View
Environmental sensors		View
equilibrium	A state of balance; a glacier is in equilbrium when it is neither advancing nor retreating because the accumulation of new ice balances the ice lost to melting, calving, and evaporation.	View
estimate	An approximate judgment or calculation, as of the value, amount, time, size, or weight of something.	View
estuary	The mouth of a river where fresh water meets and mixes with salt water.	View
etiquette	Rules and requirements for proper conduct and behavior.	View
euphotic	Pertaining to the layer or zone of water that receives enough sunlight for photosynthesis to occur.	View
evaporate	To convert or change into a vapor.	View
evaporation	Process in which the heat energy of the sun causes the water on the Earth’s surface to change into a vapor.	View
evidence	Information or other thing(s) helpful in forming a conclusion or in providing a basis for believing that something is true.	View
exoskeleton	A hard protective structure on the outside of the body.	View
expert	A person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field; specialist; authority.	View
explanation	A statement or thought that makes something understandable.	View
extinction	Coming to an end or dying out so that the species no longer exists. A species becomes extinct when the last existing member of that species dies.	View
features	A part or detail that stands out; a prominent or conspicuous part or characteristic.	View
firn	Granular, partially consolidated snow that has passed through one summer melt season but is not yet glacial ice.	View
flood	The rise or flowing in of the tide.	View
flotsam and jetsam	Material or refuse floating on the water.	View
fluctuate	To change continually or shift back and forth.	View
food	Interconnected feeding relationship of who eats whom in an ecosystem, starting with algae and plants and ending with the carnivores.	View
food chain	A list of organisms starting with a producer (usually a plant), followed by the animal that eats the plant, then an animal that eats that animal and so on to the "top carnivore" an animal that eats others but is not killed and eaten by any other. To be complete, food chains also include decomposers.	View
food web	A complex combination of a number of animals and plants in an ecosystem or habitat that shows what eats what and what gets eaten by what. A food web shows a more accurate picture as in reality it is rare for anything to just eat one kind of food.	View
forum	A means (as a newspaper or online service) of open discussion or expression of ideas.	View
frequency	The number of crests of a wave that move past a given point in a given unit of time.	View
fry	A young salmon that is free-swimming and feeding.	View
geophysicist	A geologist who studies the physics of earth and its atmosphere.	View
glacier	A huge mass of ice, formed on land by the compaction and recrystallization of snow, that moves very slowly downslope or outward due to its own weight.	View
Global Positioning System (GPS)	A system of satellites, computers, and receivers that is able to determine the latitude and longitude of a receiver on Earth by calculating the time difference for signals from different satellites to reach the receiver.	View
gravity	The natural force of attraction exerted by the Earth (or another celestial body) upon objects at or near its surface, tending to draw them toward the center of the body.	View
groundwater	Water stored underground in rock crevices and in the pores of geologic materials that make up the earth's crust.	View
gyre	A spiral oceanic surface current driven primarily by the global wind system and constrained by the continents surrounding the three ocean basins (Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian). Each ocean basin has a large gyre in the subtropical region, centered around 30° north and south latitude. Smaller gyres occur at 50° north latitude in the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The direction of a gyre's rotation is determined by the prevailing winds in the region, with the large subtropical gyres rotating clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.	View
habitat	The natural place where an organism lives and grows.	View
harvest	To gather, catch, take or remove for use.	View
hazardous	Risky; dangerous.	View
herbivore		View
HMI lights	Hydrargyrum medium-arc iodide. These lights are two to four times brighter than ordinary lights, are less sensitive to shock and vibration, and produce a steady, natural light. They are used commonly with ROVs.	View
holdfast	A structure anchoring seaweeds to rocks and other hard surfaces.	View
HOV - Human Occupied Vehicle	A submersible vehicle that can take people into the depths of the ocean.	View
hydrographic survey	The process of gathering information to describe the seafloor.	View
hydrological	Having to do with the scientific study of water on the earth's surface, in the soil and underlying rocks, and in the atmosphere.	View
hydrophone	A device used to detect or monitor sound under water.	View
hydrothermal	Relating to or produced by hot water, especially water heated underground by the Earth's internal heat.	View
hypothesis	A tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation.	View
inextricably	Unavoidably, inescapably.	View
infiltration	An important process where rain water soaks into the ground, through the soil and underlying rock layers.	View
interconnect	To connect reciprocally, to operate as a unit, to be interwoven.	View
interconnectedness	The state of being connected to each other.	View
intertidal	The area between the high tide mark and the low tide mark on a seashore.	View
invertebrate	A creature without a backbone.	View
investigate	Examine, study, or inquire in detail.	View
investigation	Searching for facts; detailed or careful examination.	View
isostatic rebound	The rise of land masses that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period.	View
justification	The section of a proposal that explains the need for a project and the reasons that a project should be supported.	View
kelp	Large, brown seaweeds with strong holdfasts.	View
kelp forest	A place where large numbers of kelp grow near each other, forming a “forest".	View
keystone	A species that is expecially important in an ecosystem because it has an unusually strong effect on other organisms within the system. It might be an important predator or an organism like a coral or a beaver that alters the habitat around it.	View
kinetic energy	The mechanical energy that a body has as a result of its motion.	View
lagoon	A shallow channel or pond near or connected to a larger body of water.	View
larvae	An early form of any animal that is very different from its parents at birth or hatching.	View
leather chiton	A small chiton, with a tough, black, leathery covering on its back. Its scientific name is Katherina tunicata, with the first name, or genus, in honor of a woman scientist, Lady Katherine Douglas.	View
LIDAR	Light Detection and Ranging. LIDAR sends laser light from the bottom of an airplane to the sea floor.	View
life cycle	The series of stages of form and activity through which a living thing passes from a beginning stage (as an egg) in one individual to the same stage in its offspring.	View
living	To be alive.	View
magma	Molten material beneath or within the earth's crust, from which igneous rock is formed.	View
magnify	1. To increase in importance. 2. To enlarge in fact or in appearance.	View
mariculture	Cultivation of marine organisms in their natural habitats, usually for commercial purposes. Also called ocean farming.	View
marigram	A graph that depicts the rise and fall of the tide.	View
marine	Usually applies to floating waste such as bottles, cans, styrofoam, cruise ship waste, offshore oil and gas exploration and production facilities pollution, and fishing gear from professional and recreational boaters. Marine debris is also called litter.	View
marine biologist	A person who studies the living organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water.	View
matter		View
mercator projection	a map projection of the earth onto a cylinder, on which the meridians and parallels of latitude appear as lines crossing at right angles, and areas appear greater the farther they are from the equator.	View
meteorological	Pertaining to the atmosphere or weather.	View
methane	A colorless, odorless, flammable gas that is the major constituent of natural gas and is released during the decomposition of plant or other organic compounds, as in marshes and coal mines.	View
microbe	A very small organism (usually called a microorganism).	View
microscopic	Something so small that it is able to be seen only through a microscope.	View
mid-atlantic ridge (MAR)	a long narrow north-south mountain range on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean that runs from Iceland to Antarctica.	View
mid-ocean ridge	A long mountain range on the ocean floor, extending almost continuously through the North and South Atlantic Oceans, the Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific Ocean. A deep rift valley is located at its center, from which magma flows and forms new oceanic crust. As the magma cools and hardens it becomes part of the mountain range.	View
mixed semi-diurnal tides	Tides that have two highs and two lows in each 24-hour period, with the two highs being quite different in height.	View
mollusk	Marine invertebrate having a soft unsegmented body. They usually have a shell of one, two, or more pieces that protect the body. Snails, bivalves, chitons, squid and octopuses are mollusks. .	View
multibeam sonar	Measures the depth of the sea floor. It measures the length of time it takes for the sound to travel from the boat to the sea floor and back as an echo.	View
mystery	Something that is secret, unexplained, or unknown.	View
nautical chart	A special kind of map that shows the coastline and tells boaters about things under the water.	View
navigation	Finding our way from one place to another.	View
neap tides	A lower than average tide that occurs twice each month when the sun and moon are at right angles to the earth.	View
neutrally buoyant		View
non-living	Not alive; not endowed with life.	View
observation	Noticing; watching carefully.	View
ocean	A vast body of water occupying a major part of the earth's surface.	View
oceanic basin	A large depression covered by sea water. Geologists do not consider continental shelves, deep ocean trenches, underwater mountain ranges and other features to be part of the oceanic basin, but hydrologists consider ocean basins to include the shelves and shallow seas.	View
oceanic trenches	Very long but narrow topographic depressions of the sea floor. They are also the deepest parts of the ocean floor. They occur where two lithospheric plates come together.	View
omnivore		View
organism	A living thing with the ability to act or function independently.	View
parr	The vertical stripes and bars found on the sides of juvenile salmon that help to camouflage them.	View
payload		View