| A | B |
|---|
| tide | A change in local sea level and height of the crest caused by gravitational pulls of the moon and sun. |
| lunar tide | Tide produced mainly by the moon's gravity. |
| spring tide | An unusually high solar tide that occurs when the sun, earth, and moon are lined up in a row. |
| neap tide | A small tide that occurs when the sun's graity works against the moon's whenever the arrangement of the sun, earth, and moon form a right angle. |
| surface current | A flow of seawater on the surface of the ocean set in motion by wind through a larger area of relatively stationary water. |
| Coriollis effect | Deflection of the path of a moving object attempting to travel in a straight line over the earth's surface as the object changes latitude. |
| gyre | A large, circling ocean current created by prevailing winds and deflected by the coriolis effect and continental coastlines. |
| Ekman spiral | The continual deflection of current direction with increasing depth beneath the current due to fluid friction and the Coriolis effect. |
| upwelling | The upward movement of dense, cold nutrient rich water from the depths of the ocean to the surface. |
| downwelling | Downward movement of surface water in places where seawater has piled up due to the action of winds or currents. |
| subsurface current | Any current in deeper water that flows in directions other than those caused by surface winds. |
| density current | A current resulting from a difference in density between two masses of water in contact with each other. |
| thermohaline current | A density current flowing along the deep ocean basin floor caused by gravity acting on large masses of cold, salty ocean water. |
| turbidity current | A fast, subsurface density current similar to an underwater mudslide or lahar. |
| wave | A repeated oscillation in matter that transfers mechanical energy from one place to another. |
| wave height | The vertical distance between a wave's crest and its trough. |
| wavelength | The horizontal distance between the same point on two sequential waves, usually measured between crests or troughs. |
| wave base | Deepest depth below an ocean wave affected by a wave's passage. |
| wave period | The time between one wave crest and the next as they pass a stationary point. |
| wave speed | Speed of a wave crest in the direction of movement. |
| fetch | Distance that wind blows over the water's surface in one direction when forming waves. |
| breaker | A breaking wave. |
| longshore current | An ocean current that flows parallel to the shore and is caused by waves or wind that approach the shore at an angle. |
| rip current | A narrow, fast current that sometimes forms as water piling up on a beach from breaking waves flows back toward the ocean. |
