Paper IV

Oceans  tides An ocean tide refers to the cyclic rise and fall of seawater. Tides are caused by slight variations in gravitational attraction between the Earth and the moon and the Sun in geometric relationship with locations on the Earth’s surface. Tides are periodic primarily because of the cyclical influence of the Earth’s rotation. The … Read more Oceans  tides

Oceans: Currents Ocean current, stream made up of horizontal and vertical components of the circulation system of ocean waters that is produced by gravity, wind friction, and water density variation in different parts of the ocean. Ocean currents are similar to winds in the atmosphere in that they transfer significant amounts of heat from Earth’s … Read more Oceans: Currents

Oceans – Bottom Relief Four major divisions can easily be identified on the ocean floor: The continental shelf, the continental slope, the continental rise, the abyssal plain. Besides these, there are many associated features—ridges, hills, seamounts, guyots, trenches, canyons, sleeps, fracture zones, island arcs, atolls, coral reefs, submerged volcanoes and sea-scarps. This great variety of … Read more Oceans – Bottom Relief

Pressure and wind belts Atmospheric pressure, also called barometric pressure, force per unit area exerted by an atmospheric column (that is, the entire body of air above the specified area). Atmospheric pressure can be measured with a mercury barometer (hence the commonly used synonym barometric pressure), which indicates the height of a column of mercury … Read more Pressure and wind belts

Humidity and precipitation Atmospheric humidity, which is the amount of water vapour or moisture in the air, is another leading climatic element, as is precipitation. All forms of precipitation, including drizzle, rain, snow, ice crystals, and hail, are produced as a result of the condensation of atmospheric moisture that forms clouds in which some of … Read more Humidity and precipitation

Landforms are the natural features and shapes existent on the face of the earth. Landforms possess many different physical characteristics and are spread out throughout the planet. Together, landforms constitute a specific terrain and their physical arrangement in the landscape forms what is termed as topography. The physical features of landforms include slope, elevation, rock … Read more Types of Mountains, Plateaus, Plains, Lakes