is a contour (or line) of constant salinity. One approach to analyze ocean data is to the plot the value of salinity, for example, as a function of either longitude, latitude, depth, distance from coast, or along your transect. Oceanographers then connect all locations where salinity is constant, say 35 parts per thousand, by drawing a line or surf [..]

is found at great depths in the world's oceans. Intermediate water lies above the deepest bottom waters and is the result of sinking water that does not have sufficient density to make it all the way to the bottom. Examples include Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) with a salinity of 34.2 and temperatures between 2 and 4 C. AAIW is a subpola [..]

is a contour (or line) of constant pressure. Meteorologist study maps of isobars to predict the weather.

is the study of the mechanics and thermodyanicms of the ocean and its coastal seas. Physical oceanographers study and model many different types waves (sound waves, storm-generated waves and breaking waves on the beach, internal waves, inertial waves, tsunamis, nonlinear waves such as solitons, and planetary waves known as Rossby waves), average oc [..]

is a measure of spin for fluid in the ocean. The absolute vorticity is the sum of the planetary and relative vorticity. Planetary vorticity is due to the spin imparted onto the ocean by the earth's rotation and is equal to f, the Coriolis parameter given by twice the earth's angular speed multiplied by the sine of the latitude. Relative v [..]

Historically, these terms were used interchangeably and denote the macroscopic transport (or movement) of a fluid and its properties (temperature, salinity, oxygen, etc.) by the fluid's organized velocity field. Convection involes a transport of both mass and the property. common usage now is that advection

is the vertical transport of a fluid and its properties. For many important ocean and atmospheric phenomena, convection is driven by density differences in the fluid, e.g. the sinking of cold, dense water in polar regions of the world's oceans; and the rising of warm, less-dense air during the formation of cumulonimbus clouds and hurricanes. t [..]

, and radition

are instruments for measuring elevation. Space-borne altimeters onboard satellites measure sea surface height relative to the marine geoid (a gravitational equipotential surface) or a mean sea surface (MSS) constructed from years of historical altimetry data. The fundamental principle of altimetry is simple: send a radar pulse from the satellite to [..]

are sensors aboard the NOAA polar orbiting satellites that measure energy at different frequencies in the visible and infra-red bands. these "skin" (upper few mm of the ocean near-surface) measurements are calibrated with in-situ ocean temperature measurements, mostly from the oceanic mixed-layer, to produce estimates of sea surface tempe [..]