North Atlantic Ocean Basin

North Atlantic Ocean Basin

By Bailey Brenneman

In September of 1609, Henry Hudson and his crew of 18 men, both English and Dutch, sailed on the vessel the Halve Maen (Half Moon) into New York Harbor in hopes of finding a westward passage to the far East.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_European_exploration#20th_century

From 1915 to 1917, Vilhjalmur Stefasnsson and his crew sailed on the HMCS Karluk, charting islands off of the northeast coast of the Victoria Island (discovering the Storkerson Peninsula and Stefansson Island).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_European_exploration#20th_century

The Lost City, a hydrothermal vent field, was discovered by Deborah Kelley using the NOAA Ship, Ronald H. Brown, on Dec. 4, 2000 - the expedition was originally to study hydrothermal vents by the University of Washington, and The Lost City was accidentally discovered. There are vents that have grow to be 20-60m tall. These vents are located on the seafloor mountain Atlantis Massif - the temperature here ranges from less than 40 degrees up to 90 degrees celsius.

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/05lostcity/background/chimney/chimney.html

http://www.washington.edu/news/2000/12/12/hydrothermal-vent-system-unlike-any-seen-before-found-in-atlantic/

The Puerto Rico Trench is 800 km long and has a maximum depth of 8648 km at Milwaukee Deep (which happens to be the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico_Trench

Labrador Current:

less than 32 degrees Fahrenheit

moves about 0.3-0.5 m/s

North Atlantic Drift: Cooling, very slow (0.2 mph)

On the coast of Working, England the tides tend to be semidiurnal - as the chart shows.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj8t9L23_fTAhVnlVQKHTIkDRcQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tide-forecast.com%2Flocations%2FWorkington-England%2Ftides%2Flatest&psig=AFQjCNE1cPm3hjc2KhUq8vvIMZpvs8GKsA&ust=1495138641599945

Frequency of Occurrences of Tsunamis in North Atlantic

Average Wave Height in North Atlantic

How Frequently = how often they occur?

Blue - Lowest Points

Red - Highest Points

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi2yc-fw4vTAhVY9WMKHR_TCiYQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tsunami-alarm-system.com%2Fen%2Fphenomenon-tsunami%2Foccurrences-atlantic-ocean.html&psig=AFQjCNFXLMMEEb8cji0Pe6PQvbUory-KzQ&ust=1491420083371032

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj0g52nwIvTAhVH-mMKHbZtAZUQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.surfline.com%2Fsurfdata%2Fchart_viewer%2F%3Fchart%3Dnatlwave%26id%3D2950&psig=AFQjCNGS6b5iXzskVoHz4Xw-HPAmSKF59Q&ust=1491419327583794

So How Frequently?

Gulf Stream: at its slowest, it's 1 mph, at its fastest,

it's 5.6 mph, its avg. speed is 4 mph

its temperature is 7-22 degrees celsius

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiiwazjwYvTAhVHl1QKHSnHCOsQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww3.epa.gov%2Fclimatechange%2Fscience%2FindicatorsEPA-2-24-2016%2Fweather-climate%2Fcyclones.html&psig=AFQjCNGFHyvg8dp-_nbkUr74kdcUOTXiGQ&ust=1491419702126627

On December 27, 1831, the HMS Beagle sets out with Robert FitzRoy as captain and Charles Darwin along to study and research. The vessel sailed from Plymouth and around South America. They were able to study and discover new species on land and in the ocean. They didn't return until Oct. 2, 1836

http://www.hmsbeagleproject.org/second-voyage/

Need to fix/incorporate pictures/video below

The continental shelf off of the eastern US coast is approximately 25oo km long and the depth averages to about 135 km deep. The average angle of the slope is 3°, but it can be as low as 1° or as high as 10°.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_shelf

https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0529a/report.pdf

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a divergent tectonic plate located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. It's part of the longest mountain range in the world and has an average ever-spreading rate of about 2.5 cm per year. It sits atop a feature called the Mid-Atlantic Rise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_Ridge

Cape Fear, which resides on the Eastern Coast of North America, has mixed tides - the chart below shows a few weeks time in this region.

In 1969 and 1970, Thor Heyerdahl launched expeditions to cross the Atlantic in boats built from papyrus - the boats were named Ra and Ra II (after the Egyptian sun god). After a two month long voyage from Morocco to Barbados, he succeeded in crossing the Atlantic (6,100 km) with Ra II in 1970, proving that boats like these could have sailed with the Canary Current across the Atlantic in prehistoric times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crossings_of_the_Atlantic_Ocean

Off the coast of Port Aransas, Texas, the tides are diurnal - this chart shows what the tides will be like this June.

The Blake-Basin (sometimes called the Blake-Bahamas Basin) starts at the northern part of the Bahamas and goes up to New York. The depth exceeds 5400 m

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_submarine_topographical_features

http://www.tides.net/northcarolina/399/

Abyssopelagic Zone:

Dumb Octopus - Grimpoteuthis Cirrina

Dumbo Octopus have large fins on the tops of their heads to swim away as well as being able to funnel water through their body and shoot it out to make a quick escape. Dumbo Octopus eat food from the sea floor or above it, like worms, bivalve molluscs and various crustaceans.

Supralittoral Zone:

Green Algae - Pediastrum boryanum

They live and grow in the supralittoral zone because of the efficient amnt of sunlight they use to create food.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjNpdmv4_fTAhVHrFQKHYeHCVUQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Futmsi.utexas.edu%2Fabout%2Fport-aransas-climate&psig=AFQjCNFGjoCkZFR9pPeDhNYH5ln__a-vig&ust=1495139590310132

Bathypelagic Zone:

Humpback Anglerfish - Melanocetus johnsonii

The anglerfish adapts to its surrounding environment by using luminescence because this zone lacks light.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjj28CMlPjTAhVBWmMKHTU8BpUQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2013%2F08%2F11%2F211130501%2Fthe-algae-is-coming-but-its-impact-is-felt-far-from-water&psig=AFQjCNGq7VxXODtUmmxpBiQf69KEmhkzyA&ust=1495152707058963

Hadal Zone:

Giant Tube Worm - Riftia pachyptila

Tube worms feed on tiny bacteria that get their energy directly from the chemicals in the water (from hydrothermal vents) through a process known as chemosynthesis

Mesopelagic Zone:

Longfin inshore squid - Doryteuthis pealeii

These squid live on the eastern coast of North America along the conental shelf. They migrate to different areas during the spring to spawn.

Littoral Zone:

Florida false Coral - Ricordea florida

Coral, such as those in the Great Florida Reef, grow in this area because of the plentiful sunlight due to their mutualistic relationship with zooxanthellae - they use the sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and carbohydrates (the coral then uses the carbohydrates as nutrients.

Epipelagic Zone:

Green Sea Turtle - Chelonia mydas

Because sea turtles are cold blooded, they depend on their environment as a heat source - this is why they live near the surface where it is warmer.

Sublittoral Zone:

Diatoms - Phylum Bacillariophyta

Diatoms live in this ocean zone because of the amount of light they can receive.

North Equatorial Current:

moves at an average speed of 10-40 inches per sec

warming current