Aphotic zone - as you dive deeper into the Ocean less light penetrates the water until you enter into a zone that has no light, this is the Aphotic Zone.
Blubber - found in marine mammals, such as whales and seals, this thick layer of fat just below the skin helps keep the animals warm even when emerged in cold waters, in particular those found deeper in the water column.
Carapace - the hard external covering on the back of a sea turtle. Scientist measure the size of the carapace when studying sea turtles.
Coriolis effect - Our Earth is a spinning sphere, and because of it’s shape and movement object north of the equator are deflected to the right, and objects south of the equator are deflected to the left. The overal effect is that gyres are formed in our Ocean where currents of water move in a circular motion.
Euphotic Zone - also known as the Epipelagic zone or Photic zone, this part of the water column is where light enters and is not very deep, only until about 200 meters depth
Microplastics - a big concern now are the very small pieces of plastic, smaller than 5mm in size (or half of a centimeter)! These very small pieces of plastic can even be hard to see without a microscope but they are in the water and on our beaches. They can come either from a bigger piece of plastic that has brokern or degraded, or from another source that releases small pieces of plastic such as our clothes, cosmetics, etc.
Salinity - how much salt is in the water. This is an important factor in particular when comparing river water (fresh water with very low salt concentration) to sea water (salty!). The primary salt in seawater is the same thing your table salt is made up of, it is called Sodium Chloride (NaCl) and on average in seawater there are 35g of salt for 1 liter of water.