Trelane and Marine vocabulary

Trelane signed and looked at her list of marine vocabulary words. She was reading from the book The Universe Below, by William J. Broad, and it was hard reading for her - lots of terminolgoy that she'd never heard before. But she read with her dictionary close at hand, and had also studdied the glossary.
Advanced Unmanned Search System - One of the world's first complex robots able to roam the seabed without a tether. AUSS was begun by the American Navy in 1973 for wide-ranging hunts for lost gear down to depths of 6.1 km (3.8 mi). Seventeen feet in length, it made 114 successful dives for the Navy before being turned over to private industry in 1994.

Akademik Mstislav Keldysh - The 422-foot mother ship of Russia's MIR twin submerisbles and one of the world's largest oceanographic research vessels.

Albatross - A large, web-footed seabird that spends most of its life in the ait.Algae - An ancient group of primitive plants ranging from unicellular Phytoplankton to kelp forests.

Alvin - The world's first submersible able to roam the deep seabed. Completed by the American Navy in 1964, and run by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, it was originally rated for a denth of 1.8 km (1.1 miles) but was eventually strengthened so it could descend down to 4.5 km (2.8 miles). The 25 foot craft can carry up to 3 people.

Amphipod - A small type of marine crustacean, swarm of which can move across the deep seabed like hordes of insects, feeding on carrion.

After writing these down, she decided to take a break, and went for a bike ride.

Saturday: Sylvia Earle Day (Marine Sciences)

Sylvia Earle: (born August 30, 1935 in Gibbstown, New Jersey) is an American oceanographer. She was chief scientist for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1990-1992. She is a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, sometimes called "Her Deepness" or "The Sturgeon General."

Abyss - pronounced uh-biss - is "the very deepest part of the ocean."
Other words that use Abyss are:
Abyssal plain, a flat area on the ocean floor
Abyssal zone, a deep extent of the sea

Word origin - how did the term develop?
late 14c., earlier abime (c.1300), from L.L. abyssus "bottomless pit," from Gk. abyssos (limne) "bottomless (pool).





How to Use Vocabulary Builder
Start a notebook (I prefer a 3 ring binder, with alphabetical sections, but if you prefer to stay technical, do it on your computer) and input these vocabulary words. After you've written them all down, try to use them in a sentence.

Keep this notebook forever and ever. Even if your interest in the marine sciences wane for a time...you'll get it back and then go a-hunting for this vocabulary builder to refresh your memory!