IB Geography · Option B · SL and HL

Option B Oceans and coasts: Ocean systems and futures

15 revision questions with answers for Option B Oceans and coasts: Ocean systems and futures, marked SL and HL. Read them here, or play the set as a class game on the projector. Free to host, and students join with a code.

A question from this set

Deflection of moving air and water to the right in the northern hemisphere?

  • Pressure gradient force
  • Friction
  • Centrifugal force
  • Coriolis effectRight answer
From Option B Oceans and coasts: Ocean systems and futures, 15 questions.

What this set covers

Currents, climate cycles and ocean law are covered together. The Coriolis effect, gyres, thermohaline circulation, upwelling, El Niño and La Niña, UNCLOS, exclusive economic zones, maximum sustainable yield, bycatch and tropical cyclones appear.

Common mix-up
Students often muddle El Niño and La Niña: El Niño brings weaker trade winds and a warmer eastern Pacific, while La Niña brings stronger trade winds and a cooler one.
Revision tip
Draw the Walker circulation in normal conditions, then redraw it for El Niño. Separately, list the maritime zones in order of distance from the coast.

All 15 questions and answers

  1. Deflection of moving air and water to the right in the northern hemisphere?

    Answer: Coriolis effect

  2. Large circular system of surface currents rotating around an ocean basin?

    Answer: Gyre

  3. Deep global conveyor driven by differences in water temperature and salinity?

    Answer: Thermohaline circulation

  4. Rise of cold, nutrient-rich deep water to the surface, as off the coast of Peru?

    Answer: Upwelling

  5. Periodic weakening of Pacific trade winds, warming the eastern equatorial Pacific?

    Answer: El Niño

  6. ENSO phase with stronger trade winds and a cooler-than-average eastern Pacific?

    Answer: La Niña

  7. Normal east–west air loop over the equatorial Pacific: rising in the west, sinking in the east?

    Answer: Walker circulation

  8. 1982 treaty, often called a constitution for the oceans, that sets out maritime zones?

    Answer: UNCLOS

  9. Area extending 200 nautical miles from a coast, where a state controls fishing and seabed resources?

    Answer: Exclusive economic zone

  10. Maximum breadth of a coastal state's territorial sea, measured from its baseline?

    Answer: 12 nautical miles

  11. Ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction, open to all states?

    Answer: High seas

  12. Largest catch that can be taken from a fish stock each year without depleting it?

    Answer: Maximum sustainable yield

  13. Non-target species, such as dolphins or turtles, taken unintentionally by fishing gear?

    Answer: Bycatch

  14. Zone of sea where fishing and other activities are restricted to conserve ecosystems?

    Answer: Marine protected area

  15. Intense low-pressure storm forming over oceans warmer than about 26 °C?

    Answer: Tropical cyclone

Play it as a class game

Play this set opens it in splycr, where you can host it for your class straight away. Hosting needs no account: put the room code on the projector, and students join from a phone with the code and their first name. Each question plays as multiple choice, and the three wrong options were written for that question.

The questions were written for the splycr library by Biology by Bradford. IB and AP are trademarks of their owners. splycr is not affiliated with or endorsed by the International Baccalaureate or the College Board.