CONSTITUENTS OF SEA WATER 



conglomerate — (or priddmf/.itone). Rock con- 

 sistin<y of gravel, pebbles, and sand cemented 

 together. 



conglomerated ice — (or compact ice). All types 

 of floating ice compacted into one mass; term 

 refers to the contents of an ice mass, not the 

 concentration. (65) 



conic projection — A map projection in which the 

 surface of a sphere is conceived as projected, in 

 the geometrical sense, on a tangent or secant 

 cone, which is then developed on the plane. 



conjunction — The situation of two celestial bodies 

 with tlie same celestial longitude (the angular 

 distance measured east of tiie vernal equinox 

 along the ecliptic) ; for example, conjunction 

 occurs when the moon and tlie sun are directly 

 in line with the earth and the moon is between 

 the earth and the sun. (66) {See figure for 

 tide cycle.) 



Conrad discontinuity — Seismic discontinuity in 

 the earth's crust where velocity increases from 

 6.1 to 6.-1-6.7 kilometers per second; occurs at 

 various depths and is supposed to mark contact 

 of "granitic" and "basaltic" layers. (2) 



consecutive mean — (also called moving average, 

 running m-ean, overlapping mean) . A smoothed 

 representation of a time series derived by re- 

 placing each observed value with a mean value 

 computed over a selected interval. For example, 

 if the observations are of daily maximum tem- 

 perature and the selected interval is five days, 

 then the value assigned to February 5th is the 

 mean of the daily maximum from February 3rd 

 through February 7th, etc. 



Consecutive means are used in smoothing 

 to eliminate unwanted periodicities or minimize 

 irregular variations. (5) 



conservative property — A property whose values 

 do not change in the course of a particular series 

 of events. Properties can be judged conserva- 

 tive only when the events (processes) are speci- 

 fied ; also, properties that are conservative for a 

 whole system may or may not be conservative 

 for its parts, and conversely. (5) For ex- 

 ample, those properties of the ocean, such as 

 salinity, the concentrations of which are not 

 affected by the presence or activity of living 

 organisms but which are affected by diffusion 

 and advection. 



Conshelf Two — ^Short form for Continental Shelf 

 Station Number Two. Conshelf Two was a 

 manned undersea research station consisting of 

 four prefabricated steel structures, under the 

 supervision of Capt. Jacques- Yves Cousteau, 

 located 36 feet beneath the surface of the Red 

 Sea on a coral ledge which is part of Sha'ob 

 Rumi (Roman Reef) about 25 miles northeast 

 of Port Sudan. This underwater research sta- 

 tion was the second of two successful attempts. 

 (12) 



Consolan — An electronic navigational system pro- 

 viding a number of rotating equisignal zones 

 that permit determination of bearings from a 

 transmitting station. 



consolidated ice— (iiho cnUe^d con-wUdated pack) . 

 An area of the sea covered by ice of various 

 origins compacted by wind and currents into a 

 firni mass. In sea ice reporting, consolidated 

 ice is a term used to describe an area completely 

 devoid of open water with a concentration of 

 10-tenths. It usually includes some of the 

 heavier forms of ice. iSee very close pack ice 

 (preferred WMO term). 



consolidated pack — See consolidated ice. 



consolidated sediments — Sediments which have 

 been converted into rocks by compaction, deposi- 

 tion of cement in pore spaces, and/or by physi- 

 cal and chemical changes in the constituents. 



consolidation — The reduction in volume of sedi- 

 ment and increase in density in response to in- 

 creased load through decrease in pore space, 

 void ratio, and water content. (2) 



constancy — See persistence. 



constancy of the current — (or persistency). 

 The ratio of the magnitude of the resultant 

 velocity to the mean velocity of the current. 

 Constancy is dimensionless and may be ex- 

 pressed as a percentage; it equals 100 percent 

 if all observations indicate the current setting 

 exactly in the same direction at the same speed ; 

 it decreases in value with increasing variability 

 of current direction and speed ; it equals zero if 

 there is an equal number of observations from 

 all directions and all observations have the same 

 speed. 



constituent — (also called harmonic constituent, 

 astronomical tidal constituent, component, 

 tidal constituent, partial tide). One of the 

 harmonic elements in a mathematical expres- 

 sion for the tide-producing force and in 

 corresponding formulas for the tide or tidal 

 current. Each constituent represents a periodic 

 change or variation in the relative positions of 

 the earth, moon, and sun. (50) /S'ee harmonic 

 constant. 



constituent day — The duration of the earth's 

 daily rotation relative to a fictitious star which 

 represents one of the periodic tide-producing 

 forces; it approximates the length of the lunar 

 or solar day and corresponds to the period of a 

 diurnal constituent of twice the period of a 

 semidiurnal constituent. The term is not 

 applicable to the long-period constituents. 

 (50) 



constituent hour — One twenty-fourth part of a 

 constituent day. (50) 



constituents of sea water — (or chemistry of sea 

 water). Sea water obeying the Law of Con- 



37 



