...The ocean can produce two types of energy: thermal energy from the sun's heat, andmechanical energy from the tides and waves. Oceans cover more than 70% of Earth's surface, making them the world's largest solar collectors. The sun's heat warms the surface water a lot more than the deep ocean water, and this temperature difference creates thermal energy. Just a small portion of the heat trapped in the ocean could power the world. Workers install equipment for an ocean thermal energy conversion experiment in 1994 at Hawaii's Natural Energy Laboratory. Credit: A. Resnick, Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc. Ocean thermal energy is used for many applications, including electricity generation. There are three types of electricity conversion systems: closed-cycle, open-cycle, and hybrid. Closed-cycle systems use the ocean's warm surface water to vaporize a working fluid, which has a low-boiling point, such as ammonia. The vapor expands and turns a turbine. The turbine then activates a generator to produce electricity. Open-cycle systems actually boil the seawater by operating at low pressures. This produces steam that passes through a turbine/generator. And hybrid systems combine both closed-cycle and open-cycle systems. Ocean mechanical energy is quite different from ocean thermal energy. Even though the sun affects all ocean activity, tides are driven primarily by the gravitational pull of the moon, and waves are driven primarily by the winds. As a result, tides and waves are intermittent...
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...Natural Resources and Energy Paper SCI/256 July 09, 2013 . Marine Ecosystem Out of all of the large and natural resources available for generating electricity in the United States, it is the ocean. Ocean energy may be the last investigated for its potential. The ocean is so vast and deep, until recently, it was assumed that no matter how many chemicals or how much trash humans dumped into the ocean, the effects would be negligible. Dumping into oceans have even got the catchphrase: “The solution to pollution is dilution” (National Geographic, 2013) Impacts Associated With Agriculture Pollutants from agriculture have affected the marine’s ecosystem in ways that may not be reversible, and may also be slowly harming rivers, streams, and coastal waters. Pesticides and fertilizer are two major components that have disturbed the marine’s ecosystem; both contain harmful chemicals that can be hazardous to living organisms in the water. Fertilizer and pesticide run-off from large farms may have initiated bursts of marine algae which may disrupt the ocean’s ecosystem by causing massive blooms in marine waters (Schwartz, 2005). Winds cause nitrogen and other nutrients from the seafloor to surface, which promote the growth of algae called phytoplankton. Phytoplankton is a main source of food for many living organisms in the marine waters. Agricultural pollutants may have triggered phytoplankton to produce harmful blooms in tides, which are giving-off poisonous toxins to marine life...
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...What is spring break without the ocean coast? A week's vacation for student’s biggest decision is where the best water conditions are located. We have the Atlantic Ocean which is the second largest of the world's oceanic divisions, following the Pacific Ocean. The things to know when deciding which oceanic coast to choose to have the safest experience you need to focus on ocean temperatures, rip currents, and water sanitation. Although temperatures vary across both ocean bodies they continue to warm throughout June and July along the entire coast. At most beaches, the water temperature peaks in August and early September. The Atlantic Ocean is warmer on average, sometimes by as much as sixteen degrees Fahrenheit at given latitude. This is...
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...We know very little about our ocean, despite the fact that it plays a role in our existence, from the air that we breath to daily weather and climate patterns. It covers 71 percent of our planet and holds 97 percent of the Earth’s water, but more than 95 percent of it remains unexplored. The deeper waters remain a mystery even though we are increasingly relying more on these areas for resources. Ocean exploration is a fundamental step to reducing the unknowns about our waters. Findings made through it can reveal new sources for medical drugs, food, energy resources, and other products. It can also help us predict natural disasters and understand how we are affecting the Earth’s climate and atmosphere. One of the biggest challenge to deep ocean exploration is to figure out what is living in the deep waters. Many different species of organisms remain unknown and unreachable to us. In a decade-long international study by Census of Marine Life,...
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...Differences in air pressure are caused by unequal heating of the atmosphere. Cool air has higher air pressure so it flows underneath the warm, less dense air. Winds that blow over short distances and are caused by unequal heating of Earth’s surface within a small area. Waves Waves start in the open ocean The size of a wave depends on the strength of the wind, the length of time that it blows, and the distance over which it blows Waves move energy, not water. The water in a wave does not actually move forward, just the energy generated by the wind. The wind affects the water at the surface more than it does the deep water. As waves approach the shore, the water becomes shallower. The bottom of the waves begin to touch the sloping ocean floor. Friction between the ocean floor and the water causes the waves to slow down. As the speed of the wave slows down the shape of the wave begins to change Near the shore wave length decreases and wave height increases. When the wave reaches a certain height, the crest of the wave topples. CURRENT: A current is a large stream of water that flows through the ocean Two types of currents Surface Currents Driven mainly by the wind They follow Earth’s major wind patterns which move in a circular pattern Due to the Coriolis effect, currents in the Northern Hemisphere curve to the right and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere A surface current warms or cools...
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...Discuss biological, physical and chemical controls on the ocean's biological pump. The oceans, biological pump involves the photosynthetic fixation of carbon in the upper photic zone followed by the downward flux, through the water column, of dissolved material. The oceans absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere by photosynthetic assimilation. Ultimately this assimilated carbon is transported to depth, down through the aphotic zone, as particulate matter sinks to the depths. Although a considerable amount of organic matter, which is produced is respired though metabolic activity. Biology, physics and gravity interact to pump organic carbon into the deep sea. The processes of fixation of inorganic carbon in organic matter during photosynthesis,...
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...miles of coastline in Alaska. And within six hours of the spill, 10.6 billions of gallons of crude oil have been spilled into the ocean. The specific damage of these pollutants to animals in the ocean is mentioned in the article “Who is responsible for marine debris? The international politics of cleaning our oceans”. Plastic debris and trash caused malnutritions in sea animals, since the consumption of waste in the ocean make them feels like they are full and no longer need to in. While in fact, the plastic and trash they consumed have no nutritious values to keep the sea animals healthy. Plastic debris can also caused damage to internal organs of these animals, causing internal bleeding that can lead to a premature dead. And according to the EPA, also...
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...GLOBAL WARMING: Energy, Fall 2005 v30 i4 p36(2) It could get a lot warmer. (GLOBAL WARMING) Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2005 Business Communications Company, Inc. If humans continue to use fossil fuels in a business as usual manner for the next few centuries, the polar ice caps will be depleted, ocean sea levels will rise by seven meters and median air temperatures will soar to 14.5 degrees warmer than current day. These are the stunning results of climate and carbon cycle model simulations conducted by scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. By using a coupled climate and carbon cycle model to look at global climate and carbon cycle changes, the scientists found that the earth would warm by 8 degrees Celsius (14.5 degrees Fahrenheit) if humans use the entire planet's available fossil fuels by the year 2300. The jump in temperature would have alarming consequences for the polar ice caps and the ocean, said lead author Govindasamy Bala of the Laboratory's Energy and Environment Directorate. In the polar regions alone, the temperature would spike more than 20 degrees Celsius, forcing the land in the region to change from ice and tundra to boreal forests. "The temperature estimate is actually conservative because the model didn't take into consideration changing land use such as deforestation and build-out of cities into outlying wilderness areas," Bala said. Today's level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is 380 parts per million (ppm). By the year 2300, the model...
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...environments on earth unable to support life? What can be done about these predictions of climates in the future? How will these climate changes affect South-West Western Australia? How does climate change work? Climate change is a natural process that has been functioning on earth for billions of years, it is the regulator of the earth's abililty to support life by the cycles of The Greenhouse Effect. The Greenhouse Effect has made the earth an environment for supporting life through the cycling of energy from the sun via short-wave radiation, which heats the earths surface, then is released into the atmopshere as long-wave radiation. This cycle is made possible by the prescence of Greenhouse gases, which redside in the earths atmopshere, and absorb most of the long-wave radiation given off by the earth, with the remainder being expelled into space. This process cycles the heat from the sun around the earths atmosphere and a climate is the result, without this circulation of energy life cannot exist. Greenhouse gasses absorb long-wave solar radiation, enabling the Greenhouse Effect. The main gasses are Water Vapour H2O (clouds), Carbon Dioxide CO2, Methane CH4 and Nitrous Oxide, with water vapour being the most abundant. The concentrations of these gasses in the atmosphere have a direct influence over the climate, and through natural increases and...
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...Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions, or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions (i.e., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics, and volcanic eruptions. Certain human activities have also been identified as significant causes of recent climate change, often referred to as "global warming". Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models. A climate record — extending deep into the Earth's past — has been assembled, and continues to be built up, based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles, cores removed from deep accumulations of ice, floral and faunal records, glacial and periglacial processes, stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers, and records of past sea levels. More recent data are provided by the instrumental record. General circulation models, based on the physical sciences, are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data, make future projections, and link causes and effects in climate change. Terminology The most general definition of climate change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over long periods...
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...The Ocean The ocean makes up around 70% of the Earth’s surface. It is divided into several separate oceans which interconnect bodies of salt water. The major oceans are the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Artic Ocean. The ocean has many functions. It keeps the Earth’s temperature moderate by absorbing solar radiation. It is then stored as heat energy which is distributed around the globe by the ocean currents. This keeps the land and air warm during the winter and cools it down during the summer. According to MarineBio, temperature and density share an inverse relationship. As temperature increases, the density—spaces between the water molecules—decreases. On the other hand, salinity and density share a positive relationship. As density increases so does the salinity—the amount of salt in the water. Temperature will always change within the depths of the ocean because warm seawater floats and cold seawater sinks. When the temperature, density, or salinity of a layer of ocean changes rapidly, the region is known as a cline. Thermoclines are areas of rapid change in temperature, where most people swim in the ocean and are the most important. Pycnoclines are areas of rapid change in density and haloclines are areas of rapid change in salinity. Living in San Francisco, the ocean is pretty hard to ignore. Around my neighborhood tons of people head out to Ocean Beach on a hot sunny day. Watching the waves go back and forth from the shore to the ocean is hypnotizing...
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...sets our planet apart from our neighbors and it is the topic of this chapter. The hydrosphere is the watery part of the Earth, but this is a little misleading since it gives the impression that there is one place where water occurs. Instead, water is everywhere, or nearly so. Water is present in the atmosphere, in the form of vapor, liquid, and solid. It is tied up in rocks, locked away in the crystal lattices of minerals that make up rocks; it occurs in the innumerable small pore spaces of rocks, from the surface to depths greater than 5 km. Water is also tied up in living organisms; humans, for example, contain about 70% water. Water is stored in ice sheets large and small, it occurs in various surface water bodies, and, of course the oceans, the reservoir of the great majority of Earth's water. The hydrosphere, then, is intimately tied up with all of the other spheres that make up our whole Earth system. Inventory of Water Here is a partial breakdown of...
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...50 years, one of the key problems with living in southeast Georgia is the amount of pollution in our waters. The ocean waters we swim in have toxins dumped into it daily, increasing bacteria levels, making the waters unfit to swim in or eat fish from. There are several factors that affect our waters, such as the pulp paper mill industry. Paper mill companies are partially to blame for the pollution in our oceans, streams, rivers, and lakes. Fifty-three percent of the rivers and streams in the U.S assessed by the EPA remain too polluted for swimming, fishing and drinking. The government has established some Acts to help clean up the waters, but we need to also do our part to help the situation. With twelve pulp mills, eight panel and engineered-wood product mills, 97 saw mills and 73 other types mills currently operating statewide, the paper production industry generates roughly $20 billion in annual revenue for Georgia and create thousands of jobs for Georgians. Industrial companies, such as pulp paper companies, dump millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into America’s lakes, oceans, rivers and streams each year threatening our health. The discharge of toxic chemicals into our waterways poses a threat to the environment and human health. Toxic chemicals can accumulate in fish, riverbeds and the water column...
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...7, 2013 February 7, 2013 Inquiring about the inner energy as a unconscious source of Creativity Opposite Forces: Inner Inquiring about the inner energy as a unconscious source of Creativity Opposite Forces: Inner Opposite forces: inner The question of how to access the creative source as an artist is a constant and many times difficult search to understand for me. I have learned to let go of structures and to draw inspiration from intuition and my "inner space," that quiet place I can go to rest, dream, and energize. I can go there through meditation, reading poetry, listening to music, or just sitting quietly observing nature, and many times through dreaming. I have approached the exploration of the opposites “inner/outer” by answering the call of nature. I have intuitively been investigating the “inner” energy for a few months without being aware of it. I started to recognize it when pulling recent artwork discovered that I have been working with water, the ocean, and mountains. These elements were very much present in most of them. With the vast open space represented by these places at first I misread the inner as the outer and was confused for a while not feeling where to go with it now. The “outer self” was not manifesting, then I seem to feel the ocean waves inside of me getting to the realization that the energy calling was from my inner self in a sacred space near my heart. Both, mountains and ocean bring deep feelings of joy, nostalgia, and sadness at...
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...does not allow the long wave outgoing terrestrial infra red radiation to escape. The progressive warming up of the earth’s surface due to blanketing effect of manmade CO 2 in the atmosphere is called ‘Green House Effect’. (Figure 1). The four major green house gases, which cause adverse effects are CO2, CH4, N2O and CFC’s. Among these CO2 is the most common and important green house gas. In addition, ozone and SO2 are also act as serious pollutants in causing global warming. Green House Effect Under normal concentrations of CO2, the temperature of the earth’s surface is maintained by the energy balance of the sun’s rays that strike the planet and the heat is radiated back into the outer space. However, when concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere increases, the thick envelope of this gas prevents the heat from being reradiated out. The heated earth can radiate this absorbed energy as the radiation of longer wave...
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