...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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...3. Please write a 250-300 word essay describing a person, issue, event or problem that has somehow shaped your life, and explain its importance. Growing up on the small three mile long, island of Green Turtle Cay, I have always had a love for the ocean and its inhabitants. From the time I could walk, I found myself tagging along with my big brother and father in the boat. However it wasn’t until my second week of work experience at Brendal’s Dive Center that I realized my true love for the ocean and viewed it from a different perspective. We arrived at the dive spot we had been previously been to, but this time I was going to scuba dive. Once I geared up, I stuck the regulator in my mouth, took a deep breath, and slowly slipped beneath the surface. The world lit up beneath me with many shades of bright tropical colors and beautiful Caribbean fish. We slowly started to make our way to ‘the caverns’. At the entrance massive silver tarpon sit guarding the door. As the tarpon parted, we made our way into the caves where life got less abundant but more unique. The interesting concept that is the creatures that live in the caves have to adjust to living in an environment with little sunlight and less oxygen. I drifted my way through the caves, taking in everything from sea centipedes with over 100 legs to black jacks with eyes as big as baseballs. About halfway through the light increased; it was the most stunningly beautiful thing I have ever seen. As rays of sun slowly...
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...University of Phoenix Material Earth’s Dynamic Ocean and Atmosphere II Worksheet From Visualizing Earth Science, by Merali, Z., and Skinner, B. J, 2009, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Copyright 2009 by Wiley. Adapted with permission. Part 1 Figures 1 and 2 depict two important features of the world ocean. Figure 1 shows one way in which the ocean basins filled with water and Figure 2 represents one of the many mineral sources contributing to ocean salinity. [pic][pic] Figure 1 Figure 2 1. Explain the origin of ocean water in 150 words. 2. Discuss the particular way in which Figure 2 contributes to the salinity of seawater. What is the current theory on the evolution of the world ocean? Part 2 This critical thinking question is from Chapter 12 in your textbook: In May 1990, a container ship called Hansa Carrier encountered a storm in the North Pacific at about 48° north latitude, and lost 21 containers overboard, five of which contained 80,000 Nike shoes. The shoes carried serial numbers that identified them as being from the containers. By the end of 1990, shoes were washing up on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and Oregon. By the winter of 1991, shoes were appearing on Hawaiian beaches. Using Figure 12.11 in the textbook. Answer the following questions: 1. Which ocean currents were most likely to have transported the shoes? 2. Locate and describe one other surface current in the world ocean. Part 3 [pic] Figure 13.3 in the textbook helps visualize how tides...
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...The Beautiful Ocean The above-sea world has many wonderful and beautiful sights. As air-breathing, land dwellers, we can look up during the day and see the enormous bright blue sky with puffs of clouds that look like cotton candy, stars that flicker like little candles at night, and strong, tall oaks that look like skyscrapers. Being above water has many beautiful sights to offer but just where those beauties end another world with its own beauties begins. Scuba diving at a spot near my uncle’s house in Key West takes me to a whole new world. My uncle’s small beach house in Key West is one of my favorite places to visit. His beach house is a sea weed green color, and he hangs old bobbers and fishing poles, decomposing nets, and old brittle fish bones from its green walls. The water in Key West is a vivid turquoise blue that looks like a boat full of paint has spilled in it, and the beaches are as white as powdered sugar. My favorite spot to scuba dive is about a ten-minute boat ride off the coast of Key West. My uncle’s boat takes us out into the deep blue water. It is an old and noisy fishing boat that has traveled around the Florida Keys many times. Hearing the roar of its tired engine, smelling the salt water, and feeling the mist hitting my face from the splashing waves gets me ready to dive in the bright blue abyss. Getting scuba gear on takes a few minutes of tightening many straps and pulling zippers, but when finished, it feels like an extra layer of skin...
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...Place By The Ocean Kyle L. McGuire English 121 Instructor Lori Hawks June 29, 2013 Place By The Ocean It is 30 minutes before sunrise, the moon is gleaming in the distance in which appears to be tumbling into the silhouette of jagged mountain tops. Sitting here in the unruffled sand, stretching his legs out for a morning jog; he takes a moment and thinks to himself “There is no place I rather be.” The salt in the air makes his tongue tingle, the constant breeze whistles by his ears and the sound of the roaring waves walloping onto the beach. Running along the everlasting beach, his feet are stripped of shoes; every stride his feet are captivated by the refined sand. While gazing at the horizon, vivid sunlight peeks through the mountain tops. While running down the beach, his eyes begin to squint from the intense rays of light exhibited from the sun. He reaches for the sunglasses on top of his head to shield his eyes as he continues gallop down the beach. As the run comes to an end, he is saturated in sweat and likely to dive right into clear cerulean Blue Ocean. He flings his sunglasses into the sand and sprints into the water like a lifeguard saving child, he is immediately refreshed by the warm ocean water. The ambient temperature begins to rise outside, the sand is no longer tranquil and soothing to his feet, it begins to feel like being barefoot too close to a campfire. People of all ages begin to lay out on the beach soaking in the abundant sunshine. Surfers...
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...The oceans house great mysteries that are yet to be revealed. Healthy oceans are crucial to maintaining marine relationships and food webs and sustaining the livelihood and economies of coastal communities. Unfortunately, the oceans are facing dangerous losses in biodiversity due to overfishing. Overfishing, as described by National Geographic in an article titled “Pristine Seas Overfishing” (National Geographic Society), is the “taking of wildlife from the sea at rates too high for fished species to replace themselves.” Overfishing has many catastrophic effects on not only marine ecosystems, but also on the one billion people who depend on fish as their primary source of protein (Fisheries and Oceans Canada 2009). As we continue to exploit...
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...as deforestation. Ocean Acidification is the reduction of pH in the ocean over a period of time. The reduction of pH in the ocean is mainly the after effect of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. pH is measured just like the Richter Scale, so it is logarithmic. So studies so that their has been an approximate 30 percent increase in ocean acidity. The process of the acidity in the ocean involves a series of chemical reactions. The concentration of hydrogen ions increase...
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...Oceans are large bodies of saltwater. Life on this wonderful planet earth began in these huge bodies of water. Oceans are unique in this galaxy. No other planet on the Solar System has water on its surface. Oceans cover approximately 71 percent of our planet's surface and hold around 97 percent of the planet's water. There are five oceans and many seas on the planet. The five oceans are: the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. The Pacific Ocean is the largest and the deepest ocean in the world. It is larger than all of the planet's land areas combined. Oceans support the lives of nearly 50 percent of all species on our planet. They play a major role in shaping the earth's climate. For instance, how the monsoon fares will depend to a great extent on what happens in the Indian Ocean. Oceans play a key role in the planet's water cycle. They are the sources of water vapor, which is necessary for heat transportation in the atmosphere. Excess water in the land flows to the oceans. Oceans act as huge reservoirs of carbon and play a major role in the global carbon cycle. Oceans play a critical role in regulating our planet's temperature. They act as thermostats. They absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby reducing the temperature. They also emit heat absorbed by the sun, thereby increasing the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere. They keep the atmosphere warm during the winter and cool during the summer. ...
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...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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...dioxide in water is a very weak acid, whilst the ocean is a very stable buffer with a pH averaging around 8. The concentration of enough CO2 to significantly reduce that pH will not come from the atmosphere – there isn’t enough CO2 in the atmosphere to make much difference.The mass of the oceans is 268 times the mass of the atmosphereI can say this with confidence because the mass of the oceans is 268 times the mass of the atmosphere, and CO2 is currently only 0.04% of that.No honest chemist would claim the dissolving of the entire atmospheric mass of CO2 at once would make much difference to the pH of the oceans.Secondly, it is well known that an increase in temperature will reduce the solubility of CO2 in water. (The oceans are known as a carbon sink. When they’re cold, they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. When they warm, they release CO2 into the atmosphere. ed)Warm up a carbonated drink and see what happensWarm water naturally contains less CO2 than cold water. Warm up a carbonated drink and see what happens – the CO2 comes out of solution.The oceans are outgassing CO2 due to the slight warming trend observed. The cause of this trend IS NOT known !I find alarmists stunningly contradictory and amusing.They point out the slight increasing trend in temperatures as alarming !They point out the side effect of this slight increasing trend in temperatures – rising sea levels – as alarming !Then they claim man’s CO2 emissions will increase ocean acidification as alarming.But you simply cannot...
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...Nation: Australia Subject: Ocean Pollution and Overfishing WHEREAS, ocean pollution in Australia has become a significant problem, and WHEREAS, “Almost 90% of the marine debris found on Sydney’s beaches is plastic, mostly bottles, caps, and straws.”, and WHEREAS, The plastic found in the water also washes onto the beaches and can be hazardous for humans and other land animals like, dogs, and WHEREAS, Not only is it affecting the recreational use of the area’s population, it has an effect on the sea creatures residing there as well. These creatures can be choked, trapped or even starved, and WHEREAS, We’ve known for some years now that the oceans aren’t an endless resource. The most recent figures indicate that over 85% of the world’s fish stocks are...
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... Rodney 10-11-11 English 4th Period Have you every wonder how you could help the ocean environment? Many people today would like to help but really don’t know how. The environment club is a new club was started so you can help with this. In the past many see animals were killed because of waste. Many sea animals such as sharks have been over killed for food. So we want to inform you on everything you can do to prevent this from happening. And we want to show you how joining the environment club will help. “It has been estimated that for every life that has been taken by a shark 4.5 million sharks are killed by humans.” When people kill the sharks most of the time they just leave them there to die so they are wasting them. Most people are afraid of sharks or just don’t like them around them so they instantly thing they will do something bad to them. Sharks don’t want to attack people most of the time its not there fault and sometimes it may be by accident. As people continue to do this more and more sharks start to die. This may cause us humans to have to pay more for food or it may be hard to find a special food that you like but they may not have the fish to make it because of it. Saving the environment could be as easy as picking a piece of trash off the floor when you’re at the beach. Much time a wave may come and such the trash in the ocean. When this happens it could dirty the water and make a sea animal die. So we are encouraging to help...
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...Oceans Name of student Name of institution Oceans About seventy-one percent of the planet is covered with water bodies most of which consists of the five major oceans namely: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, the Arctic and the Antarctic. The word “sea” is sometimes wrongly for “ocean”, but “sea” represents the saline water body surrounded by land. In terms of hydrosphere, the oceans cover about ninety-seven percent of the earth’s water bodies. The ocean is so vast and one can sail for day without encountering land. Oceanographers state that exploration so far has only covered five percent of the world ocean. The world ocean is part of the carbon cycle and influences climatic and weather patterns, therefore, it is crucial for our existence. The ocean is home to about 200,000 known species, although estimates put it at over 2million species, because exploration has not covered most of the ocean’s depth yet. Year in year out, thousands of fishing fleets bring in millions of tons of fish and other sea creatures which are used for diverse purposes from food for human and livestock to making chemicals. The oceans and their beaches are also a good place to have fun. People tour beaches all around the world for a lot of interesting activities such as swimming, surfing and sailing. They also just lie and play in the beaches to enjoy the sun and the sand. ...
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...Overfishing in the Oceans Introduction Recent studies found that overfishing in the ocean is depleting sea life around the world. Overfishing in the oceans is taking the sea life at a rate too high that the fished sea life is having a hard time replenishing itself. Part 1 Overfishing started in the early 1800’s when humans started seeking blubber for oil lamps. When humans started overfishing for blubber it drastically reduced the whole population. The fish population like the Atlantic cod, herring and sardines were fished to the point it was almost extinct by the mid 1900’s. The disruption of the food chain became catastrophic by the late 20th century. Large commercial fishing ships in today’s industry are equipped with aggressive state of the art sonars to find schools of fish fast and accurately. Some of the large commercial ships have powerful engines that can drag really big fishing equipment through the ocean, so fish really don’t have a chance to escape. There is a type of fishing that is blamed for unnecessary damage to the bottom of the ocean called bottom trawling. Marine scientist compare bottom trawling to a bulldozer, except it has nets that collect turtles, coral and everything that is in its path. It causes irreversible damage to the coral reefs, slow growing fish species and even kills the sea turtles. Part 2 Solutions that we can do to help prevent over fishing in the oceans are, for one to change our eating habits. We don’t have to stop eating fish but...
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...An Ocean Adventure As I watch, the waves from the shore look fun and almost innocent as they crest and then crash over one another. I can taste the salt in the air and watch little rainbows glisten through the prisms of the ocean’s spray. The warm ocean water toward the shore is covered with foam and bubbles from the rumbling waves as children and their families play in the gritty tan colored sand. I think to myself, “This is perfect”. I make the final preparations on my Yamaha Waverunner. All of the fluid levels check full and there is a faint smell of gasoline mixed with the aromas of salt and fish in the air. I am now ready to brave and jump the mighty ocean waves of South Padre Island! Before the truck backs the trailer into the warm waters at the dock and lowers the Waverunner into the blue-green abyss, I crank the engine for a final systems check. It roars powerfully, drowning out the sound of the birds circling overhead, as thick black and gray smoke initially pours from the exhaust and then slowly drifts away on the wind’s light breeze. I turn the impressive machine off to finish my final preparations. As I put on the Jet Pilot lifejacket and tighten the thick blue straps, I remind myself to stay calm and not to make stupid or impulsive decisions during my journey into the ocean. It is easy to push oneself to the limits and lose track of reality. I must remember to respect Mother Nature at all times and keep in mind that I am not invincible. I climb aboard the Waverunner...
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