Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Historically, there are four named oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic. However, most countries - including the United States - now recognize the Southern (Antarctic) as the fifth ocean.
However, our ocean is more commonly geographically divided into the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern (Antarctic). How many oceans are there? NOAA Nautical Charts
How Many Species Live in the Ocean? The number of species that live in the ocean is unknown . While scientists estimate that 91 percent of ocean species have yet to be classified, the global scientific community continues to amass as much knowledge as possible about ocean life.
The average depth of the ocean is about 3,682 meters (12,080 feet). The lowest ocean depth on Earth is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench.
The world ocean provides so many benefits. Here are nine things the ocean does for humans and the planet: Climate regulation: Covering 70 percent of the Earth's surface, the ocean transports heat from the equator to the poles, regulating our climate and weather patterns.
Of this vast volume of water, NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center estimates that 1,335,000,000 cubic kilometers (321,003,271 cubic miles) is in the ocean. That's enough water to fill about 352,670,000,000,000,000,000 gallon-sized milk containers!
At least half of the oxygen produced on Earth comes from the ocean, mostly from tiny photosynthesizing plankton. But marine life also uses roughly the same amount of oxygen to breathe, for cellular respiration, and in the decomposition process.
Sunlight entering the water may travel about 1,000 meters into the ocean under the right conditions, but there is rarely any significant light beyond 200 meters. The ocean is divided into three zones based on depth and light level.
There's actually high tide and higher high tide (and low and lower low tide). If the Earth were a perfect sphere without large continents, and if the earth-moon-sun system were in perfect alignment, every place would get two equal high and low tides every day.
Tides are very long waves that move across the oceans. They are caused by the gravitational forces exerted on the earth by the moon, and to a lesser extent, the sun. When the highest point in the wave, or the crest, reaches a coast, the coast experiences a high tide.