Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The seafloor and water column from 3,000 to 6,500 meters (9,842 to 21,325 feet) depth is known as the abyssal zone, or the abyss. Sunlight doesn’t penetrate to these depths, so the waters here are extremely dark, and the animals that live here often use bioluminescence to communicate. The seafloor itself consists of large plains broken by ...
Ocean Zones. The ocean water column is made up of five zones: the sunlight zone (epipelagic), the twilight zone (mesopelagic), the midnight zone (bathypelagic), the abyssal zone (abyssopelagic) and the hadal zone (trenches). The upper layer of the ocean is known as the sunlit, or euphotic, zone. Because water strongly absorbs light, sunlight ...
Abyssal Zone. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is the world's leading non-profit oceanographic research organization. Our mission is to explore and understand the ocean and to educate scientists, students, decision-makers, and the public. Become a member and help support Ocean science. ABOUT.
The resulting bathypelagic, or midnight, zone extends to about 4,000 meters (about 13,100 feet), which reaches the ocean floor in many places. In addition to the lack of light, the midnight zone is characterized by a steady temperature of around 4° Celsius (39° Fahrenheit). Life that exists in this zone must be able to function in cold ...
The region extending from 6,000 to 11,000 meters is called the hadal, or hadalpelagic, zone after Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. This zone occurs only in trenches; combined across all oceans, they make up an area about the size of Australia. The hadal zone is characterized by extreme depth and pressure, temperatures that hover just ...
Jellyfish are a type of zooplankton that both drift in the ocean and have some swimming ability. Hundreds of jellyfish species live in every part of the ocean and belong to the same animal group as corals and sea anemones. Soft-bodied, fragile, and often transparent, jellyfish often look like umbrellas or bells with tentacles around the edge or ...
Phytoplankton are mostly microscopic, single-celled photosynthetic organisms that live suspended in water. Like land plants, they take up carbon dioxide, make carbohydrates using light energy, and release oxygen. They are what is known as primary producers of the ocean—the organisms that form the base of the food chain. Because they need ...
The Watery World of Salps. Somewhere in our galaxy is a planet mainly covered by ocean. Most of the animals that live on the planet have evolved in water. One of these alien creatures looks like a transparent tube of Jell-O, about 4 inches (10 centimeters) long. Its body takes in water at the front end and pumps it out the back end, so that it ...
Wind Water and Ice. Like fiction, but real. Explore the “superpowers” of three Antarctic icons. Benthic animals live on the sea floor and are typically invertebrates, such as sea anemones, sponges, corals, sea stars, sea urchins, worms, mussels, crabs, and more.
Seafloor & Below. From plate tectonics to underwater mountain ranges spanning the globe, the seafloor and below encompasses a large field. Hydrothermal Vents. Mid-ocean Ridges. Natural Oil Seeps. Ocean Trenches. Seamounts. Underwater Volcanoes. Although the oceans cover most of Earth, the the tiny sliver of the coastal ocean greatly influences ...