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Winds drive ocean currents in the upper 100 meters of the ocean's surface. However, ocean currents also flow thousands of meters below the surface. These deep-ocean currents are driven by differences in the water's density, which is controlled by temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline). This process is known as thermohaline circulation.
The flow of energy in an ecosystem is an open system; the Sun constantly gives the planet energy in the form of light while it is eventually used and lost in the form of heat throughout the trophic levels of a food web. Carbon is used to make carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, the major sources of food energy. These compounds are oxidized to ...
Lakes are net emitters of methane, and organic and inorganic carbon (dissolved and particulate) flow into the ocean through freshwater systems. In the ocean, methane can be released from thawing subsea permafrost, and CO 2 is absorbed due to an undersaturation of CO 2 in the water compared with the atmosphere. In addition, multiple fluxes are ...
Ocean heat content (OHC) or ocean heat uptake (OHU) is the energy absorbed and stored by oceans. To calculate the ocean heat content, it is necessary to measure ocean temperature at many different locations and depths. Integrating the areal density of a change in enthalpic energy over an ocean basin or entire ocean gives the total ocean heat ...
Oceanic plants and animals easily capture what they need for their daily life, which make them 'lazy' and 'slow'. Sea water removes waste from animals and plants. Sea water is cleaner than we can imagine. Because of the huge volume of ocean, the waste produced by oceanic organisms and even human activities can hardly get the sea water polluted.
In recent decades, the ocean has acted as a sink for anthropogenic CO 2, absorbing around a quarter of the CO 2 produced by humans through the burning of fossil fuels and land use changes. [9] By doing so, the ocean has acted as a buffer, somewhat slowing the rise in atmospheric CO 2 levels.
[10] [11] This process, referred to as chemosynthesis, usually occurs deep in the ocean at hydrothermal vents that produce heat and chemicals such as hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide and methane. [10] Chemosynthetic bacteria can use the energy in the bonds of the hydrogen sulfide and oxygen to convert carbon dioxide to glucose, releasing water and ...
The benthic layer is more efficient with low flow of methane, and efficiency decreases as methane flow or the speed of flow increases. [8] Oxygen demand for cold seep ecosystems is much higher than other benthic ecosystems, so if the bottom water does not have enough oxygen, then the efficiency of aerobic microbes in removing methane is reduced ...