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Most water in Earth's atmosphere and crust comes from saline seawater, while fresh water accounts for nearly 1% of the total. The vast bulk of the water on Earth is saline or salt water, with an average salinity of 35‰ (or 3.5%, roughly equivalent to 34 grams of salts in 1 kg of seawater), though this varies slightly according to the amount of runoff received from surrounding land.
The entire ocean, containing 97% of Earth's water, spans 70.8% of Earth's surface, [8] making it Earth's global ocean or world ocean. [23] [25] This makes Earth, along with its vibrant hydrosphere a "water world" [43] [44] or "ocean world", [45] [46] particularly in Earth's early history when the ocean is thought to have possibly covered Earth ...
Most of Earth's surface is ocean water: 70.8% or 361 million km 2 (139 million sq mi). [96] This vast pool of salty water is often called the world ocean, [97] [98] and makes Earth with its dynamic hydrosphere a water world [99] [100] or ocean world. [101] [102] Indeed, in Earth's early history the ocean may have covered Earth completely. [103]
The ocean contains 97% of Earth's water, and oceanographers have stated that less than 100% of the World Ocean has been explored. [5] The total volume is approximately 1.35 billion cubic kilometers (320 million cu mi) with an average depth of nearly 3,700 meters (12,100 ft).
This is one of a series of comprehensive lists of continents, countries, and first level administrative country subdivisions such as states, provinces, and territories, as well as certain political and geographic features of substantial area. [1]
Continental shelves appear mostly by a depth of 140 meters, mid-ocean ridges by 3000 meters, and oceanic trenches at depths beyond 6000 meters. A seafloor map captured by NASA Bathymetry ( / b ə ˈ θ ɪ m ə t r i / ; from Ancient Greek βαθύς ( bathús ) 'deep' and μέτρον ( métron ) 'measure') [ 1 ] [ 2 ] is the study of ...
If the pool is used for Olympic Games or World Championships, then the minimum depth is increased to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). [3] Whereas the Water Cube pool used for the 2008 Olympics was 3 metres (9 ft 10 in) deep, the temporary pool used in 2024 was only 2.2 metres (7 ft 3 in), which commentators suggested made for slower race times. [4]
In 1791 the commission originally defined the metre based on the size of the earth, equal to one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole. In the SI, the standard metre is now defined as exactly 1 ⁄ 299 792 458 of the distance that light travels in a second .