Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
The ocean has surrounded half of the world and some creatures have lived in there. Then, we have got enough benefit from the sea: foods, entertainment, and ways to the other place. According to P. Weber, Scientific researchers are increasingly turning to the sea in their search for medical cures and unique compounds. They have derived antileukemia drugs from sea sponges, bone-graft material from corals, diagnostic chemicals from red algae anti-infection compounds in shark skin, and many more useful agents (2002, page. 44), so, we have benefited really enough from the ocean and creatures who lived there. Now, the sea and some profit in the ocean have filled necessary things for us. However, that useful area has been caused some problems by us as exploiter. Mainly, it is related with overfishing. Therefore, the number of fish has decreased year after year, and this might be caused by the increase of population, water pollution, or other factors (Weber, 2002). We get fish as one of our foods and it takes an important part in the worlds food consumption. According to Corson, Coastal waters within 200 miles of land contain more than half the oceans total biological productivity and supply nearly all the worlds fish catch (1999, p. 136), but this average would have decreased today because of some problems. So, I believe we should stop the getting of too much fish because The world fish catch is approaching the annual total 100 million metric tonsthat the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) believes is the most that can be taken sustainably over the long term (1999, p. 136). First, we should make some laws against the chemical plant, and the corporations of the fishermen, because of the decreasing the number of the fish. Besides it, we should restrict fishing, which is one kind of our entertainment, and might be the one of the factors of the decrease of the number of fish in the world. Second, we ought to show this problem to other people, because we would never know the issue until we face it. So, it would better to show the effect of how we pollute the ocean now as Poison or cause disease in coastal marine life. Contaminate seafood. Fat-soluble toxicants that bioaccumulate in predators (2002, p. 47). Third, we should try to clean the ocean and coast respectively. Thrown garbage near the sea causes as much as effect to the creatures in the ocean. For example, I have heard the turtle mistook eating the plastic bag as their food, the jellyfish. Therefore, we should need to clean the sea and coast in order to protecting the creatures in the sea. Finally, I am really sad about the issue of the ocean because I was brought up in the city near the ocean in my country. The ocean is a helpful factor that we will live on the earth in the future. We need to protect the sea for our lives now. Reference:
Weber, P. (2002). Safeguarding oceans. In Brown, L. (ed.) State of the World. New York, NY: Harper Books. Corson, W. H. (1999). Ocean and coastal resources. In The Global Ecology Handbook. San Francisco, CA: Golden Book.
ocean
ocean, interconnected mass of saltwater covering 70.78% of the surface of the earth, often called the world ocean. It is subdivided into four major units that are separated from each other by the continental masses. See also oceanography.
amounts of water and other volatiles that are released upon solidification.) With the passage of time, water released by volcanic activity gradually filled oceanic depressions.
The deep ocean floor begins at the seaward edge of the continental rise or marginal trench, if one is present, and extends seaward to the base of the underwater midocean mountains. Many relief features of great importance are present in this region. Vast abyssal plains cover significant portions of the deep ocean basin. Such plains are occasionally broken by low, oval-shaped abyssal hills. The abyssal plains cover about 30% of the Atlantic and nearly 75% of the Pacific ocean floors. They are among the flattest portions of the earth's crust and appear to be formed by the deposition of fine sediment carried by turbidity currents that have covered and smoothed out irregularities in the ocean floor. One of the most significant features of the ocean basins is the midocean ridge. First discovered in the Atlantic Ocean on the Challenger expedition, its relief features were further investigated during the German Meteor expedition of 192526. By the early 1960s it had been confirmed that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge was only part of a continuous feature that extended 55,000 km (34,000 mi) through the Atlantic, Indian, South Pacific, and Arctic oceans. The ridge is a broad bulge in the ocean floor that rises 1 to 3 km (0.62 mi) above the adjacent abyssal plains. It has a variable width averaging more than 1,500 km (c.900 mi). It is crossed by a number of fracture zones (transform faults) and displays a deep rift 37 to 48 km (2330 mi) wide and about 1.6 km (1 mi) deep at its very crest.
the south equatorial current of the Pacific. In 1961 a similar current was discovered in the Atlantic. See also tide.
Thermohaline Circulation
Thermohaline circulation refers to the deepwater circulation of the oceans and is primarily caused by differences in density between the waters of different regions. It is mainly a convection process where cold, dense water formed in the polar regions sinks and flows slowly toward the equator. Most of the deep water acquires its characteristics in the Antarctic region and in the Norwegian Sea. Antarctic bottom water is the densest and coldest water in the ocean depths. It forms and sinks just off the continental slope of Antarctica and drifts slowly along the bottom as far as the middle North Atlantic Ocean, where it merges with other water. The circulation of ocean waters is vitally important in dispersing heat energy around the globe. In general, heat flows toward the poles in the surface currents, while the displaced cold water flows toward the equator in deeper ocean layers.
(cyanbacteria) and floating algae, such as diatoms, dinoflagellates, and coccolithopores. Heterotrophic plankton (zooplankton) are floating animals and protozoans of the sea and rely on the phytoplankton as food sources. Foraminifera and radiolaria are the dominant protozoan zooplankton that secrete tests (shells), which become incorporated into the sediment of the ocean floor. Many juvenile forms of swimmers (such as shrimp) or bottom dwellers (such as barnacles) pass through a planktonic phase. Marine organisms capable of self-locomotion are called nektonic life forms. Fish, squid, and whales are examples of marine nekton.
Important Marine Issues The challenge of marine conservationists the world over is bringing the many important issues which face the global ocean to the surface for the public to see. So much of the ocean is out of sight and, therefore, out of mind for many. We've chosen five core areas of marine conservation to focus our attention on in an effort to provide you with the motivation and information you need to make a difference.
"The important conclusion is that the observed SST increases in these hurricane breeding grounds cannot be explained by natural processes alone," says Wigley. "The best explanation for these changes has to include a large human influence." Hurricanes are complex phenomena that are influenced by a variety of physical factors, such as SSTs, wind shear, water vapor, and atmospheric stability. The increasing SSTs in the Atlantic and Pacific hurricane formation regions are not the sole determinant of hurricane intensity, but they are likely to be one of the most significant influences. "It is important to note that we expect global temperatures and SSTs to increase even more rapidly over the next century," Wigley says. According to Santer, "In a post-Katrina world, we need to do the best job we possibly can to understand the complex influences on hurricane intensity, and how our actions are changing those influences."