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Powerful Properties | Watching our Waters | Fishy Facts | Astounding Aquatic Animals | Miscellaneous Marine Matters Earth's ocean is very important to us; it covers almost three-quarters of our planet.
90% of an iceberg is under water--ships beware! Ten meters (33 feet) of ocean depth has the same mass as the whole atmosphere; 2.5 meters (8 feet) of ocean depth holds as much heat as the whole atmosphere; 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) of the ocean depth has as much water as the whole atmosphere. Average January temperatures in Seattle are warmer than Kansas City, or even Oklahoma City, even though both are much further south! In the winter, the ocean near Seattle acts like a large radiator, slowly releasing heat stored up in previous months. If sea level should rise by 3 meters (10 feet), many of the World's coastal cities, like Venice, London, New Orleans, and New York, would be under water.
The ocean surface has big valleys in it! Over deep ocean canyons the sea surface dips because of the local gravity, leaving depressions as deep as 20 meters (65 feet) and as wide as 160 kilometers (100 miles). Although tap water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), seawater does not freeze until about minus 2 degrees Celsius because 3% of it is salt. This is why New Englanders "salt the roads" after heavy snows.
Satellites orbiting Earth can provide us with information about the entire global ocean in a few days or weeks.It would take ships weeks or months to make the trip around Earth. Satellite instruments can measure the average height of an ocean patch the size of Pasadena, California. 8 kilometers (5 miles) wide, to within 2.5 centimeters (1 inch). Satellite infrared instruments can measure the temperature of the surface of a patch of ocean about a kilometer (1/2 mile) square to much less than 1/2 degree Celsius. The same technology is used in police helicopters, which carry an infrared sensor, to find suspects hiding in the bushes: people are warm; plants, cold. Since fish find food in zones where cold and warm water mix, fisherman can use satellite data to find areas where fish are most likely to be.
About 14% of the world's protein consumption comes from fish. Some fish in cold Antarctic waters have natural antifreeze in their blood so they don't freeze.
If a flounder lies on an underwater checkerboard, it will try to camouflage itself by developing "checkered" black and white markings. Albatross drink seawater--they only come ashore to lay their eggs and raise their young. Coral is a colony of tiny animals that have porous limestone skeletons which can be used for bone repair in humans. Coral reefs are home to about 10% of all the fish that people eat. Coral reefs cover about one-fiftieth of the ocean floor, but about one-quarter of all marine species make reefs their home.
Many abyssal creatures (those who live at the bottom of the ocean) glow in the dark, like fireflies. The largest recorded specimen of the blue whale is 33 meters (110 feet) long--about the height of an 11-story building. Manatees, which are large, gentle, fat marine mammals, were mistaken for mermaids by some explorers--perhaps those explorers needed glasses!
At that depth, the temperature is always just above freezing, the pressure is more than 1000 times what it is on the surface, and many bottom-dwelling fish and invertebrates call it home! Under the ocean, you can find many mountain ranges. One large Antarctic iceberg could supply all of Los Angeles' water supply for 5 years! Question: Who "cooked up" the most accurate navigational charts of the 18th century? [Answer: Captain James Cook] If you were an alien landing on Earth, you would have about a 60% chance of landing out of sight of land. You float better in the Mediterranean Sea than in the waters off Santa Monica because the Mediterranean is saltier and denser. Seven million years ago, when geological forces lifted the Straits of Gibraltar and blocked the flow of Atlantic Ocean water into the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean Basin was completely dry! And in some places its bed lies 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) below sea level. When the Straits of Gibraltar dropped to today's level, what may have been the Earth's grandest waterfall may have run for 1,000 years, until the sea was full.
The Great Barrier Reef off the eastern coast of Australia can be seen from the moon! Dissolved gold is found in the water of all oceans (a very small amount, of course, but it is still there). These "fun facts" were compiled by many JPL oceanographers and friends. |
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