Discover the Oceans: The World's Largest Ecosystem

By Lauri Berkenkamp and Chuck Forsman

From both a historical and scientific point of view, above and below the surface, this engaging guide brings the world's oceans to life through fun facts, illustrations, and in-depth information. Interactive activities appear throughout, ranging from making solar stills and simple fishing spears to experimenting with a homemade diving bell and figuring out how much water it really takes to survive. With the oceans being the least explored environment on Earth, this reference illuminates some of the most incredible and surprising plants and animals as well as how to survive and navigate these vast expanses.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nomad Press
• Release date: Jul 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781936749331

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Earth’s Largest Ecosystem

The ocean is the largest ecosystem on the earth. It covers more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface. It contains almost 99 percent of the entire living space on Earth, and almost all of the planet’s water. It is home to the world’s largest animal, largest volcano, deepest canyon, and highest waterfall—all under water. And yet the ocean is the least explored environment on the planet.

This book will introduce you to some of the most amazing aspects of the world’s oceans. You’ll learn how oceans are formed, what seawater is made of, and why ocean water is salty. You’ll also learn how to navigate at sea without a compass or a map, and get to know some of the incredible creatures that live in this huge expanse of water. You’ll also discover just what an extreme environment the ocean is and get to know the people and creatures who have called the ocean home for thousands of years.

Each section of this book covers a different topic. You can read the book straight through or skip around to find the information you find most interesting or useful. What Is the Ocean? and Below the Surface give you an overview of the vast expanses of water that make up the world’s oceans. If you’d like to learn about how all ocean life is interconnected, turn to The Ocean Food Web. You’ll discover that animals and plants live everywhere in the ocean—from the sunny surface to the cold, crushing depths of the deepest ocean canyons, and that they all rely on each other for survival. If you’re curious about the first humans who explored the ocean and how people travel upon and underneath it, turn to Seafaring and Ocean Exploration. And if it’s navigation you’re interested in, check out Ocean Navigators. You’ll be introduced to some of the ways oceangoing people have navigated for centuries. You’ll also learn about ocean currents, how to read wave patterns, and how to set a course using the sun, moon, stars, and ocean itself. If you’d like to learn a little more about how to cope with the extreme ocean environment, turn to Surviving Ocean Extremes, where you’ll learn how to avoid seagoing dangers like sunburn, dehydration, and hypothermia.

Throughout the book you’ll find fascinating facts and sidebars that look closely at some of the most incredible plants, animals, and people of the oceans, from the tiny copepod to the great white shark. You’ll also find Try This activities that you can do anywhere—you don’t have to be on the ocean—ranging from learning how to make a solar still or a simple fishing spear to experimenting with a homemade diving bell or figuring out how much water you really need to stay alive.

Oceans cover a vast portion of our planet and have a huge influence on all of our lives—and the life of every living thing. It will take our knowledge and combined efforts to keep the world’s waters healthy and thriving. Ready to jump into the salty spray and discover the oceans? Let’s get going!

WORDS TO KNOW

ecosystem: a community of plants and animals living in the same area and relying on each other to survive.

copepod: a tiny animal related to shrimp.

CHAPTER 1

What Is the Ocean?

Our planet is covered in water. The oceans cover more than two-thirds of the earth’s surface and contain almost all of the living space on the planet. That’s because the living space of the oceans is both on and below the surface. Miles below the surface.

The oceans have many different names—Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern. But they are really part of one enormous water system that flows all over the globe. Water from the frigid Arctic Ocean makes its way around the world to Australia. The same water that laps the rocky coast of Maine will eventually reach the beaches in Thailand. In fact, oceanographers call Earth’s seawater a world ocean, since all of those bodies of water are connected.

WORDS TO KNOW

oceanographer: a scientist who studies the ocean.

People talk about how big our oceans are. After all, Earth is known as the blue planet because oceans cover so much of the earth’s surface that from space they make our planet look bright blue. But it can be hard to really grasp just how enormous and important the oceans are to us. Here are some facts about the world’s oceans that might surprise you:

The oceans contain 97 percent of all the water on Earth. That’s about 1.4 billion trillion tons of water! If all the water in the world fit into a 2-liter soda bottle, the salt water from the oceans would fill the bottle up to the neck. Only the last 3 tablespoons would be freshwater.

There is so much water in our oceans that if the earth were as smooth as a marble, and all the water of the world’s oceans evenly covered its surface, the planet would be completely covered in a layer of water 2.25 miles (3.7 kilometers) deep.

The oceans cover the largest mountain range, the highest waterfall, and the deepest canyon in the world. None of these can be seen by humans because they are so deep underwater!

The Pacific Ocean alone contains half of all the world’s water.

The top 10 feet of the world’s oceans hold as much heat as our entire atmosphere.

Oceans cover 80 percent of the Southern Hemisphere, and about 40 percent of the Northern Hemisphere.

The oceans control the world’s climate, weather systems, and air temperatures.

What’s the Difference Between an Ocean and a Sea?

If you look on a map, there are a lot of large bodies of water that are called seas, like the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Caribbean Sea. What’s the difference between a sea and an ocean?

Seas are actually parts of oceans that are mostly surrounded by land. The Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, for example, both connect to the Atlantic Ocean. The Arabian Sea connects to the Indian Ocean. Some seas are connected to the oceans only through other seas. The Black Sea, for example, which is almost completely landlocked, connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. But there are bodies of water called seas that aren’t really seas at all. The biggest of these is the Caspian Sea, which is located in Asia. It is full of salt water but isn’t connected to any ocean.

WORDS TO KNOW

atmosphere: the layer of air surrounding the earth.

Southern Hemisphere: the bottom half of the globe, south of the equator.

Northern Hemisphere: the half of the globe, north of the equator.

equator: the imaginary line around the earth, midway between the North and South Poles.

climate: the prevailing weather conditions of a region—temperature, air pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloudiness, and winds—throughout the year, averaged over a series of years.

landlocked: completely surrounded by land.

WORDS TO KNOW

species: a group of living things that are closely related and physically similar.

canyon: a deep trench in the earth, often with steep sides.

Mariana Trench: the deepest part of the world’s oceans, located in the Pacific, near Guam.

continental plates: the different portions of the earth’s crust that move over a long time.

polyps: small creatures that live in colonies and form coral.

algae: an organism that is similar to a plant because it turns light into energy but that does not have leaves or roots.

bleaching: when coral dies, it loses its color and becomes white, or bleached.

BRANCHING OUT: THE DIFFERENT OCEANS

Even though all the seawater in the world is one giant ocean with lots of different branches, these branches aren’t all the same. They are different sizes and shapes. The branches even have different characteristics and different species of plants and animals.

The five largest bodies (or branches) of seawater are the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern oceans, and all have special features that make them unique.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in the world. It covers more than a third of the entire planet, and reaches from the far north of the Northern Hemisphere to the far south of the Southern Hemisphere. The Pacific Ocean is so big that all the continents and almost all of the other oceans could fit into it.

It is also the deepest ocean, with an average depth of 13,741 feet (4,188 meters). That’s more than 2½ miles (4 kilometers) deep. The deepest canyon in the world, called the Challenger Deep, is part