Why Oceans Are Important? Amazing Facts You Must Know
Oceans are important to regulate climate, support aquatic ecosystems, provide food, oxygen, support global economies, regulate global temperature, support the global food web chain, and much more. Let’s understand everything in detail about why oceans are important.
Table of Contents
What Is an Ocean In Simple Terms?
An ocean is a massive body of saline water that comprises much of a planet’s hydrosphere.
In actuality, there is only one single connected ocean.
Types Of Oceans
For our convenience, we have divided the ocean into different parts, and they are:
- Pacific Ocean (the largest of all)
- Atlantic Ocean
- Indian Ocean
- Antarctic Ocean or Southern Ocean
- Arctic Ocean
Some Interesting Facts About the Ocean
Some of the basic facts about the ocean are: –
- The ocean covers around 68-70% of the Earth’s surface and
- 1-2% for rivers, ponds, etc, as total water is present nearly 71%
- The average depth is around 3700 m
- The deepest point (11,000 m) is the Mariana Trench in the Western Pacific.
- 97% of all the water on Earth is in the ocean.
- The ocean ridges form a mountain range almost 60,000 km long, which is larger than any mountain range on land.
- By volume, around 99% of Earth’s living space is in the ocean.
Why Oceans Are Important?
- Life itself began in the ocean, and now it supports the largest variety of life on Earth.
- The biodiversity of the ocean is thought to be much greater than that of land.
- The ocean absorbs a quarter of the carbon that we put into the atmosphere every year.
- Fish from the oceans provide the necessary nutrition to millions of people.
- The ocean provides 70% of oxygen.
- It absorbs heat and moves around the globe, and regulates our climate system.
- The ocean enables us to transport goods and oil to other parts of the world.
- The ocean provides a livelihood to millions of people.
The ocean also contains: –
- Oil
- Minerals and
- Metals that are not fully exploited yet.
The Major Threats To The Ocean
The major threats to the ocean are: –
- Over-fishing
- Illegal fishing
- Lack of protection
- Impact of Industries and Tourism
- Impact of shipping
- Aquaculture
- Dumping of waste
FAQ Section
What Are Aquatic Ecosystems?
These are water-based environments where the living organisms interact with each other and the surrounding non-living components.
Aquatic ecosystems cover the following:
The Ocean, Water bodies on land area, including streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, wetlands, and estuaries.
Man-made reservoirs, Coral reefs, Mangroves
How Aquatic Ecosystems Differ From Terrestrial Ecosystems?
The difference arises from the fact that air and water are very different environments.
The differences observed between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are:
1. Density: – Water is much more denser than air that’s why all the aquatic organisms can float in the water but when they move water exerts a drag .
This is the reason organisms that move fast in water have streamlined body shapes.
2. Gravity: – The buoyancy of water offsets the force of gravity.
3. Oxygen availability: – Oxygen is easily available on land.
In water, oxygen dissolves in relatively low concentrations. The content of oxygen is not equal for every aquatic organism like large aquatic organism have gills to help them extract oxygen from water.
Some organisms, like sea turtles, rise to the surface to breathe oxygen.
4. Temperature: There are greater variations of temperature on land than in water.
5. Tolerance:- Land organisms have more tolerance than aquatic organisms.
6. Light availability: – There is enough sunlight on land for food processing like photosynthesis, but water affects light.
For example: – More life in water exists in shallow depths
This is because as we move down the water, the less light available due to the penetration of light.
The terrestrial organisms need more energy to move about because:
They have to fight gravity, and they need more bones in their body for support.
For example: – Elephants have many more bones than whales
Amazing Conclusion On Why Oceans Are Important
Oceans are important because they are the fundamental source of life on Earth. It’s our duty to protect the ocean at all costs, especially for our future generation.
