A Perfect Planet episode 4 – Oceans

A Perfect Planet episode 4 - Oceans

A Perfect Planet episode 4 – Oceans: There are not five separate oceans, but one. Its waters linked by powerful forces that keep them on the move. This constant mixing is vital for the health of oceans and marine life.


 

 



Our planet is one in a billion. How incredible, awe-inspiring life is driven by its natural forces – and how we can ensure humans become a force for good. With David Attenborough.

 

A Perfect Planet episode 4 – Oceans

 

An ocean is a body of water that composes much of a planet’s hydrosphere. On Earth, an ocean is one of the major conventional divisions of the World Ocean. These are, in descending order by area, the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern (Antarctic), and Arctic Oceans. The phrases “the ocean” or “the sea” used without specification refer to the interconnected body of salt water covering the majority of the Earth’s surface. As a general term, “the ocean” is mostly interchangeable with “the sea” in American English, but not in British English. Strictly speaking, a sea is a body of water (generally a division of the world ocean) partly or fully enclosed by land.

Saline seawater covers approximately 361,000,000 km2 (139,000,000 sq mi) and is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas, with the ocean covering approximately 71% of Earth’s surface and 90% of the Earth’s biosphere. The ocean contains 97% of Earth’s water, and oceanographers have stated that less than 20% of the World Ocean has been mapped. 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).

As the world ocean is the principal component of Earth’s hydrosphere, it is integral to life, forms part of the carbon cycle, and influences climate and weather patterns. The World Ocean is the habitat of 230,000 known species, but because much of it is unexplored, the number of species that exist in the ocean is much larger, possibly over two million. The origin of Earth’s oceans is unknown; oceans are thought to have formed in the Hadean eon and may have been the cause for the emergence of life.

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