Ocean
hideAn ocean (from Greek Ωκεανός, Okeanos (Oceanus)) is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt.
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News tagged with ocean
Rich Ore Deposits Linked to Ancient Atmosphere
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Much of our planet's mineral wealth was deposited billions of years ago when Earth's chemical cycles were different from today's. Using geochemical clues from rocks nearly 3 billion years old, a group of ...
Oceans' uptake of manmade carbon may be slowing
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 18, 2009 |
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The oceans play a key role in regulating climate, absorbing more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans put into the air. Now, the first year-by-year accounting of this mechanism during the industrial ...
Scientific debate sparked over carbon sink data
Nov 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- According to research published this week in Nature Geoscience, emissions of carbon dioxide continue to outstrip the ability of the world’s natural ‘sinks’ to absorb carbon. ...
El Nino Could Play A Role In Colorado's Winter Weather, Scientist Says
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- El Nino, a warming event of the tropical Pacific Ocean that affects weather patterns in the United States and elsewhere, has strengthened in recent months and already appears to have influenced Colorado's ...
One word: bioplastics
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, more than 250 billion pounds of plastic are produced worldwide. Much of it ends up in the world's oceans, a fact that troubles MIT biology professor Anthony Sinskey.
Cyclone Anja hits wind shear, weakens drastically
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 17, 2009 |
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This morning, Cyclone Anja was a powerful Category 4 cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Wind shear has now giving Anja a strong "punch in the gut" as the storm has weakened to a Category 1 cyclone.
Fossil fuel CO2 emissions up by 29 percent since 2000
Nov 17, 2009 |
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The strongest evidence yet that the rise in atmospheric CO2 emissions continues to outstrip the ability of the world's natural 'sinks' to absorb carbon is published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience. ...
Optical properties of the Antarctic system and new radiation information
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 16, 2009 |
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The Antarctic system comprises of the continent itself, Antarctica, and the ocean surrounding it, the Southern Ocean. In a study for a doctoral degree by geophysicist Kai Rasmus, University of Helsinki, Finland, measurements ...
Salmon migration mystery explored on Idaho's Clearwater River
Nov 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Temperature differences and slow-moving water at the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake rivers in Idaho might delay the migration of threatened juvenile salmon and allow them to grow larger ...
El Nino Picking Up Steam
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The latest image from the U.S./French Jason-2 satellite finds a strong wave of warm water heading toward the Americas, fueling El Nino.
SEA to conduct expedition dedicated to measuring plastic marine debris in the North Atlantic Ocean
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Sea Education Association (SEA) is preparing to conduct the first-ever research expedition dedicated solely to examining the accumulation of plastic marine debris in the North Atlantic Ocean.
How much water does the ocean have?
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 12, 2009 |
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The calculation of variations in the sea level is relatively simple. It is by far more complicated to then determine the change in the water mass. A team of geodesists and oceanographers from the University of Bonn, as well ...
New water management tool may help ease effects of drought
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Continued improvement of climate forecasts is resulting in better information about what rainfall and streamflow may look like months in advance. A researcher from North Carolina State University has developed an innovative ...
A glimpse at the Earth's crust deep below the Atlantic
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Long-term variations in volcanism help explain the birth, evolution and death of striking geological features called oceanic core complexes on the ocean floor, says geologist Dr Bram Murton of the National ...
Seeing stars, Proba-2 platform passes its first health check
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Into its second week in orbit, Proba-2's spacecraft platform has proven to be in excellent health. This leaves the way clear for commissioning the many new technology payloads aboard the mini-satellite, ...
