Oceans and Seas

Oceans and Seas

Water Deities

 Undines

Water  Sprites
 
Mermaids

 Oceanids

 Nereids

 Atlantis

Front Page
 

Ocean: Large indefinite quantity of water

Sea: A division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land

 

* Roughly 70 percent of an adult’s body is made up of water.
* At birth, water accounts for approximately 80 percent of an infant’s body weight.
* A healthy person can drink about three gallons (48 cups) of water per day.
* Drinking too much water too quickly can lead to water intoxication. Water intoxication occurs when water dilutes the sodium level in the bloodstream and causes an imbalance of water in the brain.
* Water intoxication is most likely to occur during periods of intense athletic performance.
* While the daily recommended amount of water is eight cups per day, not all of this water must be consumed in the liquid form. Nearly every food or drink item provides some water to the body.
* Soft drinks, coffee, and tea, while made up almost entirely of water, also contain caffeine. Caffeine can act as a mild diuretic, preventing water from traveling to necessary locations in the body.
* Pure water (solely hydrogen and oxygen atoms) has a neutral pH of 7, which is neither acidic nor basic.
* Water dissolves more substances than any other liquid. Wherever it travels, water carries chemicals, minerals, and nutrients with it.
* Somewhere between 70 and 75 percent of the earth’s surface is covered with water.
* Much more fresh water is stored under the ground in aquifers than on the earth’s surface.
* The earth is a closed system, similar to a terrarium, meaning that it rarely loses or gains extra matter. The same water that existed on the earth millions of years ago is still present today.
* The total amount of water on the earth is about 326 million cubic miles of water.
* Of all the water on the earth, humans can used only about three tenths of a percent of this water. Such usable water is found in groundwater aquifers, rivers, and freshwater lakes.
* The United States uses about 346,000 million gallons of fresh water every day. The United States uses nearly 80 percent of its water for irrigation and thermoelectric power·
* The average person in the United States uses anywhere from 80-100 gallons of water per day. Flushing the toilet actually takes up the largest amount of this water.
* Approximately 85 percent of U.S. residents receive their water from public water facilities. The remaining percent supply their own water from private wells or other sources.
* By the time a person feels thirsty, his or her body has lost over 1 percent of its total water amount.
* The weight a person loses directly after intense physical activity is weight from water, not fat.

Did you Know?

The oceans occupy nearly 70 per cent of our planet's surface more than 97% of all our planet's water is contained in the ocean

the top ten feet of the ocean hold as much heat as our entire atmosphere

the average depth of the ocean is more than 2.5 miles

the oceans provide 99 percent of the Earth's living space- the largest space in our universe known to be inhabited by living organisms more than 90% of this habitat exists in the deep sea known as the abyss less than 10% of this living space has been explored by humans

Mount Everest (the highest point on the Earth's surface 5.49 miles) is more than 1 mile shorter that the Challenger Deep (the deepest point in the ocean at 6.86 miles)

the longest continuous mountain chain known to exist in the Universe resides in the ocean at more than 40,000 miles long

the Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon is deeper and larger in volume than the Grand Canyon

the Antarctic ice sheet that forms and melts over the ocean each year is nearly twice the size of the United States
the average temperature of the oceans is 2ºC, about 39ºF

water pressure at the deepest point in the ocean is more than 8 tons per square inch, the equivalent of one person trying to hold 50 jumbo jets.

cold, saline water that forms off the coast of Iceland can be found in the North Pacific Ocean, about 1000 years later
the Gulf Stream off the Atlantic seaboard of the United States flows at a rate nearly 300 times faster than the typical flow of the Amazon river, the world's largest river

the world ocean contains nearly 20 million tons of gold

the color blue is least absorbed by seawater; the same shade of blue is most absorbed by microscopic plants, called phytoplankton, drifting in seawater

a new form of life, based on chemical energy rather than light energy, resides in deep-sea hydrothermal vents along mid-ocean ridges
a swallow of seawater may contain millions of bacterial cells, hundreds of thousands of phytoplankton and tens of thousands of zooplankton

the blue whale, the largest animal on our planet ever (exceeding the size of the greatest dinosaurs) still lives in the ocean; it's heart is the size of a Volkswagen

the gray whale migrates more than 10,000 miles each year, the longest migration of any mammal

the swordfish and marlin are the fastest fish in the ocean, reaching speeds up to 75 miles per hour in quick bursts; the blue fin tuna may reach sustained speeds up to 55 miles per hour

many sharks give live birth to their young, a phenomenon called vivipary; rival siblings sometimes eat each other before they are even born

the Great Barrier Reef, measuring 1,243 miles, is the largest living structure on Earth

more than 90 percent of the trade between countries is carried by ships and about half the communications between nations use underwater cables

more oil reaches the oceans each year as a result of leaking automobiles and other non-point sources that was spilled in Prince William Sound by the Exxon Valdez

fish supply the greatest percentage of the world's protein consumed by humans most of the world's major fisheries are being fished at levels above their maximum sustainable yield; some regions are severely over fished

five species of salmon are now on the endangered species list in the Pacific Northwest, as a result of habitat destruction, logging, over fishing, building of dams and other problems

Oceans and Water

The PACIFIC Ocean is the largest of the four main oceans. Although its' name means peaceful, if can be very rough! It is 64 million square miles.

The ATLANTIC Ocean is the busiest. Many ships cross the Atlantic, carrying cargo between the Americas, Africa, and Europe. It is 32 million square miles.

The INDIAN Ocean is located in an area bordered by the continents of Asia, Africa, Antarctica, and Australia. It is 28 million square miles.

The ARCTIC Ocean is the smallest and coldest. It is 5 million square miles.

The average temperature of all oceans is about 39 degrees F (3.8 degrees C).

The average depth of all oceans is about 2.3 miles.

There are mountains, volcanoes, and deep trenches in the ocean.

Oceans are always moving.

CURRENTS flow like rivers, carrying warm water from the tropics, and cold water from the north and south poles.

TIDES change twice a day, all over the world, as the oceans rise and fall along the shoreline. Scientists think this is caused by the pull of the sun and moon on our earth.
CORAL REEFS are vast, rocky areas located in shallow, tropical waters. They are like the tropical rain forest of the ocean! The greatest variety of plant and animal life in the ocean live there. Coral reefs are formed from the bodies of small sea creatures called polyps.