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Ocean one-pagers: Do we know enough of Oceans?
The World's Oceans
The five major oceans that make up this planet, including the newest 'Southern Ocean', are:
| Atlantic ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is considered a passive margin ocean with most of its geological activity centered along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Most of its coastal regions are low and geologically quiet. The Atlantic’s major marginal seas include the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, Hudson Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. The Atlantic covers an area of 82 million square kilometers (32 million square miles). It has an average depth of 3,600 meters (11,812 feet). Its greatest depth is in the Puerto Rico Trench at 8,605 meters (28,231 feet).
Some of the current issues include -
endangered marine species include the manatee, seals, sea lions, turtles, and whales; driftnet fishing is exacerbating declining fish stocks and contributing to international disputes; municipal sludge pollution off eastern U.S., southern Brazil, and eastern Argentina; oil pollution in Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Lake Maracaibo, Mediterranean Sea, and North Sea; industrial waste and municipal sewage pollution in Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea |
| Arctic Ocean
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A smooth, pale-blue layer of polar pack ice edged by jagged chunks of floating ice covers much of the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean, the earth’s northernmost cap. With an area of 12 million square kilometers (5 million square miles), the Arctic Ocean is the smallest ocean - more than five times smaller than the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
Some of the current issues include -
endangered marine species include walruses and whales; fragile ecosystem slow to change and slow to recover from disruptions or damage |
| Indian Ocean
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The smallest of the three major oceans, the Indian Ocean covers an area of about 73 million square kilometers (about 28 million square miles) - about 20 percent of the total area covered by the world's oceans. The average depth of the Indian Ocean is 3,890 meters (12,762 feet). Its deepest point is the Java trench, at 7,725 m.
Some of the current issues include -
endangered marine species include the dugong, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea |
| Pacific Ocean
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The world's largest geographic feature, the Pacific Ocean covers more than 166 million square kilometers (more than 64 million square miles)—about one-third of the earth's surface. The area of the Pacific is greater than that of all of the continents combined, and it makes up nearly half of the area covered by the earth's oceans.
Some of the current issues include -
endangered marine species include the dugong, sea lion, sea otter, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in Philippine Sea and South China
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| Southern Ocean
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The Southern Ocean, designated as such in 2000, is a body of water that lies between 60 degrees south latitude and the Antarctica coastline. It's coordinates nominally are 65 00 S, 0 00 E, but the Southern Ocean has the unique distinction of being a large circumpolar body of water totally encircling the continent of Antarctica. This ring of water lies between 60 degrees south latitude and the coast of Antarctica, and encompasses 360 degrees of longitude. The Southern Ocean is now the fourth largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean).
Some of the current issues include -
impacts of global warming, ocean currents, environment and climate change research, fisheries |
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