A Living Coral Reef

A Dead Coral–Nothing grows or lives here but algae

Imagine a coastline devoid of all life, or an ocean of water so toxic it will kill any living thing in it, or a Sunday brunch without shrimp cocktail.This may sound extreme, but the World's Oceans  are in trouble and face threats from over fishing, global warming, and pollution. 1998 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of the Ocean, countries from around the globe are working to draw public attention to the plight of the oceans.The health of our oceans is vital to our very existence.There are things that each and everyone of us can do to ensure that this precious resource remains a truly wondrous place, healthy and teeming with marine life.  

Ocean Facts

The tiniest sea creatures are the microscopic plankton. They form the basis of the ocean food web on which all higher animals depend.

Do you know...

Over 70 percent (70.8%) of the surface of the globe is ocean. In fact, all of the land mass of the Earth (continents and islands) would fit into the Pacific Ocean alone - and with room to spare.

Population - More than half the world’s population live within a   60 miles distance from the coast. This is more than 2.7 billion people. Rapid urbanization will lead to more coastal megacities containing 10 million or more people. By the end of the millennium 13 out of 15 of the world’s largest cities will be located on or near the coast.

Algae - The first plants on earth, the algae, developed in the sea 3,500 million years ago. Algae, like other plants, give off oxygen as they produce food. In time, these algae have produced enough oxygen to provide an atmosphere in which animals could survive. Today, algae produce over half of the oxygen that we breathe.

The oceans contain 95% of the habitat space on the planet. Creatures, large and small - The number of ocean species known to man are 275,000. The largest animal and marine mammal in the world is the blue whale. It's up to 33 meters long and weighs as much as 40 rhinoceroses put together.

Over 70% of the earth's surface is covered with water. The oceans contain 97% of all the water on earth, which is about  328,000,000 miles3. The amount of water on earth has never changed and will never change.

Some scientists estimate that the oceans contain as much as 50 quadrillion tons (50 million billion tons=50,000,000,000,000,000) of dissolved solids. If the salt in the ocean could be removed and spread evenly over the Earth’s land surface it would form a layer more than 500 feet  thick, about the height of a 40-story office building. - Atlantic sea water is heavier than Pacific sea water due to its higher salt content

Water warmed by the tropical sun is transferred by an ocean current system towards high latitudes and the poles. Deep below the surface, wide, cold (about 2°C) "thermohaline" currents move slowly around the world. The water in this deep part of the so-called 'conveyor belt' moves very slowly, - about 1 mm/sec, taking as long as 1,000 years to complete its cycle. This deep current is technically hard to study and so is still poorly  understood, but we know it plays a major role in stabilizing world climate.

   Continued

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