Oceans

http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-kids/0134-the-earths-oceans.ph
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Oceans
All oceans of the world are connected .
They cover 361,000,000sq km out of the
earth's total surface of 501,000,000 sq km .
In order to aid scientists in studying and
understanding the vast seas of the Earth,
researchers generally divide them into four
distinct oceans.
These oceans are the Pacific Ocean, the
Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the
Arctic Ocean.

 As you can see in this image, these

oceans are connected, forming one
large ocean.
Water from one of the four oceans is
free to move into another ocean.
Whales, fish, and other life forms
from one ocean are free to travel to
another.

Pacific ocean
The largest of all the Earths oceans, the Pacific Ocean covers twice as
much space as any other ocean, and more space than all the continents
put together.
This vast body of water extends upward, touching the Arctic ocean, and
also extends down to the shores of Antarctica. The bulk of this ocean,
however, lies along the warm tropics. This makes the majority of the
Pacifics water warm.

The Pacific Ocean has the deepest average depth, and is also home to the
deepest trenches on Earth. Much of the Pacific is dotted with small
volcanic islands, such as Hawaii, Tonga and Samoa.

The Pacific Ocean is notorious for bad weather. Some of the most powerful
storms are brewed within its waters.

Atlantic ocean
The Atlantic Ocean stretches from the Arctic Ocean
downward to the shores of Antarctica. This makes it
the same size from north to south as the Pacific
Ocean.
However, from east to west, the Atlantic Ocean is
only about half as wide as the Pacific.
The Atlantic Ocean is a deep ocean. Its average
depth is just slightly less than that of the Pacific
Ocean. This ocean has far fewer islands than the
Pacific.

Indian ocean
The Indian Ocean lies between Africa on
the west, Australia on the east, Asia on
the north, and Antarctica on the south.
90% of this ocean lies to the south of
the Equator.
The Indian Ocean is just slightly less
deep than the Atlantic Ocean.

Arctic ocean
The Arctic Ocean is both much smaller than the
other oceans as well as more shallow.
This ocean is connected to the Pacific and
Atlantic Oceans via small gaps between
continents.
This ocean is also much colder than the majority
of the other oceans, with much of the water
covered in a frozen ice cap.

Features of ocean basin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP380-Iaoos

Continental shelf: The continental shelf is the

most important part of the ocean floor for man.
The submerged part of the land , which is
adjacent to coastline , and which is not more
than 200metres deep is called continental shelf.
It Is in these shallow waters that light can
penetrate and the submarine vegetation grows.
It is the richest fishing ground.
The continental shelf in some parts of the world is
rich in oil, coal, sulphur, and non ferrous metals

 Continental slope : At the outer edge

of the continental shelf, the slope
suddenly steepens.
This is found to be 35-61 meters per
km.
one end of the slope connects it with
the continental shelf while the other
one merges into the ocean floor the
area occupied by the continental
slope is 8.5% of the total ocean area.

Continental rise
Thecontinental riseis an underwater
feature found between the
continental slopeand theabyssal plain.
This feature can be found all around the
world, and it represents the final stage
in the boundary between continents
and the deepest part of the ocean.

 At the bottom of the continental

slope, one will find the continental
rise, an underwater hill composed of
tons of accumulated sediments.
The general slope of the continental
rise is between 0.5 degrees and 1.0
degrees.

Abyssal plains
Beyond the continental rise stretches the
abyssal plain, an extremely flat area of the
sea floor which is also incredibly deep.
The abyssal plain hosts many unique life
forms which are uniquely adapted to survival
in its cold, high pressure, and dark conditions.
The flatness of the abyssal plain is
interrupted by massive underwater mountain
chains near the tectonic boundaries of the
Earth's plates.

 Deep ocean floors: about two-third of

the ocean surface is occupied by
deep ocean floors.
They are situated on the base of the
continental slope. The depth varies
from3000-6000 metres.
Many long zig-zag ridges, plateaus,
volcanic summits, etc exists on the
basin.

 The ocean deeps: These are long

deep trenches that are around 30,000
feet deep .
Most oceanic trenches are found in
pacific oceans.
The deepest of which is Mariana
trench which is about 36000 feet
deep.
Their depth is more than the highest
peak on land.

 http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/current.html ocean currents

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1WF8b6HZLM tides waves
currents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imBQ5H5PL2c tides and
waves
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ifoCIFKYXQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ifoCIFKYXQ ocean currents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrO7ejaVdzs imp ocean
currents
http://study.com/academy/lesson/waves-types-features-effect-onerosion.html
waves
http://study.com/academy/lesson/ocean-basins-definition-formatio
n-features-types.html
ocean ridges
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP380-Iaoos ocean basin

Movements of ocean water

The movement of ocean water takes
place in three different ways ,through
waves, currents and tides.

Waves
Waves are actually the energy, not the water as such,
which moves across the ocean surface.
Water particles only travel in a small circle as a wave
passes.
Wind provides energy to the waves.
Wind causes waves to travel in the ocean and the
energy is released on shorelines.
The motion of the surface water seldom affects the
stagnant deep bottom water of the oceans.
As a wave approaches the beach, it slows down.
This is due to the friction occurring between the
dynamic water and the sea floor.

Characteristics of waves
Wave crest and trough : The highest and
lowest points of a wave are called the
crest and trough respectively.
Wave height : It is the vertical distance
from the bottom of a trough to the top of a
crest of a wave.
Wave period : It is merely the time interval
between two successive wave crests or
troughs as they pass a fixed point.

 Wavelength : It is the horizontal

distance between two successive
crests.
Wave speed : It is the rate at which
the wave moves through the water,
and is measured in knots.
Wave frequency : It is the number of
waves passing a given point during a
one second time interval.

Tides
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJOvxQElfLc
Rise and fall of sea water due to gravitational forces of
the sun and the moon are called tides.
are caused by the gravitational interaction between the
Earth and the Moon.
The gravitational attraction of the moon causes the
oceans to bulge out in the direction of the moon.
Another bulge occurs on the opposite side, since the
Earth is also being pulled toward the moon (and away
from the water on the far side).
Since the earth is rotating while this is happening, two
tides occur each day.

Spring Tides

Spring tides are especially strong tides

(they do not have anything to do with the
season Spring).
They occur when the Earth, theSun, and
the Moon are in a line.
The gravitational forces of the Moon and
the Sun both contribute to the tides.
Spring tides occur during the full moon and
the new moon.

Proxigean Spring Tide

TheProxigean Spring Tideis a rare,
unusually high tide.
This very high tide occurs when the moon is
both unusually close to theEarth(at its closest
perigee, called theproxigee) and in the New
Moon phase (when the Moon is between the
Sun and the Earth).
The proxigean spring tide occurs at most
once every 1.5 years.

Neap Tides

Neap tides are especially weak tides.

They occur when the gravitational
forces of the Moon and the Sun are
perpendicular to one another (with
respect to the Earth).
Neap tides occur during quarter
moons.

Ocean currents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ifoCIFKYXQ

Anocean currentis a continuous movement ofoceanwater

from one place to another. Ocean currents are created bywind
, watertemperature,saltcontent, and the gravity of themoon
.
The current's direction and speed depend on theshorelineand
the ocean floor.
They can flow for thousands of miles and are found in all the
major oceans of the world.
One major example of an ocean current is theGulf Streamin
theAtlantic Ocean.
Ocean currents can be found on the water surface and deeper
down.

 Currents on the surface often depend onwind.

They travelclockwisein thenorthern hemisphere
.
They travel counterclockwisein the
southern hemisphere.
They are found up to 400 meters (1,300ft) below
the surface of the ocean.
Deeper currents depend on water pressure,
temperature, andsaltcontent.