What is the significance of ocean

Take action on UpLink. UpLink — Take Action for Ocean. Forum in focus. Read more about this project. Explore context. Explore the latest strategic trends, research and analysis. This article is part of the Sustainable Development Impact Summit. Here are five reasons why we need to safeguard its future.

It helps regulate the climate. From the surface to the depths, sea temperatures are rising. Its biodiversity is incredible. Back from the dead: The return of a living fossil. What's the World Economic Forum doing about the ocean? It creates millions of jobs. Have you read? License and Republishing. Recall from the chapter on Plate Tectonics that the ocean floor is not flat.

Mid-ocean ridges, deep-sea trenches, and other features all rise sharply above or plunge deeply below the abyssal plains. The deepest canyon is also on the ocean floor, the Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench, 10, m 35, ft.

The mapping of the ocean floor and coastal margins is called bathymetry. Introduction to the Oceans Earth Science, n. The continental margin is the transition from the land to the deep sea or, geologically speaking, from continental crust to oceanic crust. More than one-quarter of the ocean basin is the continental margin. Water is a polar molecule that can dissolve many substances such as salts, sugars, acids, bases, and organic molecules. Saltwater comes come water that moves through rock and soil on the land and picks up ions.

This is the flip side of weathering. Salts comprise about 3. In places like estuaries, seawater mixes with freshwater, causing salinity to be much lower than average. Where there is lots of evaporation, but minimal circulation of water, salinity can be much higher.

The Dead Sea has 30 percent salinity, nearly nine times the average salinity of ocean water. It is called the Dead Sea because nothing can survive within it because of its salinity. Another way that we are connected to the Ocean via the food chain. So, the Ocean gives us life — that is undeniable. But it also impacts our quality of life. Studies show that being in, on, near or under the Ocean can make us happier, healthier, more connected and better at what we do.

Our relationship with the Ocean From mermaids to the kraken, the Ocean has been fascinating humans for centuries. We truly are tied to the Ocean. We must take care of it, because it is us. The Science Bit Breathing! Weather and climate The Ocean drives our weather and climate. Water Cycle The Ocean plays a key part of the water cycle. Food for us The Ocean provides protein to nearly 3 billion humans and every plant, vegetable and animal has grown though access to water produced through the water cycle driven by the Ocean.

Waterways are crucial to our health, for us and future generations. The FAO estimates 6 on the most recent official statistics indicate that Only at the European Union level, the blue sector represents 3.

In the U. The ocean gives jobs to fishers, lifeguards, surf instructors, harbours, free diving schools, marine-based tour operators, water sports businesses, holiday accommodations , and, of course, ocean nomads!

Did you know that the anti-viral drugs Zovirax and Acyclovir were obtained from nucleosides isolated from Caribbean sponges? Or that Yondelis, developed from small soft-bodied marine animals, was the first drug of marine origin to fight cancer 9? When we dip in the water, our inner dolphin gets released.

I learned this when I started freediving. When our face touches water, our heart rate immediately slows down, and blood moves from the extremities to the brain, heart and vital organs of our body. Seals and dolphins have this reflex, and so do we! It wakes us up and makes us feel vibrant and alive. The ocean is therapeutic.

When we see, feel, hear, smell or taste water we are happy and at peace. Research has proven that the so-called blue spaces can directly reduce psychological stress and improve mood Read Blue Mind to learn more about that. Despite all that, we still know more about Mars than we know about the ocean! A healthy ocean keeps us healthy on earth. We are alive right now because of the oceans.

Now the ocean needs to be kept alive by us. We have the responsibility to care for the ocean as it cares for us. By experiencing the ocean first hand on a boat , you will be amazed by its beauty, gain a deep respect for its power, and also see its decline.

My name is Suzanne.