Planet earth / Planet ocean - Marine Conservation Society · Planet earth / Planet ocean. YOU An...

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The average depth of the ocean is about 3,700m and the deepest point is the Challenger Deep 11,000m down at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. 71% of our planet is covered in water which makes up 97% of the living space on earth. This is the largest space in our universe known to be inhabited by living things. Less than 10% of this space has been explored by humans because it is so hard to study, but scientists are discovering amazing new creatures all the time. Most people know about the incredible things you can see in places like the Great Barrier Reef, but they forget about what we have closer to home. No-one in the UK lives more than 70 kilometres from the sea, we are an island surrounded by temperate waters – that means that our seas are cool in temperature and as a result support a huge variety of amazing marine creatures! You could put Mount Everest at the bottom of the Challenger Deep and there would still be over a mile of water above it before you reached the surface! Challenger Deep Mount Everest 11,035 metres below sea level Mariana Trench Planet earth / Planet ocean

Transcript of Planet earth / Planet ocean - Marine Conservation Society · Planet earth / Planet ocean. YOU An...

Page 1: Planet earth / Planet ocean - Marine Conservation Society · Planet earth / Planet ocean. YOU An ocean is part of the large expanse of salty water that makes up the World Ocean. A

The average depth of the ocean is about 3,700m and the deepest point is the Challenger Deep 11,000m down at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

71% of our planet is covered in water which makes up 97% of the

living space on earth. This is the largest space in our universe known to be

inhabited by living things.

Less than 10% of this space has been explored by humans because it is

so hard to study, but scientists are discovering amazing new

creatures all the time. Most people know about the

incredible things you can see in places like the

Great Barrier Reef, but they forget about what we have

closer to home.

No-one in the UK lives more than 70 kilometres

from the sea, we are an island surrounded by

temperate waters – that means that our seas

are cool in temperature and as a result support a huge variety of amazing

marine creatures!

You could put Mount Everest at the bottom of the Challenger Deep and there would still be over a mile of water above it before you reached the surface!

Challenger Deep

Mount Everest

11,035 metres below sea level

Mar

iana

Tre

nch

Planet earth / Planet ocean

Page 2: Planet earth / Planet ocean - Marine Conservation Society · Planet earth / Planet ocean. YOU An ocean is part of the large expanse of salty water that makes up the World Ocean. A

YOU

An ocean is part of the large expanse of salty water that makes up the World Ocean.

A sea is an area of the World Ocean that is partly or completely enclosed by land. NORTH

ATLANTICOCEAN

SOUTH ATLANTICOCEAN

INDIANOCEAN

SOUTHERNOCEAN

SOUTHERNOCEAN

ARCTICOCEAN

ARCTICOCEAN

SOUTH PACIFICOCEAN

EQUATOR

TROPIC OF CANCER

TROPIC OF CAPRICORN

NORTHPACIFICOCEAN NORTH

PACIFICOCEAN

Mediterranean Sea

Caribbean Sea

Celtic Sea

North Sea

N O R T H E R N H E M I S P H E R E

S O U T H E R N H E M I S P H E R E

Our oceans breathe - Carbon dioxide in - oxygen out! Oceans help to capture and store carbon dioxide (CO2) trapping about ¼ of the CO2 that humans put into the air.

Half of the world’s oxygen is produced by plankton! Just like trees and other plants, phytoplankton (tiny plant-like organisms) in the ocean release oxygen.

The average temperature of the ocean is

between 2 and 3

degrees Celsius.

The polar seas can be as cold as -2 degrees Celsius while the Persian Gulf can be as warm as 36 degrees Celsius.

CLIMATIC REGIONS

Equatorial Temperate

Tropical Subpolar

Subtropical Polar

You are here!(The UK)

N

E

S

W

Our seas and oceans

Plankton