Oceans 3

Our planet, mostly covered by water, is filled with movement and life. This website offers the opportunity to learn all about our global seas.
View the water cycle of oceans, and see how currents and wind affect their movement. Learn about the various depth zones of the sea, and what kinds of life can inhabit each. Then, see what methods scientists use to gain more knowledge about our changing oceans.

Informative text accompanied by a varity of charts, images, and graphs will bring you face to face with all kinds of oceanographic topics: Oceans Alive! by The Museum of Science.

Oceans 2

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO provides Members States of the United Nations with an essential mechanism for global co-operation in the Study of the Ocean.
 

The IOC assists governments to address their individual and collective ocean and coastal problems through the sharing of knowledge, information and technology and through the coordination of national programs.

Oceans 1

News about oceans, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

EARTH'S OCEANS: An Introduction

Oceans cover about 70% of the Earth's surface. The oceans contain roughly 97% of the Earth's water supply.
The oceans of Earth are unique in our Solar System. No other planet in our Solar System has liquid water (although recent finds on Mars indicate that Mars may have had some liquid water in the recent past). Life on Earth originated in the seas, and the oceans continue to be home to an incredibly diverse web of life.
The oceans of Earth serve many functions, especially affecting the weather and temperature. They moderate the Earth's temperature by absorbing incoming solar radiation (stored as heat energy). The always-moving ocean currents distribute this heat energy around the globe. This heats the land and air during winter and cools it during summer.

Southern Ocean

he 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

Pacific Ocean

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 Se.

Indian Ocean

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