An overview of the basics of oceanography including a description of geographical features and ocean characteristics, an exploration of sea life, and a discussion of the technology used to explore ocean. Welcome to Ocean Publications Everything about Greece and the Greek Language Book Publishing Services BLOG Bookstore. . The Biological Ocean. The Meteorological Ocean. The Chemical Ocean. The Geological Ocean. The Engineer's Ocean. The Global Ocean-Past, Present, and Future The Oceans is filled with historical data, scientific theories, and sometimes surprising facts that will serve to increase your enjoyment and appreciation of the planet ocean.
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By K. Snyder
There are thousands of books about the ocean out there but we’ve assembled a few of our favorites. These books are a mix of fiction, memoir, and non-fiction that all pay tribute to the beauty, mystery, and power of the oceans to capture our imaginations and fascination.
In no particular order:
1) Log From the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck
This workbook was created to go along with content presentations about the different ocean zones. Saved by Teachers Pay Teachers. Science Classroom Teaching Science Science Education Life Science Science Ideas Second Grade Science Middle School Science Ocean Lesson Plans Ocean. Lorem ipsum ex vix illud nonummy novumtatio et his. At vix patrioque scribentur at fugitertissi ext scriptaset verterem molestiae.
A stirring tale of travel and discovery, this John Steinbeck novel is considered his best non-fiction work. Detailing a research expedition the author took with a biologist friend in the Gulf of California, this book tells stories of broken motors, rare specimens, and friendship as Steinbeck and his friend, marine biologist Ed Ricketts, travel the length of the Gulf of California.
2) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
One of Hemingway’s most iconic stories, The Old Man and the Sea tells a timeless tale of personal triumph after devastating loss. Earning Hemingway a Nobel Prize in Literature, this slim novel stands the test of time as a classic of ocean literature.
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3) The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
Before she was famous for bringing the world’s attention to DTT in the 1960s, Rachel Carson was the authority on ocean literature. The Sea Around Us smashed records when it was published and earned Carson recognition in many science and literary circles. Focusing on the geologic and biological processes that make the oceans so mysterious and awe-inspiring, this book combines scientific facts with lyricism to take you on a journey through the geologic history of the Earth and the darkest depths of the seas.
4) The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin
Detailing the legendary voyage that birthed the theory of evolution, this journal-turned-memoir takes you inside the mind of Charles Darwin during his long voyage around the Galapagos. Documenting day-to-day activities alongside ground-breaking natural history discoveries, this book shines a new light on the “Father of evolution” and his journey across the sea.
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5) Song for the Blue Ocean by Carl Safina
In the spirit of Rachel Carson, Carl Safina’s book takes the reader on a lyrical journey through the oceans from the coasts to the deep abyss. He explores the ocean through the lens of his personal experiences to reveal the beauty, mystery, and political discourse surrounding the oceans of our world.
6) The Silent World by Jacques Cousteau
Jacques Cousteau is best known as the inventor of SCUBA diving, but his books take you into the world he unlocked below the surface, swimming alone among fishes and enormous rocks. A memoir unlike any other, The Silent World will transport you to the bottom of the ocean to explore the unknown.
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7) Moby Dick by Herman Melville
This one hardly needs an introduction. Often referred to as “the greatest book of the sea ever written,” Herman Melville’s masterpiece tells the story of a fanatical captain out for revenge against a whale. Full of mesmerizing characters and chilling descriptions of the sea, this book will leave an impression on all who read it.
8) War of the Whales: A True Story by Joshua Horwitz
One part detective thriller and one part ocean odyssey, this book combines the real-life story of Joel Reynolds and Ken Balcomb with captivating writing and top notch journalism. Joshua Horwitz explores the legal and moral saga of a military secret that threatens the lives of whales, forcing one to ask the question: where do we draw the line between national security and protecting the ocean?
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9) Deep by James Nestor
An ode to the extreme sport of freediving, Deep is a memoir of both dangerous underwater stunts and the strange science of the abyss. Need a reminder of human potential? Dive in.
10) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
A classic that captures the imagination even today, Jules Verne’s account of life inside a submarine is celebrated as one of the best novels about the ocean. Chronicling the adventures of Captain Nemo, this novel celebrates the freedom of the ocean and the wonder of human ingenuity.
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11) Sea Change by Sylvia Earle
Referred to as “Her Deepness”, Sylvia Earle is a world authority on the ocean and a passionate defender of the deep. Sea Change is an account of 30 years of experience studying the oceans: dives with humpback whales, exploration of the Great Barrier Reef, and heartbreaking observations of the destruction wrought by oil spills. This book will show you the ocean the way “Her Deepness” sees it: as a precious, complex system that is in great peril from the actions of mankind.
12) The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
Sy Montgomery is a little in love with octopi. This part-memoir and part ode-to-the-octopus explores her fascination with these creatures and the amazing lives they lead. This book will show you the mind of an octopus and help you realize why these strange creatures are so incredible.
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13) The Reef by Iain McCalman
Capturing over two hundred years of encounters with the Great Barrier Reef, historian Iain McCalman explores the relationship of man to this incredible natural formation. Using the personal stories of twenty individuals, McCalman takes the reader on a journey through the labyrinth of reefs, islands, and shoals that make up the imperiled World Heritage Site of the reef.
14) Aquagenesis by Richard Ellis
Life began in the ocean and author Richard Ellis takes his readers right back to the beginning of evolution. In this encyclopedic illustrated book of ocean life, Ellis documents over three billion years of aquatic evolutionary history in all its mystery and beauty.
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15) The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson
Ever wonder about what lobsters do all day under the sea? Trevor Corson explores the biology and life cycles of lobster in the Gulf of Maine in this book. Traveling from laboratory to fishing boat to the bottom of the ocean, Corson paints an intimate portrait of lobster and the people who fish for them.
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Ocean, continuous body of salt water that is contained in enormous basins on Earth’s surface.
When viewed from space, the predominance of Earth’s oceans is readily apparent. The oceans and their marginal seas cover nearly 71 percent of Earth’s surface, with an average depth of 3,688 metres (12,100 feet). The exposed land occupies the remaining 29 percent of the planetary surface and has a mean elevation of about 840 metres (approximately 2,755 feet). Actually, all the elevated land could be hidden under the oceans and Earth reduced to a smooth sphere that would be completely covered by a continuous layer of seawater more than 2,600 metres (8,530 feet) deep. This is known as the sphere depth of the oceans and serves to underscore the abundance of water on Earth’s surface.
Earth is unique in the solar system because of its distance from the Sun and its period of rotation. These combine to subject Earth to a solar radiation level that maintains the planet at a mean surface temperature of about 14–15 °C (57.2–59 °F). Mean surface temperature varies little over annual and night-day cycles. This mean temperature allows water to exist on Earth in all three of its phases—solid, liquid, and gaseous. No other planet in the solar system has this feature. The liquid phase predominates on Earth. By volume, 97.957 percent of the water on the planet exists as oceanic water and associated sea ice. The gaseous phase and droplet water in the atmosphereconstitute 0.001 percent. Fresh water in lakes and streams makes up 0.036 percent, while groundwater is 10 times more abundant at 0.365 percent. Glaciers and ice caps constitute 1.641 percent of Earth’s total water volume.
Each of the above is considered to be a reservoir of water. Water continuously circulates between these reservoirs in what is called the hydrologic cycle, which is driven by energy from the Sun. Evaporation, precipitation, movement of the atmosphere, and the downhill flow of river water, glaciers, and groundwater keep water in motion between the reservoirs and maintain the hydrologic cycle.
The large range of volumes in these reservoirs and the rates at which water cycles between them combine to create important conditions on Earth. If small changes occur in the rate at which water is cycled into or out of a reservoir, the volume of a reservoir changes. These volume changes may be relatively large and rapid in a small reservoir or small and slow in a large reservoir. A small percentage change in the volume of the oceans may produce a large proportional change in the land-ice reservoir, thereby promoting glacial and interglacial stages. The rate at which water enters or leaves a reservoir divided into the reservoir volume determines the residence time of water in the reservoir. The residence time of water in a reservoir, in turn, governs many of the properties of that reservoir.
This article provides an overview of the world’s oceanic reservoir, including its major subdivisions and its origins. For a full description of the water in the oceans, seeseawater. For information on the forces that move water through the ocean, seeocean current. For a description of the different kinds of waves that traverse the ocean, seewave. See alsomarine ecosystem for coverage of the life-forms that populate the marine environment.
Relative distribution of the oceans
Earth possesses one “world ocean.” However, those conducting oceanic research generally recognize the existence of five major oceans: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern oceans. Arbitrary boundaries separate these bodies of water. The boundaries of each ocean are largely defined by the continents that frame them. In the Southern Hemisphere the southern portions of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans and their tributary seas that surround Antarctica are often referred to as the Southern Ocean. Many subdivisions can be made to distinguish the limits of seas and gulfs that have historical, political, and sometimes ecological significance. However, water properties, ocean currents, and biological populations are not constrained by these boundaries. Indeed, many researchers do not recognize them either.
If area-volume analyses of the oceans are to be made, then boundaries must be established to separate individual regions. In 1921 Erwin Kossina, a German geographer, published tables giving the distribution of oceanic water with depth for the oceans and adjacent seas. This work was updated in 1966 by American geologist H.W. Menard and American oceanographer S.M. Smith. The latter only slightly changed the numbers derived by Kossina. This was remarkable, since the original effort relied entirely on the sparse depth measurements accumulated by individual wire soundings, while the more recent work had the benefit of acoustic depth soundings collected since the 1920s. This type of analysis, called hypsometry, allows quantification of the surface area distribution of the oceans and their marginal seas with depth.
The distribution of oceanic surface area with 5° increments of latitude shows that the distribution of land and water on Earth’s surface is markedly different in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The Southern Hemisphere may be called the water hemisphere, while the Northern Hemisphere is the land hemisphere. This is especially true in the temperate latitudes.
This asymmetry of land and water distribution between the Northern and Southern hemispheres makes the two hemispheres behave very differently in response to the annual variation in solar radiation received by Earth. The Southern Hemisphere shows only a small change in surface temperature from summer to winter at temperate latitudes. This variation is controlled primarily by the ocean’s response to seasonal changes in heating and cooling. The Northern Hemisphere has one change in surface temperature controlled by its oceanic area and another controlled by its land area. In the temperate latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, the land is much warmer than the oceanic area in summer and much colder in winter. This situation creates large-scale seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and climate in the Northern Hemisphere that are not found in the Southern Hemisphere.
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