Ocean | NASA Earthdata
The ocean covers more than 70% of Earth’s surface and contains 97% of the planet’s water. This vast, critical reservoir supports a diversity of life and helps regulate Earth’s climate.
Ocean Topic: Biological Carbon Pump - Woods Hole …
Sep 10, 2020 · The ocean’s so-called biological carbon pump removes carbon from the atmosphere and stores it deep in the ocean on timescales that are important to the lifespan of humans. The solubility carbon pump, which stores much larger amounts of carbon, operates on timescales in the thousands of years and is a much slower mixing process.
Ocean in Motion - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Nov 14, 2024 · Ocean currents are the reason London rarely has a white Christmas despite having a latitude on par with central Quebec’s. They’re the reason San Francisco can be a pleasant 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) while Sacramento swelters in the hundreds. Ocean dynamics determine whether it will be a good year for wheat in India.
Oceans - Science News
5 days ago · Oceans The world’s largest coral was discovered in the South Pacific The behemoth coral, discovered in October in the Solomon Islands, is longer than a blue whale and older than the United States.
Ocean Topics - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The ocean matters The ocean covers more than two-thirds of Earth's surface, it makes life as we know it possible, and it sustains human society. Yet the global ocean is largely unexplored and unknown. What we do learn never ceases to amaze or …
Ocean Life - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Microbial life can be found throughout the ocean, from rocks and sediments beneath the seafloor, across the vast stretches of open water, to intertidal and surf zones. Ocean Plants Ocean plants are critical to marine life—they are an important food source, they provide oxygen to surrounding marine life, and they supply refuge and nursery grounds.
Seamounts - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Apr 12, 2016 · At mid-ocean ridges, plates are spreading apart and magma rises to fill the gaps. Near subduction zones, plates collide, forcing ocean crust down toward Earth’s hot interior, where this crustal material melts, forming magma that rises buoyantly back to the surface and erupts to create volcanoes and seamounts.
Ocean Acidification - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Feb 9, 2021 · Ocean acidification is a reduction in the pH of the ocean over an extended period of time, caused primarily by an increase of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Twilight Zone - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Sep 29, 2023 · Animals in the twilight zone help support the ocean’s food web and transport huge amounts of carbon from surface waters into the deep ocean, helping to regulate global climate. So far, the twilight zone is largely unexplored and its rich biodiversity has remained mostly beyond the reach of commercial fishing—and the international laws that ...
Tracking Ocean Plastic From Space | NASA Earthdata
Jan 31, 2022 · When there’s plastic or other debris in the ocean, waves are dampened, creating less roughness than expected. “In cleaner waters there’s a high degree of agreement between ocean roughness and wind speed,” said Professor Chris Ruf, principal investigator of the CYGNSS mission and one of the authors of the research.