Oceans of the world: map, names, description, area, depth, plants and animals. This is why planet Earth without water looks something like this View of earth without water 3d

The liquid state of water is maintained on Earth due to a combination of many factors: the size of the planet, which creates the necessary force of attraction that holds the atmosphere; the distance to the Sun, which is why the planet maintains the required temperature; the amount of atmosphere held by gravity and creating the required pressure at the surface; the rotation of the Earth around its axis, due to which the circulation of atmospheric flows occurs. Without them, there would be no water on earth. Based on these factors, the rest follow, which contribute to the maintenance of life.

The main use of water by living organisms is only one thing - to maintain the functioning of living cells that make up the tissues that make up these organisms, including humans. Animals and humans also use water for other needs. Maintaining cleanliness, cooling the body from elevated ambient temperatures, for digestion of food, and as a universal diluent.

Life without water

The existence of a world without water on earth is more or less exemplified by life in deserts. The scorching sun and dry air force all living things to take refuge somewhere by any means. Reptiles burrow under the surface of the earth, look for all sorts of shady places, and change their appearance during evolution, which helps them retain moisture. Plants lengthen their roots, going deep into the cooler bottom, towards the water, the leaves are replaced with thorns for less moisture consumption.

People living in desert conditions are also protected from excess water consumption. They know the sources and the distances between them in order to calculate the water consumption when moving and then replenish it in time. Bedouins, who completely wrap their bodies in black cloth, thus maintain the right amount of body moisture, which ensures the right temperature. Their measured, unhurried movements do not cause unnecessary waste of energy, which also requires water to restore.

And if we talk about human use of water in industry, then it is obvious that without it no development of civilization would have occurred. And in the future, if for some reason there is less water on earth (not to mention it), the difficulties of mankind will be inevitable.

In the distant future, the Earth will find itself without the conditions that support the existence of water. And then the planet will turn into an inanimate, cold stone world, monotonously flying into the eternal distances of space.

The ocean is the largest object and is part of the ocean that covers about 71% of the surface of our planet. Oceans wash the shores of continents, have a water circulation system and have other specific features. The oceans of the world are in constant interaction with everyone.

Map of the oceans and continents of the world

Some sources indicate that the World Ocean is divided into 4 oceans, but in 2000 the International Hydrographic Organization identified a fifth one - the Southern Ocean. This article provides a list of all 5 oceans of planet Earth in order - from largest in area to smallest, with name, location on the map and main characteristics.

Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean on the Earth map/Wikipedia

Due to its large size, the Pacific Ocean has a unique and varied topography. It also plays an important role in shaping global weather patterns and modern economies.

The ocean floor is constantly changing through the movement and subduction of tectonic plates. Currently, the oldest known area of ​​the Pacific Ocean is approximately 180 million years old.

In geological terms, the area surrounding the Pacific Ocean is sometimes called. The region has this name because it is the world's largest area of ​​volcanism and earthquakes. The Pacific region is subject to intense geological activity because much of its floor lies in subduction zones, where the boundaries of some tectonic plates are pushed under others after collision. There are also some hotspot areas where magma from the Earth's mantle is forced through the Earth's crust, creating undersea volcanoes that can eventually form islands and seamounts.

The Pacific Ocean has a varied bottom topography, consisting of oceanic ridges and ridges, which formed in hot spots below the surface. The ocean's topography differs significantly from large continents and islands. The deepest point of the Pacific Ocean is called the Challenger Deep; it is located in the Mariana Trench, at a depth of almost 11 thousand km. The largest is New Guinea.

The climate of the ocean varies greatly depending on latitude, the presence of land and the types of air masses moving over its waters. Ocean surface temperature also plays a role in climate because it affects the availability of moisture in different regions. The surrounding climate is humid and warm during most of the year. The far northern part of the Pacific Ocean and the far southern part are more temperate and have large seasonal differences in weather conditions. In addition, in some regions seasonal trade winds prevail, which influence the climate. Tropical cyclones and typhoons also form in the Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific Ocean is almost the same as the other oceans of the Earth, with the exception of local temperatures and salinity of the water. The pelagic zone of the ocean is home to marine animals such as fish, marine and. Organisms and scavengers live at the bottom. Habitats can be found in sunny, shallow ocean areas near the shore. The Pacific Ocean is the environment that supports the greatest diversity of living organisms on the planet.

Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean on the Earth map/Wikipedia

The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest ocean on Earth with a total area (including adjacent seas) of 106.46 million km². It occupies about 22% of the planet's surface area. The ocean has an elongated S-shape and extends between North and South America in the west, and also in the east. It connects to the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Southern Ocean to the south. The average depth of the Atlantic Ocean is 3,926 m, and the deepest point is located in the ocean trench of Puerto Rico, at a depth of 8,605 m. The Atlantic Ocean has the highest salinity of all the oceans in the world.

Its climate is characterized by warm or cool water that circulates in different currents. Water depth and winds also have a significant impact on weather conditions at the surface of the ocean. Severe Atlantic hurricanes are known to develop off the coast of Cape Verde in Africa, heading towards the Caribbean Sea from August to November.

The time when the supercontinent Pangea broke up, about 130 million years ago, marked the beginning of the formation of the Atlantic Ocean. Geologists have determined that it is the second youngest of the world's five oceans. This ocean played a very important role in connecting the Old World with the newly explored Americas from the late 15th century.

A major feature of the Atlantic Ocean floor is an underwater mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which extends from Iceland in the north to approximately 58°S. w. and has a maximum width of about 1600 km. The water depth above the range is less than 2,700 meters in most places, and several mountain peaks in the range rise above the water to form islands.

The Atlantic Ocean flows into the Pacific Ocean, but they are not always the same due to water temperature, ocean currents, sunlight, nutrients, salinity, etc. The Atlantic Ocean has coastal and open ocean habitats. Its coastal ones are located along coastlines and extend to the continental shelves. Marine flora is usually concentrated in the upper layers of ocean waters, and closer to the shores there are coral reefs, kelp forests and sea grasses.

The Atlantic Ocean has important modern significance. The construction of the Panama Canal, located in Central America, allowed large ships to pass through waterways from Asia through the Pacific Ocean to the east coast of North and South America through the Atlantic Ocean. This led to increased trade between Europe, Asia, South America and North America. In addition, at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean there are deposits of gas, oil and precious stones.

Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean on the Earth map/Wikipedia

The Indian Ocean is the third largest ocean on the planet and has an area of ​​70.56 million km². It is located between Africa, Asia, Australia and the Southern Ocean. The Indian Ocean has an average depth of 3,963 m, and the Sunda Trench is the deepest trench, with a maximum depth of 7,258 m. The Indian Ocean occupies about 20% of the area of ​​the world's oceans.

The formation of this ocean is a consequence of the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, which began about 180 million years ago. 36 million years ago the Indian Ocean assumed its current configuration. Although it first opened about 140 million years ago, almost all Indian Ocean basins are less than 80 million years old.

It is landlocked and does not extend to Arctic waters. It has fewer islands and narrower continental shelves compared to the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Below the surface, especially in the north, the ocean water is extremely low in oxygen.

The climate of the Indian Ocean varies significantly from north to south. For example, the monsoons dominate in the northern part, above the equator. From October to April there are strong north-easterly winds, while from May to October - southerly and westerly winds. The Indian Ocean also has the warmest weather of all five oceans in the world.

The ocean depths contain about 40% of the world's offshore oil reserves, and seven countries currently produce from this ocean.

Seychelles is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean consisting of 115 islands, and most of them are granite islands and coral islands. On granite islands, most of the species are endemic, while coral islands have a coral reef ecosystem where the biological diversity of marine life is greatest. The Indian Ocean has an island fauna that includes sea turtles, seabirds and many other exotic animals. Much of the marine life in the Indian Ocean is endemic.

The entire Indian Ocean marine ecosystem is facing declines in species numbers as water temperatures continue to rise, resulting in a 20% decline in phytoplankton, on which the marine food chain is heavily dependent.

South ocean

Southern Ocean on the Earth map/Wikipedia

In 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization identified the world's fifth and youngest ocean - the Southern Ocean - from the southern regions of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. The New Southern Ocean completely surrounds and extends from its coast north to 60°S. w. The Southern Ocean is currently the fourth largest of the world's five oceans, exceeding in area only the Arctic Ocean.

In recent years, a large amount of oceanographic research has focused on ocean currents, first due to El Niño and then due to broader interest in global warming. One study determined that currents near Antarctica isolate the Southern Ocean as a separate ocean, so it was identified as a separate, fifth ocean.

The area of ​​the Southern Ocean is approximately 20.3 million km². The deepest point is 7,235 meters deep and is located in the South Sandwich Trench.

Water temperatures in the Southern Ocean range from -2°C to +10°C. It is also home to the largest and most powerful cold surface current on Earth, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which moves east and is 100 times the flow of all the world's rivers.

Despite the identification of this new ocean, it is likely that the debate about the number of oceans will continue into the future. In the end, there is only one "World Ocean", since all 5 (or 4) oceans on our planet are interconnected with each other.

Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean on the Earth map/Wikipedia

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the world's five oceans and has an area of ​​14.06 million km². Its average depth is 1205 m, and the deepest point is in the underwater Nansen Basin, at a depth of 4665 m. The Arctic Ocean is located between Europe, Asia and North America. In addition, most of its waters are north of the Arctic Circle. is located in the center of the Arctic Ocean.

While located on a continent, the North Pole is covered in water. During most of the year, the Arctic Ocean is almost completely covered by drifting polar ice, which is about three meters thick. This glacier usually melts during the summer months, but only partially.

Due to its small size, many oceanographers do not consider it an ocean. Instead, some scientists suggest that it is a sea that is largely enclosed by continents. Others believe it is a partially enclosed coastal body of water in the Atlantic Ocean. These theories are not widely accepted, and the International Hydrographic Organization considers the Arctic Ocean to be one of the world's five oceans.

The Arctic Ocean has the lowest water salinity of any of Earth's oceans due to low evaporation rates and fresh water coming from streams and rivers that feed the ocean, diluting the concentration of salts in the water.

A polar climate dominates this ocean. Consequently, winters exhibit relatively stable weather with low temperatures. The most famous characteristics of this climate are polar nights and polar days.

It is believed that the Arctic Ocean may contain about 25% of the total natural gas and oil reserves on our planet. Geologists have also determined that there are significant deposits of gold and other minerals here. The abundance of several species of fish and seals also make the region attractive to the fishing industry.

The Arctic Ocean contains several habitats for animals, including endangered mammals and fish. The region's fragile ecosystem is one of the factors that makes the fauna so sensitive to climate change. Some of these species are endemic and irreplaceable. The summer months bring an abundance of phytoplankton, which in turn feeds

According to the stories of astronauts, there is no more beautiful and bewitching picture than the view of the Earth from space. When you look at a small ball consisting of white clouds, brown earth and blue water, it is impossible to take your eyes off...

Today we will look at several cool online 3D Earth globes, which you can use directly from this page. They are all interactive and you can interact with them. There is no need to download and install additional programs like Google Earth, etc. - just open this page in your browser and enjoy.

Photorealistic 3D Earth globe

This is a three-dimensional model of the world, on which photo textures obtained by NASSA satellites are stretched.

You can spin the ball in different directions by holding down the left mouse button. Rotating the mouse wheel up increases the viewing scale, downwards - on the contrary, decreases it.

At maximum zoom, the textures become blurry, so I recommend that you do not get too carried away with scaling.

Blurring is due to the fact that the model uses low-resolution photographs. Otherwise, loading them in the browser would take too long.

This 3D globe allows you to see our planet almost the way astronauts see it. Well, or close to it :)

Virtual globe of the Earth

This is a three-dimensional interactive virtual globe on which the borders of states, names of cities, regions, settlements, etc. are indicated.

This 3D model of the world does not have raster textures, like the previous one, but vector ones, so here scaling can be done down to individual buildings. At maximum magnification there are even house numbers and street names.

Historical globe

It demonstrates how our ancestors saw our Earth at the end of the 18th century. Its authorship belongs to the famous geographer and cartographer Giovanni Maria Cassini, and it was published in Rome in 1790.

It is also fully interactive, you can twist, rotate, zoom in or out of the map. Looking at it, you understand how much the world has changed in just 200 years, and how many events were behind it all...

And here is the actual globe itself (1790), from which this online 3d model was made:

Finally, a stunningly beautiful video about what the Earth actually looks like from space:

Friends, share your impressions, opinions and ask questions in the comments!

In the last few days, a strange animated graphic has been circulating around the Internet depicting a crooked, compressed Earth, supposedly what it would look like “without water.” The problem is that it doesn't. Not this way. No and not like that.

What this animation actually shows is what the geoid is: it's kind of a way to describe the Earth's gravitational field. The graphics were created by Ales Bezdek in MATLAB. This is how he describes all these bumps and irregularities:

“Earth's gravity is not smooth on the surface, and is stronger in some places than others. This is because the Earth is not an ideal homogeneous sphere (that is, the density of its interior is not uniform), but has places that are more and less dense. This affects surface gravity."

When you stand on the surface of the Earth, gravity seems to pull you toward the center. But if you stand near a denser region, gravity will pull you a little to the side, further from the center. The viral geoid on the graph shows exactly this picture: on this map, gravity will always pull you perpendicular to the surface depicted.

It sounds strange, but it's true: if you are on the edge of the "hill" depicted on the geoid, you will not be pulled directly towards the center of the Earth, but perpendicular to the surface on which you are standing. The graph is heavily distorted to show the Earth's uneven gravitational field.

What’s especially funny about pseudoscience is that it’s usually something that goes viral that is completely the opposite of the truth. How does this happen?

Another way to describe the geoid is to characterize it as the shape of a perfectly fluid object; that is, if its surface can flow freely.

For a perfectly homogeneous object (say, a large, non-rotating drop of water in space), the geoid will be a sphere. For the Earth it will be what is shown in the image. In other words, this graph does not show the Earth without water, it shows what shape the Earth would have if its surface was entirely covered with water. It's quite the opposite.

It is quite easy to come to the conclusion that this is what the solid surface of the Earth under the oceans looks like. Take a look at the scale on the graph; it shows differences from +80 to -80 meters. But this is a tiny fraction of the size of the Earth. In physical reality, even if the Earth were covered in water, it would not be nearly as hunchbacked as shown. Again, exaggeration was made for clarity.

Think about this: the deepest place in the earth's oceans (the Mariana Trench) is 10 kilometers deep. The Earth is approximately 13,000 kilometers across. Remove all the water from the Earth's surface and you would hardly notice the change: the difference between the highest mountain and the lowest point of the ocean would be less than 20 kilometers, one tenth of one percent of the Earth's diameter.

This is what Earth would look like without water.

You will get such a spherical drop if you drain all the oceans of the Earth (along with atmospheric steam, lakes, polar caps, and so on). Not much compared to the rest of the planet, right? A smaller drop is fresh water on the ground, in lakes and rivers; the smallest is fresh water from lakes and rivers.

Check the facts. Trust reliable resources like Hi-News.ru. However, even scientific sites sometimes make mistakes.

Covers approximately 360,000,000 km² and is generally divided into several major oceans and smaller seas, with oceans covering approximately 71% of the Earth's surface and 90% of the Earth's biosphere.

They contain 97% of the Earth's water, and oceanographers claim that only 5% of the ocean depths have been explored.

In contact with

Because the world's oceans are a major component of Earth's hydrosphere, they are integral to life, form part of the carbon cycle, and influence climate and weather patterns. It is also home to 230,000 known animal species, but since most are unexplored, the number of underwater species is likely much higher, perhaps more than two million.

The origin of the oceans on Earth is still unknown.

How many oceans are there on earth: 5 or 4

How many oceans are there in the world? For many years, only 4 were officially recognized, and then in the spring of 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization established the Southern Ocean and defined its limits.

It’s interesting to know: what continents exist on planet Earth?

Oceans (from the ancient Greek Ὠκεανός, Okeanos) make up most of the planet's hydrosphere. In descending order by area, there are:

  • Quiet.
  • Atlantic.
  • Indian.
  • Southern (Antarctic).
  • Arctic Oceans (Arctic).

Earth's global ocean

Although several separate oceans are usually described, the global, interconnected body of salt water is sometimes called the World Ocean. TO continuous pond concept with relatively free exchange between its parts is of fundamental importance for oceanography.

The major oceanic spaces, listed below in descending order of area and volume, are defined in part by continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria.

What oceans exist, their location

Quiet, the largest, extends north from the Southern Ocean to the Northern Ocean. It spans the gap between Australia, Asia and the Americas and meets the Atlantic south of South America at Cape Horn.

The Atlantic, the second largest, extends from the Southern Ocean between America, Africa and Europe to the Arctic. It meets the Indian Ocean waters south of Africa at Cape Agulhas.

The Indian, the third largest, extends north from the Southern Ocean to India, between Africa and Australia. It flows into the Pacific expanses in the east, near Australia.

The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the five. It joins the Atlantic near Greenland and Iceland and the Pacific Ocean in the Bering Strait and spans the North Pole, touching North America in the Western Hemisphere and Scandinavia and Siberia in the Eastern Hemisphere. Almost all of it is covered with sea ice, the extent of which varies depending on the season.

Southern - surrounds Antarctica, where the Antarctic circumpolar current prevails. This sea area has only recently been identified as a separate oceanic unit, which lies south of sixty degrees south latitude and is partially covered by sea ice, the extent of which varies with the seasons.

They are bordered by small adjacent bodies of water such as seas, bays and straits.

Physical properties

The total mass of the hydrosphere is about 1.4 quintillion metric tons, which is about 0.023% of the Earth's total mass. Less than 3% – fresh water; the rest is salt water. The ocean area is about 361.9 million square kilometers and covers about 70.9% of the Earth's surface, and the volume of water is about 1.335 billion cubic kilometers. The average depth is about 3,688 meters and the maximum depth is 10,994 meters in the Mariana Trench. Almost half of the world's sea waters have a depth of more than 3 thousand meters. Vast areas below 200 meters depth cover about 66% of the Earth's surface.

The bluish color of the water is a component of several contributing agents. Among them are dissolved organic matter and chlorophyll. Sailors and other sailors have reported that ocean waters often emit a visible glow that extends for many miles at night.

Oceanic zones

Oceanographers divide the ocean into different vertical zones determined by physical and biological conditions. Pelagic zone includes all zones and can be divided into other areas, divided by depth and illumination.

The photic zone includes surfaces up to a depth of 200 m; it is an area where photosynthesis occurs and therefore has great biological diversity.

Because plants require photosynthesis, life found deeper than the photonic zone must either rely on material falling from above or find another source of energy. Hydrothermal vents are the main source of energy in the so-called aphotic zone (depths greater than 200 m). The pelagic part of the photonic zone is known as epipelagic.

Climate

Cold deep water rises and warms in the equatorial zone, while thermal water sinks and cools near Greenland in the North Atlantic and near Antarctica in the South Atlantic.

Ocean currents greatly influence the Earth's climate by transporting heat from the tropics to the polar regions. By transferring warm or cold air and precipitation to coastal areas, winds can carry them inland.

Conclusion

Many of the world's goods move by ship between the world's seaports. Ocean waters are also the main source of raw materials for the fishing industry.

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