2023-06-26 06:00:03
A debate agitates the scientific community: how many oceans are there really on Earth?
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), we technically only have one ocean because the entire marine environment is interconnected. However, there are also four geographically defined ocean basins: the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian and the Arctic. .
Image d’illustration Pixabay
In 2021, the National Geographic Society added a fifth feature to this list: the Southern Ocean, in the icy waters that surround Antarctica (Antarctica (pronounced [ɑ̃.taʁk.tik] Listen) is the continent most…). So, how many oceans does our planet (A planet is a celestial body orbiting around the Sun or another star of…) have? One, four, or five? The answer depends on the interlocutor.
The oceans are the largest bodies of water on our planet, but their formal definition remains controversial. The International Hydrographic Organization, which has 98 member states responsible for the demarcation of ocean boundaries, has not yet recognized the Southern Ocean (The word austral (from the Latin australis) is an adjective qualifying what located in the hemisphere…), for lack of unanimous agreement among its members.
Unlike other oceans which are defined by the continents they border, the Southern Ocean is distinguished by its current, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), which flows from west to east. This unique current, probably established 34 million years ago, carries the waters surrounding Antarctica to a latitude of about 60 degrees south, except for the Drake Passage and the Scotia Sea. The CCA draws in water from the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans (The Indian Ocean extends over an area of 75,000,000 km². It is limited to the north…), thus contributing to the regulation (The term regulation refers in its concrete sense to a technical discipline, which is…) thermal (Thermal is the science that deals with the production of energy, the use of…) of the planet .
The winds in this region promote a phenomenon called upwelling, where cold, nutrient-rich water rises to the surface. Once at the surface, this water absorbs carbon from the atmosphere (The word atmosphere can have several meanings 🙂 before sinking back down, making the Southern Ocean one of the largest carbon sinks on Earth, according to a NASA study in 2021.
Frank Nitsche, researcher in oceanography (Oceanography (from “ocean” and from the Greek γρ?φειν…) at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (Columbia University (Columbia University or any simply Columbia) is a…), which has been studying the Southern Ocean for decades, supports the idea of the interconnection between the oceans. As for the formal recognition of the Southern Ocean by the National Geographic Society in 2021, he admits that he was not aware that it was not yet official.
The formal recognition of the oceans may seem like a detail, but for Renellys Perez, researcher in oceanography at NOAA, it could help people better understand the maritime problems of their region. According to her, it is easier to understand ocean issues when they are presented from a regional perspective rather than a global one.
1687776001
#oceans #Earth