Oceanography Facts

Since the beginning, life on the Earth is associated with it's seas and oceans. Oceanography facts are found and studied under the branch of the earth sciences, named as oceanography or oceanology, which is devoted to the study of the earth's water bodies. The chemical properties of ocean water, ocean currents and temperature, marine organisms and plants are studied, respectively, under physical oceanography, chemical oceanography and marine biology, which are the major branches for collecting facts related to oceanography.

Oceanography Facts For Kids

For most of us, the ocean is a great expanse of water with waves after
mesmerizing waves, their tops feathered with foam, rolling towards the beach. The following section illustrates, thought provoking oceanography facts for kids:

• Every day a couple of hundred earthquakes occur on the Earth. Fortunately, most of them in the oceans, especially in the regions such as the unstable seabed near Indonesia, where continents, which are floating on magma, rub against each other.
• A majority of volcanic activity happens in the oceans. There is an area as big as the state of New York in the South Pacific, which hosts as many as 1,133 active volcanoes. Many of these volcanoes are ready to erupt. Now you must be wondering, do fish live in this dangerous area? Well, so am I!
• The Bay of Fundy, which is on the Atlantic cost of North America. This is a place where you can witness, the difference of 53 feet and 6 inches, highest anywhere in the world, between the high and low tide.
• The seas and the oceans of the Earth store water for us. Is this water drinkable? No! 71% of the surface of the Earth is covered by the oceans which together, contain 97% of the Earth's water. A part of this water evaporates under the glare of the Sun and falls back as rainwater. Salty rainwater, oh, no! Most of the rainwater gets back to the ocean through rivers, leaving some for us to drink. This great cycle is one of the contributing factors in the continuation of life on Earth. These oceanography facts relating the oceans to the weather are studied under meteorology, a branch of oceanography.
• Do you know the name of the longest mountain range on the Earth? Let me give you some hints, the Andes mountain range is 7,000 miles long, the Himalayas are 2,500 miles and the Rockies are 3,000 miles long, but the Mid-Ocean Ridge which winds round the globe is more than 45,000 miles long.
• Canada is the country with the longest coastline which is 56,453 miles long.
• The tallest waterfall on land is Venezuela's Angel Falls, however, it is not the tallest on the Earth. There is a place near the Denmark Strait where a slow cascade of water sinks 2.2 miles, which is 3.5 times greater than the height of the Angel Falls.
• There are rivers of cold and warm water, flowing into the ocean such as, the Labrador current and the El Niño. This oceanography fact may puzzle you, but it is true. These rivers, within the ocean have dramatic effects on the local and world climate.
• It is said that man knows more about the surface of Mars and the Moon than he knows what goes on under the surface of the ocean. Experts say that we have less than10% of the knowledge about the ocean.
• Man needs air to breath. There was a time, when this was a main obstacle for man in acquiring oceanography facts or information. Today, the tremendous pressure exerted by the ocean water, at a certain depth is the main obstacle in acquiring oceanography facts than we have. There are some deep places in the oceans where the amount of pressure per square inch is 8 tonnes. This is as good as a person trying to support 50 jumbo jets on his body.
• If we can mine the gold suspended in the seawater and distribute it, then each one of us will get 4.5 kilograms of it.
• The tallest known iceberg, off western Greenland, was 550 feet, just 6 feet shorter than the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.
• The height of Mauna Kea, which is an inactive volcano on the island of Hawaii, is 33,465 feet when measured from the seabed to the summit, of which 13,796 feet is above sea level. On the other hand, Mount Everest is 29,028 feet tall.
• Because of global warming, the ice in Antarctica is melting. The water from such melting glaciers, is causing the sea level to rise. If this continues, it may flood the cities that are located on the islands such as the New York, Mumbai and the coast which include the city of London.
• Earthquakes on the ocean bed may cause tsunamis. The oceanography facts say that these waves travel under the surface of the ocean and close to the ocean floor. Tsunami waves have tremendous power and travel at the speed of hundreds of miles per hour. When tsunami waves reach the land, they breach the sea surface and tower over the land. The biggest tsunami measured was 210 feet high, above the sea surface.
• Do you know the name of the deepest place on the earth? It is the Mariana Trench, near Indonesia in the Pacific Ocean. It is 11,033 meters or 36,201 feet deep. In other words, its sides are... So, which is the tallest mountainside on the Earth.

The hydrothermal vents in the volcanically active area of the sea bed gives rise to chimney shaped structures. The bacteria living in these chimneys use hydrogen sulfide to obtain nourishment, instead of oxygen, which they share with the giant tube-worms. These worms in the shallow water can grow as big as 10 cm. However, in chimneys, near the sea bed, their size may range as long as 8 feet. This ocean fact is referred to as gigantism. Almost 90% of the sea is unexplored. It is believed that the ocean is where life started on earth. It is hard to know what is hidden in the depths of the oceans and which oceanography facts remain to be unearthed.