We as humans don’t realize the significance of water on earth. It’s not just coincidence that nearly three-fourths of the Earth is covered with water. This amount is necessary for earth’s natural processes to occur and therefore sustain life on Earth, not only for humans but also animals, plants and other organisms. If this isn’t interesting enough then this might raise a few brows: if mined, all the gold suspended in the world’s oceans and seas would give each person on earth 9 pounds.
The volume of the Earth’s oceans is approximately 315 million cubic miles. The largest of the oceans is the Pacific Ocean followed by Atlantic, Indian and Arctic Ocean. Given their sheer volume, 99 percent of the living space on the planet is found in the oceans.
If species are removed from the ecosystem, the web of relationships is disrupted. Whether most people realize it or not, humans are part of the world’s ecosystems for our most basic needs, including food, medicines, pure water, and the even the air we breathe.
The average depth of the oceans is 2.5 miles (4 km). The deepest point lies in the Mariana Trench, 6.8 miles (10.9 km) down. By the way, in comparison, Mount Everest is only 5.5 miles (8.8 km) high. Climbing up to Mt. Everest provides an extremely dangerous challenge, but try reaching the depths of the Mariana Trench where the pressure is extremely high and temperature very low. At the deepest point in the ocean the pressure is more than 8 tons per square inch, or the equivalent of one person trying to support 50 jumbo jets. The temperature of almost all of the deep oceans is only a few degrees above freezing.
Syed S. Qadri
