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| Image: pixabay |
Our entire Himalayas can be subsumed in the "Mariana" Trench. Many creatures live under the sea, even in places where the sun's light cannot penetrate. The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is 1110 times greater than here. Shall we take a trip inside the ocean?
Inside the ocean:
A well-trained human can go up to 10 meters under the sea. If it goes above that, the lungs will be affected. A man can dive up to 328 feet into the ocean with oxygen cylinders. Blue whales, the world's largest mammal species, can be found at depths of 1148 to 1640 feet. Even whales cannot go beyond this depth.
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| Image: unsplash |
Below this, at a depth of 2460 feet, military submarines can be seen. If these submarines go deeper than this, they are likely to explode due to the pressure of the sea. And at this depth, the sunlight is very low. Hence, the temperature will also be very low. At a depth of 2600 feet, we can see volcanoes within the ocean. At depths of 35,500 feet, all around is darkness. This place is called "challenger deep." The "Mariana Trench" is the deepest part of the ocean ever discovered. Its depth is 35,814 feet.
We have explored only 5 percent of the ocean so far. No one knows what's in the remaining 95 percent of the ocean. It is also said that creatures larger than whales may also exist in the deeper parts of the ocean. The Mariana hadal snailfish is the deepest sea creature we have ever discovered. This fish lives in the ocean at a depth of 26,831 feet.
James Cameron, the director of the movie "Avatar," went inside the Mariana Trench to a depth of 35,756 feet in a submarine. All he saw was a quiet, dark area.
How did the ocean form?
The water in the ocean now, does not belong to our planet. Two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule combine to form a water molecule called H2O. We know this. In the early days of Earth's formation, it was filled only with hydrogen. Two hydrogen atoms should combine to form an atom called helium. Also, two helium atoms combine to form an oxygen atom. This oxygen formation took place in the superheated sun. Oxygen atoms from the sun are mixed with hydrogen atoms on Earth to form water molecules called h2o. But since the earth was burning in those days, the water tried to escape as steam.
But the carbon dioxide gas produced by the volcanic eruptions spread like a blanket around the Earth, preventing the steam from escaping. Then, as the Earth cooled, the water vapor in the atmosphere fell as rain over thousands of years. This filled all the valleys in the earth. That is how the ocean was created.
Why is sea water salty?
When rainwater reaches the earth from the atmosphere, it reacts with the carbon dioxide gases there and turns it into a little carbonic acid. The rain that falls in this way erodes the rocks and soil particles in the earth and mixes with the river. As rocks and soil particles are eroded away, minerals such as sodium, chloride, silicon, aluminum, calcium, magnesium, etc. are mixed with the river water.
Of these, all minerals except sodium and chloride are utilized by aquatic organisms. Thus, the remaining sodium and chloride react together to form a salt called sodium chloride (NaCl).
When this river water mixes with the sea, sodium chloride salt is mixed with it. When water evaporates from the ocean, this salt does not evaporate. Therefore, sea water is salty. River water also has less salinity. But we cannot feel it.
How are waves formed in the ocean?
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| Image: unsplash |
If you have to answer it in one word, the reason is "air." . Seawaves are formed due to wind. As air pressure over the ocean rises and falls, sea water rises and falls. The waves thus raised are swept away by the wind and reach the shore. The height of these waves ranges from 1½ to 3 feet.
But the tide is not like that. Tide refers to the rise and fall of sea level. For this phenomenon, the moon is an important factor. Just as the Earth exerts a gravitational force on the Moon, the Moon attracts the Earth. The Earth's gravity is so strong that the Moon revolves around the Earth. Although the Moon's gravitational pull does not have much of an effect on the Earth, that force acts on the oceans, causing the Earth to swell slightly. This causes the sea level to rise. Sea level rises where the moon is and on the opposite side of the earth. This is why the Earth's sea level rises during the new moon and the full moon.
Earth's sea level is also rising due to the sun's gravitational pull. When the Moon and the Sun are perpendicular to the Earth, the Moon's gravitational force and the Sun's gravitational force act in vertical directions, so they balance each other. Thus, no major change in sea level occurs during this event. This can be understood from the image below.
A rise in sea level can be called a "high tide," and a fall a "low tide.".
Sea Breeze and Land Breeze:
During the daytime, the land surface warms faster than the ocean surface. As a result, the air over land moves upward. Hence, the pressure of the air over land decreases. To balance this pressure, sea surface air moves landward. Thus, the wind blowing from the sea surface towards the land is called "Sea Breeze.".
At night, the land surface cools faster than the ocean surface. Thus, the air pressure over the sea surface is lower than over the land. To balance this pressure, the air over the land moves towards the sea. Thus, the wind that moves from the land to the sea is called "land breeze".