The Importance of Oceanography and the Climate of the Planet - Essay Example

Oceanography Oceanography Oceanography is a broad field that encompasses other disciplines from social and science disciplines. For this reason, it takes different points of view in exploring and addressing key issues concerning the ocean. The fact that the climate of the planet heavily depends on the currents created by and in the ocean, its importance cannot be emphasized further. The purpose of this assignment is to answer the provided questions in order to identify the key areas, issues and concerns of oceanography. 1. Temperatures and salinity of the coastal ocean vary considerably over short periods of time as compared to Open Ocean because of several factors or causal agents. These variations are part of the reason why the water density varies in different regions of the ocean. Rainfall, water evaporation, ice formation and river run off are the common causal agents to variations in salinity and temperatures. River run off impacts on the salinity of the coastal ocean more than it does on the open ocean. This makes the salinity variation high at coastal ocean more than it is on the open ocean. In addition, river run offs have a different temperature from the ocean waters and, therefore, this makes temperature variations at the coastal ocean higher and more frequent than those of the open ocean. Coastal oceans tend to have a high water evaporation rate compared to the open ocean because of the shallow surface. This in turn leads to higher temperatures and salinity variations on the former more than of the later. This is because as the water evaporates, the concentration of salt in grams in the water increases inversely proportional to that of water there by leading to increased salinity, and vice versa. The water gets warmer or colder at the coastal oceans more frequently because of its shallow nature and the presence or absence of water evaporation. Thermocline is the middle and second layer from the surface layer of the ocean. This layer is characterized by temperature changes where the temperatures decrease as the depth increases. Therefore, the main type of variation observed in the thermocline is temperature variations. On the other hand, halocline is the salinity incline of an ocean that occurs in a vertical manner. The salinity variations are commonly observed and recorded in haloclines. 2. Salt marshes are formed after sediments are deposited in low-lying land by inward tides from the ocean, thereby ensuing in wet mudflats. Therefore, salt marsh normally occurs in places where physical land bonders the ocean and after several centuries of tidal action in the place. The grasses that are found in marshes are the process behind the formation of salt marshes, since they grow slowly by stabilizing the earth with their dense and deep root systems. Over the time, dead grasses build up the deposits, thereby creating a rich habitation for a variety of organisms. Salt marshes are distributed almost in the entire planet in regions where there the land borders with the ocean and experiences tides with low or no waves. They form in places where energy wave will not reach to erode the deposited sediments. These include places around the estuaries, deltas among others. They are found in all the continents ranging from the Arctic to the shores of Australia. In addition, salt marshes are rarely affected by temperatures, thus this makes their distribution unlimited to all regions. As earlier mentioned, salt marshes provide a rich habitat for thousands of organisms and species, thereby, making them a vital part of the ecosystem. This habitation acts as both the source of food and living space. Secondly, salt marshes reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into carbon compounds thereby protecting the atmosphere and serving as food for most organisms. Besides the ecological importance, salt marshes also bear economic importance. It presupposes providing a rich ground for fishing especially for the coastal states and serving as tourists’ sites. 3. Primary production in oceanography falls under the subfield of biological oceanography. The term refers to the conversion of inorganic compounds such as nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide among others into organic compound or food through various processes like photosynthesis and chemosynthesis. Therefore, primary production is the type of production that forms the initial food source to all oceanic organism and creatures. For primary production to take place, primary producers must be involved. Primary producers are the organisms that trap the energy from sunlight and use it to convert inorganic compounds to organic compounds through photosynthesis. Around 95% of the primary producers are usually single celled and are otherwise known as phytoplankton. Primary producers exist in different categories depending on the temperature under which they function and produce. Primary production plays a crucial role in the ocean ecosystem as it forms the foundation of the food chain and food web. This importance is not limited to the ocean life alone, but it extends to the terrestrial life where some life forms depend on the ocean for food and energy supply. Therefore, primary production plays a critical role in supporting all life forms in the world as it serves as a basis for transferring energy from one organism to another. In addition to the provision of energy and a foundation for food, primary production helps in stabilizing the atmosphere by reducing carbon dioxide through primary producers, which use it as raw material for creating or producing energy. This is a fundamental ecological role played by the primary production. 4. Standing stock is the given amount or number of a fish species in a given region at a particular time. Time and regions are accounted to include the population of the migratory fish species that move from one region to another depending on the activities of their life cycle. Therefore, overfishing will result and affect a number of changes in the standing stock. First, overfishing may reduce the stock of the fish to a critical level that might see decreased yields in the future. This changes the composition and stock of other fish species that share an interdependent relationship with the overfished species. In terms of Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY), when a fish species is overfished there are no substantial or disastrous changes or effects that take place. As a matter of fact, MYS is the highest yield expected of a particular species to be fished over a long period of time. Therefore, overfishing will only accelerate the depletion of the stock and eventually lead to the regulation and reduction of the MYS. Some of the problems that have rendered most fisheries management in the world to be labeled incompetent include the following. First, the overcapacity of fishing vessels has made it had for fisheries managements all over the world unable to, efficiently, and effectively control overfishing and illegal fishing. This is especially so with countries with the largest fishing fleets such as Japan and EU among others. Secondly, poor implementation and enforcement of regulations, legislation and policies from various regional and international bodies such as the UN limits the effectiveness of fisheries managements. Lastly, ocean pollution is a growing problem for most fisheries managements around the world, since effective and practical measures have not been identified and established. 5. The earth today bears a lot of similarities to Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in terms of depletion, misuse and pollution of the natural resources by the previous and current generations. There are fears amidst all of this that the earth may end up losing all its resources and, thereby, become unable to support its huge population in decades to come. However, the likelihood of this happening in the current generation is extremely remote. This is because unlike Rapa Nui population of that time, the current society and generation have access to books and other sources of information that enables them to draw lessons and articulate appropriate solutions. For example, the earth is currently taking various initiatives to conserve the environment like the Green Belt Movement and the Kyoto Protocol that seek to reduce carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere. The availability of cases to refer to and the information or knowledge to come up with solutions to the impeding dangers prevents the same outcome to that of Rapa Nui. Secondly, it is highly unlikely for the earth to be over populated in the current generation given the fact that it is the leading cause of depleting resources. The initiatives taken by governments and nongovernmental organizations to sensitize and educate people on having the right number of children to control over population is an excellent direction towards averting this danger. Selfish interests of individuals, corporations and governments are likely to plunge the planet into this predicament. This may not happen in the current or the next generation, but it seems that if world leaders, leading corporations, as well as rich and developed nations fail to possess the political will to ensure that the current problems are addressed, the same fate might occur on earth. References Thurman V H &Trujilo P A (2003). Introduction to Oceanography, 10th Edition, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Read More