Tag: ocean and man

Ripples are the instant effect of wind on water and they die down as quickly as they form, as the surface tension of the water dampens their efforts.

Waves always travel in the same direction as the wind is blowing: if the wind changes then the waves change with it. Wave size is determined by the strength of the wind, the length of time it has been blowing and the distance it has blown over or the ‘fetch’.

When strong winds blow for longer than a few hours, it gives the water sufficient energy that it then takes on a character of its own. This character and movement is known as swell, and it will march across open areas of water independent of the wind.

The north equatorial current turns northward to the obstruction of Philippines and thus gives birth to the Kuroshio current which flows from Taiwan to Ryuku ridge at 30 degrees N latitude. The Kuroshio current is a warm current. The average temperature and salinity are 8 degrees and 35% respectively.

Factors Influencing Nature and Movement of Ocean Currents:

1. Factors related to the earth’s rotation: Gravitational force and force of deflection.

2. Factors originating within the sea: Atmospheric pressure, winds, precipitation, evaporation and insolation.

3. Factors originating within the sea: Pressure gradient, temperature difference, salinity, density and melting of ice.

4. Factors modifying the ocean currents: Direction and shape of the coast, seasonal variations and bottom topography.

The most abundant dissolved ions in seawater are sodium, chloride, magnesium, sulfate and calcium. Its osmolarity is about 1000 mOsm/l.

The Indian Ocean is the only ocean named after a country, that is, India. The shape of the ocean is almost triangular. In the north, it is bound by Asia, in the west by Africa and the east by Australia. The Indian landmass has a central location between the East and West Asia. India is a southward extension of the Asian continent. The trans-Indian Ocean routes, which connect the countries of Europe in the West and the countries of East Asia, provide a strategic central location to India. No other country has a long coastline on the Indian Ocean as India has and indeed, it is India’s eminent position in the Indian Ocean, which justifies the naming of an Ocean after it.

There are reserves of a variety of natural resources in seawater, at the bottom of the sea and beneath the seabed, too. These resources available from seas and oceans are called marine resources.