I grew up in Southern California and hour away from the coast. In the summer, my family and I frequently spend days at various beaches. These beaches that line the California coast are part of the Pacific Ocean. For several years, I lived near the ocean and had absolutely zero idea the hydrosphere existed. This being because, I didn’t know what the hydrosphere was.
The hydrosphere is a combination of all the water earth; either on the surface, beneath it, or in organisms living on the surface. This water appears in different states both as liquid, gas, and solid ice. We find this water in different forms as well: oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, rain, snow, glaciers, etc. All of these forms are important parts of the hydrosphere and even play a role in the other spheres (bio, geo, atmos, cyro).
The earth’s surface is 71% water, an estimated 362,740,000 square kilometer (Hydrosphere Importance). Of the 71% of water on the earth, 97% is made up of Marine Water; water that is unfit for drinking (Perlman). “The other 3% is fresh water. Of the freshwater, 69% consists of glaciers and ice caps, 30% groundwater, and the remaining 1% is things like rivers, lakes, and ponds (YouTube).”
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Since I lived near the coast, my focus of this paper is on the oceans/seas portion of the hydrosphere. The ocean we often refer to is made up of four different oceans: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic oceans. These are broad ways we define the marine water of earth, though they encompass other parts; things such as gulfs, seas, and bays (Textbook). Coming from California, I am most closely familiar with the Pacific Ocean. This ocean is the largest of the four and makes up nearly a third of the earth.
An important component of oceans are there salinity- “the concentration of dissolved salt (NaCl) in the water” (Dictionary). The salinity of marine water is roughly 35 ppt. I say roughly because salinity often changes due to weather changes. When it rains, fresh water is added, decreasing the salinity. Then, when water evaporates, fresh water is taken away, increasing the salinity. When looking at oceans, it’s also important to consider their acidity. The acidity of oceans is more or less increasing. The oceans take in carbon dioxide (CO2) and create carbonic acid (H2CO3).
The more carbon the oceans take in, the more this acid is produced and the more acidic our oceans become. When we look at the temperature of the oceans they each vary from each other, simply look at that of the Pacific Ocean verses the Arctic Ocean. This decreases in temperature is accredited to increasing latitude an ocean path follows (Textbook). Difference in temperature and salinity of an ocean means difference in water density. The higher the temperature, the lower the density. The higher the salinity the higher the temperature. Depending on these other two components, the ocean will be more or less dense on to another.
Another characteristic of the ocean is movement. It moves in three separate ways, through currents, waves, and tides. Currents vary according to things like its size or depth, or the forces on the rotating earth (Coriolis Effect). These currents change both vertical, horizontal, and diagonal flow of each ocean. Waves are the points and indents in continual motion we see when look at the ocean, like at the beach for example. These waves are caused by weather and other objects moving on or under the water. I find the most interesting of the three movements to be the tide. The tide is controlled by the earth’s gravitational attraction to the moon. This attraction pulls the ocean in the direction of the moon. This creates two tidal bulges on opposite sides of the earth.
Work Cited
- “Hydrosphere: Importance, Examples and Facts.” Earth Eclipse, 25 June 2018, www.eartheclipse.com/geography/hydrosphere-importance-examples-facts.html.
- McKnight, Tom L., and Darrel Hess. Physical Geography: a Landscape Appreciation. 11th ed., Prentice Hall, 1999.
- Perlman, Howard, and USGS. “How Much Water Is There on, in, and above the Earth?” Adhesion and Cohesion Water Properties, USGS Water Science School, water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html.
- YouTube, YouTube, 29 Sept. 2016, youtu.be/48KuPTBuYmE.
- http://www.seecalifornia.com/beaches/pacific-ocean.html
- https://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html
- https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/hydrosphere/
