Oceanographyand the branches within itAs youlook at our planet you would not believe that hundreds of years ago this planetwas all water. As we look at our planetyou notice that majority of the planet is water. Water covers approximately “70% of the Earth’ssurface and contains about 97% of the Earth’s surface water.” (Nagaraja, 2016)The study of the ocean and the life that lies within is called Oceanography.There are many things that depend on this water from the animals to plants thatlive in the water (ocean) to every person on this earth. There are four branches within the oceanographyfield of science. They are biological,chemical, geological and physical oceanography.
· Biological oceanography is the study of thelife within the ocean, which would include living organisms and how they livewithin their environment. The understanding of their lives and history, howthey interact with the physical and chemical environment within the ocean ofthese organisms.· Chemical oceanography is the studies of thechemistry of the sea water.
It studies the interactions and reactions betweenthe different substances found within the ocean water. It also wants to be able to understand howthe chemical are influenced if any by the physical changes within the water.· Geological oceanography is the study of the ocean,the rocks and minerals, sediment and other things that are located on theseafloor. It is the study and discovery of how the earth and oceans werecreated and what changes they will bring in the future.· Physical oceanography is the study of why andhow the ocean work, the movement, the temperature of the water, waves andcurrents.
Physical oceanography also looks at the salinity of the water, and themass of the water. Oceanographytakes all these branches and puts them all together to obtain information and researchregarding the water and the life within the water. By doing this scientist can learn and predictthe weather and climate changes. “Oceanography also is vital to understandingthe effect of pollutants on ocean waters and to the preservation of the qualityof the oceans’ waters in the face of increasing human demands made on them.” (Britannica,2017)Oceanographyis a very important area to study, we need to know as much as possible aboutthe world’s oceans as they are very critically for sustaining life on Earth. Bymaintaining a balance in the worlds ocean, we would be helping to ensure that weare maintaining the worlds carbon levels. A sizable percentage of the world’soxygen is generated and comes from the oceans.
If for some reason theecological balance is damaged it could be detrimental to sustaining life onEarth.“Theoceans are so close, so familiar, and so much a part of our lives, yet lifebeneath the sea is as foreign to us as another planet. As vast as the oceansare, there is so much about them we still don’t know, and we are only justbeginning to understand.” (Keller, 2015)Oceanographyis a large, unique field of study, that has several different branches within it.It is one of the most interesting fields of science, that everyone should investigate.
