Exploration of the Seas Interim Report (2003) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Priority Areas for Ocean Exploration
Priority Areas for Ocean Exploration
Pages 8-13
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 8... ...
If little is known about the overall biodiversity in the ocean, even less is known about the abundance of organisms, their ecological roles, how food webs are structured, and how vast areas of the ocean are connected through biological interactions. Since we now know that even remote areas of the ocean contain detectable levels of human contaminants (Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection, 2001)
|
From page 9... ...
The ocean floor harbors some of Earth's most extreme environments, with crushingly high pressures, temperatures from below freezing to almost boiling, and surprising chemical compositions. Up until a quarter of a century ago, the deep sea was viewed as a hostile environment with a limited supply of food descending from surface waters and low biomass.
|
From page 10... ...
These sediment-dwelling organisms are thought to play an important role in linking the seafloor ecosystem with the water column above, and ultimately in supporting the marine food web. Unfortunately, the seafloor in many of these coastal areas has been degraded or destroyed through uncontrolled trawling, dredging (National Research Council, 2002)
|
From page 11... ...
Vast areas of the Southern Ocean seafloor remain unmapped, yet it contains records of the disintegration of the Gondwana supercontinent and the opening of the Drake Passage. Many believe the latter to be one of the key events leading to the present global climate.
|
From page 12... ...
Expense and logistical support necessitate strong international collaboration, for which there is growing support. Because our current understanding of the polar oceans is fragmented and spatially limited they are a strong candidate for program initiation.
|
From page 13... ...
Finally, extraction of fresh water from the ocean via evaporation, which produces the high salinity of the NADW, provides water for the global hydrological cycle. A better understanding of the global climate system requires a much more sophisticated understanding of the thermohaline circulation, its vulnerability to change, and the processes that govern water mass formation rates (National Research Council, 1994, 20014.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.