If you live in an inland area, it can be difficult to understand how human life depends on oceans. However, even if you have never even seen the ocean, it affects your everyday existence in significant ways. If you have never thought about how the ocean affects your life, now is an important opportunity to find out.
Oxygen Production
The animal life in the ocean tends to get the most attention, thanks in part to the fantastic spectacle of San Diego whale watching. However, the ocean is also home to a wide array of plant life, such as algal plankton, kelp, and phytoplankton. Though relatively small, these life forms have a huge role to play in producing oxygen. Like land plants, they convert carbon dioxide into oxygen through the process of photosynthesis. As a result, the ocean is responsible for half of the world’s oxygen production and also has a vital role to play in CO2 reduction.
Weather and Climate
Many of the weather patterns that affect land, from the fiercest storms to the mildest winds, have their origin far out into the ocean. The ocean absorbs and contains most of the heat energy from the sun that reaches the earth. The ocean then distributes this heat around the world in several different ways.
The ocean is in constant motion, and its movement tends to follow particular patterns called currents. As the water moves with the current, it transports warm water to areas where it may be more cold. This is part of the reason why coastal regions near the poles tend to have milder weather than those farther inland.
When the heat from the sun strikes the surface of the ocean, it causes some evaporation. In other words, some of the water molecules convert from a liquid to a gaseous state. This water vapor in the atmosphere is the cause of weather conditions of humidity and precipitation both on land and over the ocean.
Food Source
The ocean is a source of food for millions of people around the world. Many fish, crustaceans, shellfish, and other undersea creatures are eligible. For people who live inland, seafood is often a delicacy because of the cost and effort involved in transporting it over land where it can be consumed. However, for people in coastal areas where these creatures live in abundance and are easy to catch, it is a staple of life.
Medicinal Products
In addition to food, the ocean may also be a significant source of medications effective at fighting disease and keeping people healthy. Already, medications derived from marine plants and animals have shown potential as cancer treatments, antibiotics, and pain relievers that are not addictive and a thousand times more effective than the traditional narcotic drugs. Medical use of these substances is not yet widespread as scientists are still studying them. Nevertheless, they show enormous potential, and there may be even more medical breakthroughs hiding beneath the ocean’s surface that we have not yet discovered.
Unfortunately, human activities have put the health of the ocean in peril. Booking a private boat charter San Diego may help you better understand how critical it is to protect the ocean and the creatures that live within it.
