Connection between Global Warming and Greenhouse Effect Poster

Earth Hour 2013

Just by turning off electricity for 1 hour, it helps our earth a lot. Our individual actions add up to a great change. This "Earth Hour" also remind people about how serious the situation is and that the earth is dying, and will die soon if we don't act fast enough. In Uganda, the people are challenged to fill 2,700 hectares of land with 500,000 trees is order to replace the 6000 hectares of deforestation. Many people and community service groups have accepted the challenge. In Russia, a law was written to protect the country's seas from oil pollution in the winter. 120,000 Russians presented the I Will If You Will campaign during the Earth Hour 2012. In Botswana, a lot of environmental groups have recently launched a project "One Million Trees-Plant For Life", along with the I Will If You Will campaign. I Will If You Will campaign attracted 4,000,000 people to participate on the campaign and received more than 200,000 commitments from people all around the globe. This is exactly what we need right now- we, as people living on this planet, have the responsibility to restore the Earth's health by working together as a group. We have to be committed into this situation. Otherwise, there won't be any "us" or "I"s left, and finally, there won't be "human" left.

Earth Hour Poster

Reading Notes (pgs. 374 - 387)

Section 1: Earth's Oceans

• 71% of the Earth's surface is covered in ocean
• global ocean= divided by the continents into four main oceans
• Largest ocean is the Pacific ocean (Asia - the Americas)
• Second largest ocean is the Atlantic ocean (half the volume of the Pacific)
• Third largest ocean is the Indian Ocean
• Smallest ocean is the Arctic Ocean (much of its surface is covered with ice so it is not fully explored)
• About 245 million years ago the continents were connected as one and was called "Pangaea" and the oceans were one giant body of water called Panthalassa
• About 180 million years ago Pangaea slowly started breaking apart and the North Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean began to form
• About 65 million years ago the South Atlantic Ocean was much smaller than it is today
• Today, 2013, the continents continue  to move at a rate of 1 to 10 cm per year and the Pacific Ocean is getting smaller and smaller. On the other hand, the other oceans are taking its place and growing.
• The volcanic explosions 4.5 billion years ago created volcanic gases which formed Earth's atmosphere. Earth started cooling and 4 billion years ago water started to condense. This condensation created rain and the rain filled the deeper levels of Earth's surface and oceans began to form
• Ocean water is not safe to drink
• Ocean water is salty because of sodium chloride that dissolved when rivers and streams flowed to the ocean and carried small minerals.
• Salinity= A measure of the amount of dissolved salts in a given amount of liquid
• Salinity is usually measured as grams of dissolved solids per kilogram of water.
• Climate affects salinity
• hotter drier climates typically has a lower salinity
• heat increases the evaporation rate and evaporation removes water but leaves salts and other dissolved solids behind.
• Water movement affects salinity
• open ocean and slower-moving areas of water develop higher salinity
• temperature of ocean water decreases as depth increases slowly
• water cycle= continuous movement of water from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to the ocean
• Condensation= gas to liquid
• Evaporation= liquid to gas
• Precipitation= falling back to Earth's surface

Section 2: The Ocean Floor

• Sonar: SOund Navigation And Ranging
• based on echo-ranging behavior of bats
• send sound pulses from a ship down into the ocean
• sound moves through the water, bounces off the ocean floor, and returns to the ship
• longer time for the sound to return if the ocean is deeper
• about 1,500 m/s
• Oceanography via Satellite
• 1978 scientists launched the satellite "Seasat" which is focused on the ocean sending images back to Earth that allowed scientists to measure the direction and speed of ocean current
• Studying the Ocean with "Geosat"
• top-military satellite
• measure slight changes in the height of the ocean's surface
• maps are made
• world's largest mountain chain (64,000 km 40,000 mi and canyons deeper than the Great Canyon) is underwater
• continental shelf= the gently sloping section of the continental margin located between the shoreline and the continental slope
• continental slope= the steeply inclined section of the continental margin located between the continental slope and the abyssal plain
• continental rise= the gently sloping section of the continental margin located between the continental slope and the abyssal plain
• abyssal plain= a large, flat, almost level area of the deep-ocean basin
• mid-ocean ridge= a long, undersea mountain chain that forms along the floor of the major oceans
• rift valley= a long, narrow valley that forms as tectonic plates separate
• seamount= a submerged mountain on the ocean floor that is at least 1,000 m high and that has a volcanic origin
• ocean trench= a steep, long depression in the deep-sea floor that runs parallel to a chain of volcanic islands or a continental margin
• Piloted Vessels: Alvin and Deep Flight
• Alvin is 7 m long and can reach some of the deepest parts of the ocean
• Deep Flight is another modern vessel that scientists use to explore the deep ocean
• Transports pilots to the deepest parts of the ocean, which are more than 11,000 m deep
• Robotic Vessels: JASON II and Medea
• these robots are designed to withstand pressures much greater than those found in the surface and is used to explore above sea floor
• Jason II is "flown" by a pilot at the surface and is used to explore the ocean floor
• Medea is attached to Jason II with a tether and explores above the sea floor.

Diving into the ocean

Harbor Seals

Habitat: Coast of UK and Europe
Breed: Feb - Nov
Migration: Mostly New England and Canada
Food: Shell fish, etc.

Gray Whales

Habitat: Alaska
Breed: 13.5 months breed
Migration: South to Mexico to go through the winter (longest migration animal)
Food: Antipodes
Blood: Warm

Northern Fur Seal

Habitat: Robin island commander island etc
Speed of swimming: 2.5 meters per second
Food: Krill

Californian Sea Lions

Habitat: Southern California
Breed: sandy beaches 10 miles away from the ocean
Migration: May - June
Rare milk
Diving time: 15 mins max

Northern Elephant Seals (Mirounga Augustirostris)

Habitat: Eastern Pacific Ocean
Breed: Near America, Mexico, and Oregon
Weight: 1500 - 2300 kg male, 400 - 900 kg female
Height: 4 - 5 m male, 2.5 - 3.6 m female
Speed of swimming:  0.91-1.66 m/sec
Carnivores
Biggest seal in the world!!