A Census Of The Ocean
A census of the ocean
1. Both in Unit 1 and in Snelgrove’s talk, emphasis is placed on the importance and massiveness of the world’s oceans. Identify some of the facts from both the unit and the video that support this claim.
- From space our world may look like plant “ocean” because our ocean looks so massive. But actually there is more land than water. Water found on, under, or above the surface of the planet is less than 0.25 percent of the weight of the earth. Our ocean is important because it creates half of the new life on earth everyday.
2. During his talk, Snelgrove comments that we know more about the Moon or Mars than we do about the deep-sea floor and marine habitat as a whole. Why is this surprising and even ironic?
- This is ironic because oceans habitat covers more of the earth more than other habitats plus we are also surrounded by the ocean and yet we no little to nothing about it yet we know more about the moon and mars and we don’t even live there. This is very surprising because your always hearing about new findings in the oceans like new organism but never anything about mars or moon
3. Snelgrove describes a fishing disaster that occurred where he grew up in Canada in an effort to explain How we are now experiencing “shifting baselines.” Explain what he means by this term.
- He means that like back then you can get huge fish and nowadays you can get the same fish but only half its size. Meaning over time the size of the fish was shifting and become smaller
4. According to Snelgrove, if you were to suck all of the water out of the ocean, what would you be left with?
- The Biomass of life on the seafloor. More towards the poles not much in between
5. Describe what Snelgrove discusses in terms of how the oceans play a part in global collaboration.
- Oceans play a part in global collaboration when they send those ships in and it gets waves back. It shows where the abundance of fish are and knowing where there's little to nothing
6. Discuss the concerns Snelgrove has regarding the health and safety of our oceans and ocean life.
- Since there's a lot of garbage in the ocean but yet it’s still considered most pristine place on earth.
7. As he concludes his talk, Snelgrove says, “And as the oceans go, so shall we.” Explain what he means by this statement.
- When the life in the ocean dies, so do we, it kills off some food resources not for just use but land animals too. Then we will switch to killing more land animals and then when they die off so do we.
Please watch the following video and answer the questions that follow.
PBS Newshour: South Florida considers investment against rising seas
1. In the video, boat captain Dan Kipness says, “If you look at it long enough—and I’ve had enough time to look at it—you can see small changes turn into big changes over a period of time.” What do you think he means by this?
- He has been around the ocean long enough to know when little changes are happening in the ocean
2. Discuss how and why increased flooding from high tide and weather events has been a stark wake-up call for the residents of South Beach.
- Because it’s raining more often and the street keep getting flooded by ocean level rises and coming out of the sewers. It is changing their landscape and can bring damage to people's houses.
3. Jayantha Obeysekera discusses the regional flood control system that was designed and built by the U.S. Army engineers about 50 years ago. How was this system designed to work, and why is it no longer sufficient? What, if any, is the solution for this issue?
- It was designed to regulate water levels, the canals are supposed to receive and move excess water than the water is released into the bays then eventually into the ocean. It’s no longer sufficient because as sea rises gravity will no longer due it’s job and it could lead to more flooding on the land
