TaraS+and+CecileZ

=Earth's Waters= By Cecile and Tara Class Red

Statistics and Facts:

 * About 80% of the Earth is covered by water.
 * About 29% ot the Earth is covered by land.
 * About 20% of the water lies north of the equator while the other 80% lies south.
 * 65% of the Earth's land lies North of the equator.
 * 35% of the Earth's land lies South of the equator.
 * Earth's waters support 70% of all life. 97% of the water on Earth is salt water and 3% is fresh. Most of the fresh water on the planet is located in ground water.


 * Water Sources:**
 * Ocean water: 97.19%
 * Frozen water: 2.33%
 * Ground water: 0.42%
 * Surface water: 0.05%
 * Soil and atmosphere: 0.01%

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 * List of all major oceans in order of size: Pacific (largest), Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, Southern.
 * The average depth of the ocean is four times greater than the average elevation of continents.
 * The average depth of the ocean is 2.5 miles while the deepest part of the ocean is 36,000 ft.
 * The Earth's waters are constantly in motion due to the Coriolis Effect, wind, and sea currents.

Topics associated with Earth's Waters:

 * Density- creates density currents which sustains life in the depths of the oceans
 * Currents- moves water to and from different locations in the Earth's waters
 * Temperature- different species are adapted to different temperatures in the ocean
 * Salinity- the amount of salt in oceans



Effects of Global Climate Change Now and in the Past:
As you can see, there have been many phases that changed the form, location, temperature, etc, of Earth's waters, but the amount of water is unchanging. Other than in the ocean, water can be found in the air, soil, frozen form, ground (aquifers), surface water (lakes, rivers, creeks, ponds).
 * due to thermal expansion, sea level is rising
 * glaciers and ice sheets are melting, therefore waters are cooling
 * Ice Age (20,000 years ago)- there was more land and less water on the surface of the Earth
 * 4.6 billion years ago- temperatures were very high, and the water evaporated, condensed, rained for centuries

Where to look for more information:

 * Class notes: 4/3/07
 * First Oceanography Test
 * Handout: "All the Water on Earth"
 * Lab: "All the Water on Earth"
 * Textbook: Unit Four, Chapter 17 (pg.307)
 * Textbook: Unit One, Chapter 9, Topic 1 (pg. 149)