Written by: Jubin Maharjan - 2022026, Grade XI
Posted on: 31 December, 2020
The ocean covers more than 70 percent of the surface of the Earth. Within the total, 97 percent of the Earth’s water can be found in the ocean. The ocean plays an important role in the climate of the Earth by helping in the regulation of heat and carbon dioxide levels. Ocean and climate change are interrelated. The Oceans are vulnerable to adverse impacts from the emission of greenhouse gases. Climate change can have huge effects on the ocean like water temperature changes, rise in the ocean water level, increase levels of ocean acidification, etc.
The ocean plays an important role in sustaining lives in the marine ecosystem. Harmful human activities affect the condition of the Ocean and disturb the marine ecosystem. One of the harmful effects of human activities is acidification. Due to the large scale of industries around the world, the waste thrown into the ocean has increased. Because of this pH level of the ocean has dropped. This poses a huge threat to the ocean and the marine ecosystem as the ocean ecosystem becomes more polluted. The rise in ocean temperature is also another main concern. The increasing temperature of the ocean caused stratification which hinders important processes such as photosynthesis and also disrupts the marine food chain. Due to this many marine species will be forced to migrate or also lead to their extinction which also affects the lives of the people depending on the ocean for food. Global warming also brings huge changes to the ocean. It increases the sea level of the Earth. Due to global warming, glaciers and icebergs are melting and cause water to flow in the ocean, adding to the amount of seawater. This causes an increase in the salinity of aquifers and estuaries which threaten aquatic animals and plants that cannot tolerate high levels of salinity.
