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Earth’s Big Blue Blanket: Just How Much is Ocean?

We call Earth the “Blue Planet” for a reason, right? It’s absolutely slathered in water! But have you ever stopped to wonder exactly how much of our world is actually covered by oceans? Prepare to be amazed: it’s a whopping 71 percent! Think about that – almost three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, about 361 million square kilometers if you want to get technical, is hidden beneath that shimmering blue saltwater.

Now, it’s not like we have one giant, continuous puddle out there, though scientists sometimes refer to it as the “Global Ocean” because all the parts are connected. For practical reasons, we usually break it down into five main ocean basins: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and the Southern Ocean.

Let’s run through them real quick:

• Pacific Ocean: This one’s the heavyweight champion, no contest. The Pacific sprawls across roughly 165.25 million square kilometers. That’s nearly half of all the water on Earth! Seriously, it’s like 46% of the planet’s water surface and 28% of the entire planet. Mind-blowing, isn’t it?
• Atlantic Ocean: Next up is the Atlantic, clocking in at around 106.46 million square kilometers. It’s shaped kind of like a stretched-out “S” and covers about a fifth of the whole Earth.
• Indian Ocean: The Indian Ocean comes in third, covering about 70.56 million square kilometers, which is roughly 19.8% of Earth’s water surface.
• Arctic Ocean: The baby of the bunch, the Arctic Ocean, is the smallest and shallowest, covering only about 14.1 million square kilometers.
• Southern Ocean: The new kid on the block, the Southern Ocean, swirls around Antarctica, stretching up to 60 degrees South latitude. It makes up about one-sixteenth of Earth’s total ocean area.

And of course, within these big guys, you’ve got all sorts of smaller bodies of water – seas, gulfs, bays – the whole shebang.

But this isn’t just a geography lesson, folks. All that ocean coverage is super important. I mean, the oceans basically run the show when it comes to:

• Climate Control: Think of the oceans as Earth’s giant thermostat, regulating temperatures and weather patterns all over the globe.
• Oxygen Supply: Here’s a fun fact: the ocean produces over half the oxygen we breathe! Who knew, right?
• Life Central: The ocean is teeming with life – I’m talking over 99 percent of the habitable space on Earth! Scientists are still discovering new species all the time, with estimates ranging from 700,000 to a million different kinds of critters.
• Water Storage: Get this: about 97% of all the water on Earth is in the oceans. That’s a whole lotta H2O!

Here’s the crazy part: even with all that importance and all that water, we still haven’t explored much of it! As of last month (June 2024), we’ve only mapped about 26.1% of the seafloor using modern technology. It makes you wonder what else is down there, doesn’t it?

So, yeah, the next time you see a globe, really look at all that blue. It’s not just empty space; it’s a vital, dynamic force that shapes our entire planet. Pretty cool, huh?