Oceans For Dummies. Joseph Kraynak

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СКАЧАТЬ Shipping lanes 5.2 Productive coastline 7.8 Carbon absorption 4.3 TOTAL 24

      Back to the study. The people crunching the numbers admitted to being unable to factor in less tangible benefits of the ocean — you know, little things like producing over half of Earth’s oxygen, anchoring the water cycle, and regulating weather and climate. They didn’t even consider oil and minerals (from offshore drilling and mining), wind power, or the ocean as a source of new medicines. As a result, their estimates represent a vast undervaluation of the ocean’s worth to humanity, let alone all the other living creatures on the planet, but it is a good place to start and underscores just how important the ocean is to our global economy.

      Visit www.worldwildlife.org/publications/reviving-the-oceans-economy-the-case-for-action-2015 for additional details from the study.

Serving as a Source of Mystery and Wonder

      Since the beginning of time, people have been seduced by the sea, its sound, its power, its vastness, and its creatures, all of which have captivated, enchanted, and inspired humankind. The ocean has served for many generations as muse to some of the world’s greatest authors, inspiring classics such as The Old Man & The Sea, Moby Dick, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Treasure Island, Homer’s Odyssey, The Tempest, and more. Artists have drawn, painted, and sculpted its seascape and creatures, both real and mythical. Musicians have sung of the sea’s soul for millennia. And the ocean plays a prominent role in many religions across the globe.

      While it continues to inspire authors and artists, more recently in human history, the ocean has also inspired scientists, and it continues to do so. Exploring the ocean from surface to seafloor and from coastlines to the middle of the deep blue sea not only goes a long way toward satisfying human curiosity, but also uncovers new sources of food, medicines, and energy; provides insight on how to conserve ocean resources; and enhances safety through a better understanding of earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and other natural threats to human life and property. In addition, the physical challenges of deep-sea exploration often lead to valuable innovations.

      In this section, we present some of the ways the ocean feeds the imagination and a few of the more practical benefits of ocean exploration.

      Stimulating our imaginations

      People always have been and continue to be fascinated with the bizarre, massive, and powerful creatures lurking beneath the ocean’s surface. Before people could explore the underwater world for themselves, they imagined great beasts roaming the ocean, such as the kraken — an enormous octopus-like creature that sailors thought could crush wooden ships whole. Don’t worry, nobody’s going to “release the kraken”; it’s a mythological creature. However, the kraken was probably inspired by a real sea monster — the giant squid, which prowls the deep sea. Females can grow up to 13 meters (43 feet) long (about the length of a school bus) and we think it’s fair to say that a squid of that size would scare the sandals off anyone aboard a boat, wooden or otherwise.

      Another favorite marine creature of lore is the mermaid. Half human, half fish, and totally voluptuous, these beautiful sirens would sing out to ships and lure men to love or certain death. Mermaids aren’t real (though I, Ashlan, still love to pretend I am one while scuba diving). They’re believed to have been dreamt up by a bunch of men who were stuck at sea for months and months on end. On the high seas back in the day, women were scarce, and ships were full of dudes with nothing to occupy their free time but rum, stale bread, and tall tales. Historians agree that sailors very likely did see something, maybe a manatee, a dugong, or a sexy seal, but certainly not a mermaid or a lady in a wetsuit. However, after a few glasses of said rum, to a lonely desperate sailor peering through half sober eyes, a manatee might look like a lovely plump lady-fish.

      Of course, a few mind-blowing creatures really have existed, some of which were around long before sailors and pirates were day dreaming of love affairs with mermaids. The megalodon, for example, was an enormous ancient shark whose name literally means “giant tooth.” Alive during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (23 million to 2.6 million years ago), megalodons were the largest fish to swim the seas, at least the largest we know of to date. A single meg tooth is the size of an average human hand! Based on scientists’ belief that megalodons were almost the same shape as our modern great white shark and based on the size of the teeth and vertebrae fossils found, researchers estimate that this massive shark could grow to be 82 feet long, with a jaw large enough for an adult-sized human to walk through. In comparison, the fictional great white shark in Jaws was a mere 25 feet long. But notice that we’ve been using past tense for megalodons. Yes, they’re extinct. We promise.

      Increasing our knowledge of the world around us

      Unfortunately, in the world of science, ocean explorers often take a back seat to astronauts. Popular movies and the media often depict marine biologists as nerdy bookworms or beach bums spending as much time working on their tans as they do researching the ocean. (Admittedly a tan can be a perk of the job) Astronauts, on the other hand, are always portrayed as brave pilots who train vigorously and risk their lives to explore “the final frontier.”

      Admittedly, we’d rather be on a beach or a boat than packed like sardines into a space capsule or walking around on a dusty gray moon, but we assure you that ocean explorers are just as serious and committed to their work, and that it can be more dangerous. We can also assure you that the work of ocean explorers is just as valuable as that of space explorers, if not more so. Ask yourself if knowing whether or not water on Mars matters at all to your existence (hint: it doesn’t). Okay, okay, researching the history of water on Mars is valuable to understanding other planets and even our own to a certain extent. But knowing and protecting our ocean is critical to our very SURVIVAL on this planet.

      Don’t get us wrong, we think space exploration is cool. The problem is that the U.S. government invests at least 150 times more money in exploring space than it does exploring the ocean. That would be fine if we had endless money, but we don’t. In a world with dwindling resources and a growing population struggling with climate change, maybe sending more money into space isn’t the best allocation of resources. “But wait — can’t we have both you might ask?” Sure, that would be great! But, to have both, equally, would mean that the oceans should get at least the same budget as space, and that is far from the case.

      Here are just a few of the many practical benefits of ocean exploration:

       As resources become scarcer, people are having to go deeper to get them. Ocean exploration leads to the discovery of new sources of food, energy, and other resources and provides a better understanding of how to safely and sustainably tap the ocean for these resources.

       Increased knowledge and understanding of conditions in the deep sea better prepare humans to respond in the event of deep-sea disasters, such as sunken ships, lost submarines, and offshore oil drilling accidents.

       Deep-sea exploration led to the 1977 discovery of rich ecosystems that developed around deep-sea hydrothermal СКАЧАТЬ