Saltwater Storehouses: The Earth’s Oceans
Complete the following questions using the information found between pages 198 – 201 in
Planet Earth.
1. Write down five (5) interesting facts that you learned about oceans.
2. a) Define salinity.
b) What effects the salinity levels of the world’s oceans?
3. What is the thermocline?
4. What makes it difficult to study the world’s oceans?
5. What is the importance of ocean currents?
6. Why is there an abundance of life where the oceans and continents meet?
7. Create a chart comparing the four (4) major oceans of the world. Your chart must contain the
following items:
-
Location
Size
Average depth
Deepest point
Average temperature
One (1) interesting fact
A good place to find some of this information is the Ocean’s Alive website which contains brief
vignettes about each of the four major oceans. You can find this information at the following
web address http://www.mos.org/oceans/planet/profiles.html
Atlantic Ocean
Location
Size
Average Depth
Deepest Point
Avg.
Temperature
Interesting Fact
Arctic Ocean
Indian Ocean
Pacific Ocean