Final Assignment Essay

During this semester, it has been a pleasure to take oceanography to have a better understanding of the physical and biological properties of the sea. Because of this class and its various assignments, I have learned a lot and know what I need to do to improve my understanding. For example, I have a better understanding of continental drift. I now know that there are six major plates on Earth that have broken up over the years. Very slowly over time, there was one large continent that broke into six and they slowly drift over time  (continental drift). I also have a better understanding of winds on the Earth's atmosphere. The Coriolis effect is when a  whereby a mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation. What actually happens is that global winds blow diagonally. The Coriolis effect influences wind direction around the world in this way: in the Northern Hemisphere it curves winds to the right; in the Southern Hemisphere it curves them left. Doldrums are areas with no winds because winds because heat rises. With global warming, there will be a lot more heat, which will rise, and eventually cause their to be less wind.

Thanks to the assignment "which way the winds blow," I now understand what causes winds and the directions in which they move. I was also very informed when I learned about how to study the ocean. There are many traditional ways of studying the ocean, but it seems as though none can study each of its aspects. For example, going out to sea with a ship is good for some research, but not all aspects. As well as using ships, satellites and other equipment can only work for some areas and not all. Maybe a new system is needed for ocean studies to effectively work in the 21st century. It looks like this is a job for the Regional Cabled Observatory initiative, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. This system will gather and stream data and real-time video from 12 sensors under the ocean, which will inform scientists and the general public. These sensors will be used for monitoring pressure, oxygen levels, deep sea currents, seismic activity, underwater audio, etc. At three sites, Hydrate Ridge, Axial Seamount, and Endurance Array Newport Line, there will be fiber optic cables that form. This system may give everybody better data and become the worlds largest underwater observatory. Honestly,I never thought about how the ocean was studied which is why these are really interesting methods to me.