20+ Ocean Facts For Kids That Will Stir Your Curiosity

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Hey Kids! Do you know the most amazing place on Earth? It’s Ocean. The existence of life was first found in the Ocean. It’s a different world under the water. We discovered hundreds of thousands of species in the oceans, but according to scientists, there are still millions left to be found.

Till date, we’ve explored only about 5% of the world’s oceans, which is just a tiny fraction of it. In fact, we know more about space than the ocean. Planet’s mega museum is Ocean, and the collection of remnants of history in the Ocean are more than all the museums around the globe combined!

All you need is to breathe deep to find the facts of the Ocean deep. Let’s dive into the Ocean to explore the mysteries. Here are some exciting ocean facts for kids for you.

20+ Fascinating Facts About Ocean For Kids

Fact 1: Earth is unique due to the existence of oceans. No other planet has liquid water on it, such as oceans (as far as we know till date). Scientists say, there used to be oceans on Mars, but they evaporated millions of years ago.

Fact 2: Oceans cover around 70% of the Earth’s surface and are holding about 96.5% of Earth’s entire water. It makes the Earth look blue from the outer space. We live only in the remaining 30%.

Fact 3: The sunlight cannot reach the deep still there are all kinds of life in the Ocean! Fish and animals exist in different environments, unlike we do and where we can’t go. It’s a different world of thousands of miles below the water.

Fact 4: Five Oceans

There are five oceans on Earth.

Just remember P.A.I.A.S, to get the right order of the oceans with regards to size – starting from the biggest to the smallest.

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Fact 5: The Pacific Ocean

World’s biggest and deepest Ocean is covering more than 30% of the Earth’s surface. The Pacific Ocean has around 25000 islands which is much more than all other oceans combined. The name ‘Pacific’ was taken came from the Latin word ‘Pacificus’ that means ‘peaceful ocean.’

However, the Pacific is not peaceful. The ‘Pacific ring of fire’ is located in this Ocean. A line of volcanoes in the Pacific basin is still active. Many significant earthquakes and volcanic eruptions of the world occur in this region.

Earth’s deepest known point is located in the Western Pacific Ocean near Guam in the Philippine Sea, far end of the Mariana Trench. It is known as Challenger Deep. The depth of the point recorded is 10,920 m or 35,827 feet.

Fact 6: The Atlantic Ocean

It is the 2nd largest Ocean, covering around 21% of the Earth’s surface. It separated North America and South America from Europe and Africa. The size of the Atlantic Ocean is just half of the Pacific Ocean. However, it is spreading along the Mid-Atlantic Coasts and gradually increasing in size.

The most extended mountain range on Earth is actually under the water, and it’s beneath the Atlantic Ocean. It is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that stretches over 56,000 km from Iceland to Antarctica underwater. This mountain range runs along the center of the ocean basins.

Thresher Sharks seen in the Gulf Stream are found in the Atlantic waters.

Amelia Earhart was the first lady who flew across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932 all alone.

Fact 7: The Indian Ocean

It is the 3rd largest Ocean between Africa and Austral-Asia. The Indian Ocean is the warmest and covers around 14% of the planet. The waters of the Indian Ocean are the largest breeding grounds of the humpback whales in the world.

A fish, the Coelacanth, that was thought to be extinct, discovered in the warm waters of the Comoro islands between Mozambique and Madagascar of Indian Ocean.

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The Northern part of the Ocean is the most critical oil transport route connecting the oil-rich Middle East countries with Asia. The tankers carry a cargo of 17 million barrels of crude oil every day from the Persian Gulf.

Fact 8: The Antarctic or the Southern Ocean

The Antarctic Ocean is lying in the extreme south of the Southern Hemisphere around the South Pole across the Antarctic circle of Antarctica.

It is the habitat of Emperor Penguins and Wandering Albatrosses.

Fact 9: The Arctic Ocean

The smallest ocean is the Arctic Ocean, lying across the Arctic Circle around the North Pole. The features in the Arctic are named after early Arctic explorers, such as Nansen Basin or Mendeleyev Ridge.

The Arctic ice is home to many polar bears. Besides, an unusual species of jellyfish named ‘Lion’s Mane Jellyfish’ found in the Arctic Ocean’s waters grow up to 2.4 m or 8 feet across in size and feeds on fishes and plankton.

During winter, it is almost entirely covered in ice. However, the ice coverage in the Arctic Ocean is shrinking by 8% every decade, and the reason is possibly global warming.

Fact 10: Oceans are habitat to incredible creatures, and many of them are masters of disguise.

Fact 11: Oceans produce about 70 percent of the oxygen we need to breathe.

Fact 12: The coral reefs are a habitat of 25% of marine animals, and 90% of sea life depends on the reefs for some reason. Billions of small sea animals when die, leave their skeletons behind, and coral reefs form very slowly.

Fact 13: The Great Barrier Reef, the world’s most massive living structure, i.e., coral reef, is located off the Australian coast measuring around 2,600 km. It is visible even from the Moon!

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Fact 14: Lives in the Ocean have many problems today. We are polluting the Ocean. The sea levels are rising, and the Ocean is getting warmer due to global warming. Some marine animals such as the bluefin tuna and the whales are endangered species.

Fact 15: The oceans control the weather, and Ocean temperatures determine the climate. The currents in the Ocean distribute heat around the planet and temperature above the oceans forms clouds and winds. Oceanic evaporation causes most rainfall.

Fact 16: The Ocean tides rise and fall two times a day. It is caused by the Earth’s rotation and the gravitational pull of the Moon as well as Sun.

Fact 17: The deeper you go, things change into the oceans. Even at a depth of 107m, plants can grow. The fish change colors; they are blue, green, or violet near the surface, but deeper down they are silvery or very light-colored. Surprisingly, the fish living 3000 meters below have their lights as it is very dark down there.

Fact 18: Blue Whale is the largest animal found in the Ocean.

Fact 19: The Dead Sea in the Indian Ocean is the saltiest water body as it’s surrounded by desert. The extreme heat causes evaporation of the seawater back into the atmosphere, and a vast amount of salt leftover. It’s so salty that nothing can survive in its waters. The large amounts of salt exert such an upward push that without any effort, you will float in the water.

Fact 20: The measure of the speed at sea is known as knots. 1 knot equals 1.85 km per hour. The sailors use this measurement.

Fact 21: There is so much salt in the oceans and seas that if you could take all the salt out and spread it across the Earth, there would be a 152 m layer of salt covering everything.

References:

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/oceans.htmlhttps://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/geography/general-geography/ocean-facts/

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