Investigating Earth's Oceans

Investigating Earth's Oceans — page 1
INTRODUCTION nowledge of the oceans is more than a matter of curiosity President John F Kennedy told Congress in 1961 Our very survival may hinge upon it Half a century later these words still ring true Scientists now under stand that the oceans play two major roles on Earth Most of the life on the planet lives in the oceans The oceans also regulate climate by moving and storing heat Between these two roles the oceans have been integral in making Earth what it is today Ocean exploration by the United States offi cially began in 1807 when President Thomas Jefferson created a government agency called the United States Coast Survey to study the country s coastlines These early scientists concentrated on mapping the edge of the sea and the character of the seafloor They took the temperature of the world's oceans determined the direction of water currents and cataloged life forms Over the next hundred years the development of new tech nologies governed our exploration of the oceans Getting to the remote parts of the oceans is diffi cult so scientists had to invent ways to reach these places Dredges large scoops used to scrape the deep sea for life and early forms of sonar were among the inventions that helped early scientists study ocean life and