Background to physical and chemical properties

The diverse Ocean environment is a system of complex unions and interactions between the atmosphere, water, bottom and their inhabitants. As a whole, they form the unique character of the Ocean, in which many features are still insufficiently investigated. The influence of the Ocean has an effect in the most remote corners of the Earth. The lack of knowledge of the Ocean environment therefore, presents a real problem for modern science.

 

In the Northern Hemisphere, the World Ocean occupies 61% of the area and in the Southern Hemisphere, 81%. If we were able to arbitrarily divide the Globe into two equal parts so that in one hemisphere the land predominated, and in the other the water, water will appear to cover more than half of the area (53%). The oceanic hemisphere takes up about takes 91% of the area. The land and sea are also non-uniformly distributed on the planet. Land predominates only between latitudes of 45� N and 70� N, and to the south, from latitude 70� S to the South Pole. Water predominates over the remaining part of Globe. The shapes of the shorelines, bottom relief, systems of oceanic currents, tides, atmospheric circulation and a number of other criteria subdivide the World Ocean into the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic Oceans.