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These envelopes nevertheless limit observation of the ice giants' interiors, and thereby the information on their composition and evolution. [2] Although Uranus and Neptune are referred to as ice giant planets, it is thought that there is a supercritical water-ammonia ocean beneath their clouds, which accounts for about two-thirds of their ...
Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oceans. [1] [2] [3] Much of the world's sea ice is enclosed within the polar ice packs in the Earth's polar regions: the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the ...
However, ocean currents also flow thousands of meters below the surface. These deep-ocean currents are driven by differences in the water's density, which is controlled by temperature (thermo) and salinity (haline). This process is known as thermohaline circulation. In the Earth's polar regions ocean water gets very cold, forming sea ice.
Earth's surface is dominated by the ocean, which forms 75% of Earth's surface.. An ocean world, ocean planet or water world is a type of planet or natural satellite that contains a substantial amount of water in the form of oceans, as part of its hydrosphere, either beneath the surface, as subsurface oceans, or on the surface, potentially submerging all dry land.
Sea ice will deform primarily at fracture points which in turn will form at the points of greatest stress and lowest strength, or where the ratio between the two is a maximum. Ice thickness, salinity and porosity will all affect the strength of the ice. The motion of the ice is driven primarily by ocean currents, though to a lesser extent by wind.
This occurs when a thick, warm layer of the Pacific Ocean sloshes east — creating an expansive, ocean-wide wave that can take two to three months to reach California’s shore.
A pressure ridge, when consisting of ice in an oceanic or coastal environment, is a linear pile-up of sea ice fragments formed in pack ice by accumulation in the convergence between floes. Such a pressure ridge develops in an ice cover as a result of a stress regime established within the plane of the ice.
Despite being the largest animal on the planet, blue whales maintain a life of secrecy, spending their days in the deep, open ocean. ... The ocean giants live in all oceans except the Arctic, NOAA ...