The Ocean

1 min read · NOAA National Weather Service — JetStream

The World's major oceans. — The world's major oceans.NOAA / National Weather Service

Understanding the ocean and its relationship to weather is critical as more than half of the world's population lives within 60 miles (100 km) of the ocean.

The ocean's ability to absorb, store, and release heat into the atmosphere is huge and often directly affects us. In fact, just the top 10 feet of the ocean surface contains more heat than our entire atmosphere. Major climate events, such as El Niño, result from ocean temperature changes. These temperature changes have impacts on weather events such as hurricanes, typhoons, floods and droughts which, in turn, affect the prices and availability of fruits, vegetables, and grains.

The sizes of the major oceans

Pacific	64,000,000	166,000,000	45.0%
Atlantic	31,600,000	82,000,000	22.2%
Indian	28,400,000	73,600,000	20.0%
Southern	13,523,000	35,000,000	9.5%
Arctic	4,700,000	12,173,000	3.3%

With all of this water, it is essential that we consider the ocean.