Deep Side Of The Ocean Views

General Goods

Like other oceanic trenches, the Mariana Trench has been proposed as a site for nuclear waste disposal,[10][11] in the hope that tectonic plate subduction occurring at the site might eventually push the nuclear waste deep into the Earth's mantle. However, ocean dumping of nuclear waste is prohibited by international law.[12][10][11] Furthermore, plate subduction zones are associated with very large megathrust earthquakes of which the effects on any specific site are unpredictable and possibly adverse to the safety of long-term disposal.[11]

Deep circulationDeep beneath the surface another current system gently stirs the waters of the ocean and is much more important for the animals of the deep sea. This thermo-haline (heat and salt) system is driven by the sinking and rising of waters of different heaviness or density, caused by differences in salt content and particularly temperature, rather than by the wind. Heavy (cold and salty) water sinks at high latitudes, especially in the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and around Antarctica, to be replaced by warmer, less salty water from lower latitudes. The result is a complex 'layer cake' of interleaved water masses flowing slowly under and over one another in the depths of the ocean. This deep circulation is important--it mixes the water, keeps chemistry more or less uniform and carries oxygen from the atmosphere into the deeper layers, making life there possible.

Although tidal currents such as waves and tides are the most obvious water movements to us, their main effects are restricted to very shallow layers. They also can't be detected at the bottom of the deepest oceans. But in these deeper waters the more important water movements are those of the global system of oceanic currents. They are crucial in controlling the Earth’s climate.

Equatorial upwelling is another type of upwelling. At the Equator, cool and dense water rises and replaces the surface water. It also creates a high density of phytoplankton. At both side of the upwelling, downwelling is caused. This downwelling is the opposite phenomenon of upwelling. When the wind blows more strongly than about 3.5 meters per second, water flows parallel to the wind. This flow is called Langmuir circulation. Each convection cell is 10 to 15 meters broad, 5 to 6 meters deep and hundreds of meters to several kilometers long. Because of rotation in opposite directions, boundaries between adjoining Langmuir cells alternate between convergent and divergent flow. Floating material (bubbles, oil slicks, floating debris, seaweed) aggregates at the zones of flow convergence and forms a streaked appearance. It is a short-term response to wind drag.