Ocean Exploration

Life on Earth goes back almost 4.1 billion years, but photosynthesis as characterized by cyanobacteria only appeared around 3.5 billion years ago (Ga). Since life on Earth predates photosynthesis, the exploration of this deep-water environment that lacks any source of light could provide information on what those life forms looked like.

c. the ocean carbon cycle

c. unmanned deep-sea robot

By some estimates, there is more methane frozen in arctic ice than coal remaining in the world's coal beds. Since methane is 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas its impact could be truly enormous. It is also of concern because while the carbon dioxide emission resulting from coal use can be mitigated through human action, the release of methane from arctic ice is dependent upon global climate. Therefore, if the climate warms sufficiently to release large amounts of the methane it could establish a positive feedback cycle and warm the earth even further.

b. methane hydrates

Deep sea corals can take hundreds or thousands of years to grow and they serve as habitats for many other deep sea organisms. Therefore, when they are damaged, the entire ecosystem is affected and cannot be repaired quickly. Damage done today might not be repaired for several hundred years.

c. promote ocean ownership

Microbes account for up to 90 percent of the ocean's biomass and directly control all of the major biological and biogeochemical cycles responsible for balancing the different ecosystems of the biosphere.Therefore it is crucial to study these microbes in order to understand how they impact the systems of the biosphere.

Oceanographers are already very skilled at gathering information about large-scale ocean processes, but small-scale processes have largely been inaccessible. The AUEs will allow scientists to gather information about local and small-scale processes for the first time to study ocean phenomena in greater detail.

b. small-scale ocean processes

d. all of the above

a. The oceans have a significant impact on the levels of atmospheric gases.

false

b. They play a minor role in biological and geochemical cycles.

c. They allow the deep ocean to be explored.

a. Previously there has not been a method to study small-scale ocean processes.

c. They provide a critical habitat for many other organisms.

true

a. they control the major biogeochemical cycles that keep Earth's biosphere in balance

false

a. what life may have been like before the evolution of photosynthesis

d. all of the above

false