| 3161/
A single 2 minute ocean color satellite image contains nearly
2 million sample points and covers nearly 2 million square
kilometers of ocean area. To take as many measurements over
the same area from a ship traveling at 10 knots would take
over a decade.
3162/ A slow cascade
of cold water beneath the Denmark Strait between Greenland
and Iceland sinks 2.2 miles (3.5 km), over three-and-a-half
times farther than the tallest waterfall on land, Venezuela's
Angel Falls.
3163/ The average depth
of the oceans is 2.5 miles (4 km). The deepest point lies
in the Mariana Trench, 6.8 miles (10.9 km) down. By way of
comparison, Mount Everest is only 5.5 miles (8.8 km) high.
3164/ Ninety percent
of all volcanic activity occurs in the oceans. In 1993, scientists
located the largest known concentration of active volcanoes
on the sea floor in the South Pacific. This area, the size
of New York state, hosts 1,133 volcanic cones and sea mounts.
Two or three could erupt at any moment.
3165/ Earth's longest
mountain range is the Mid-Ocean Ridge, which winds around
the globe from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic, skirting
Africa, Asia and Australia, and crossing the Pacific to the
west coast of North America. It is four times longer than
the Andes, Rockies, and Himalayas combined.
3166/ At the deepest
point in the ocean the pressure is more than 8 tons per square
inch, or the equivalent of one person trying to support 50
jumbo jets.
3167/ At 39 degrees Fahrenheit,
the temperature of almost all of the deep ocean is only a
few degrees above freezing.
3168/ Undersea earthquakes
and other disturbances cause tsunamis, or great waves. The
largest recorded tsunami measured 210 feet above sea level
when it reached Siberia's Kamchatka Peninsula in 1737.
3169/ Although Mount
Everest, at 29,028 feet, is often called the tallest mountain
on Earth, Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano on the island of
Hawaii, is actually taller. Only 13,796 feet of Mauna Kea
stands above sea level, yet it is 33,465 feet tall if measured
from the ocean floor to its summit.
3170/ The Antarctic Ice
Sheet is almost twice the size of the United States.
3171/ The annual mean
temperature at the Antarctic South Pole is -56.7 degrees Fahrenheit
(-49.3 degrees Celsius).
3172/ The U.S. has the
world's most violent weather. In a typical year, the U.S.
can expect some 10,000 violent thunderstorms, 5,000 floods,
1,000 tornadoes and several hurricanes. For example, a record
148 tornadoes in 24 hours plowed through the midwest on April
3-4, 1974, killing 309 people and injuring five thousand others.
3173/ Residents of warm
southern California are moving to Alaska whether they like
it or not. Scientists, using the theory of plate tectonics,
say that southern California is moving north and will collide
with Alaska in approximately 150 million years.
3174/ NASA, at its creation
in 1958, was directed to study atmospheric as well as space
phenomena. In addition, in the 1970s, NASA was mandated to
monitor the status of the stratospheric ozone layer.
3175/ Did you know that
in 1992, the Antarctic Ozone hole was larger than the North
American Continent?
3176/ Weather is a factor
in about 40 percent of all aviation accidents.
3177/ In 1958, the United
States Coast Guard icebreaker East Wind measured the world's
tallest known iceberg off western Greenland. At 550 feet it
was only 5 feet 6 inches shorter than the Washington Monument
in Washington, D.C.
3178/ The Mid-Ocean Ridge
stretches 46,000 miles (74,000 km), more than four times the
lengths of the Andes, Rockies, and Himalayas combined.
3179/ Fishermen and women
harvest over 4 million tons of food each year from bays and
open oceans.
3180/ The highest tides
in the world are at the Bay of Fundy, which separates New
Brunswick from Nova Scotia. At some times of the year the
difference between high and low tide is 53 feet 6 inches,
the equivalent of a three-story building.
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