Oceans and seas also help to control our climate. In the oceans and seas are strong streams called currents that move large bands of water around the Earth. They can be warm shallow currents or cold deep-water currents. Currents help to regulate our climate by distributing heat from the Sun around the Earth and cold water from the Arctic and Antarctica. Currents, also affect the climate of the land they pass by. For example, the climate in the UK is milder than other locations on a similar northern latitude, such as the east coast of Canada. This is because the UK is warmed by heat from the tropics that comes to our shores in a huge surface ocean current - the Gulf Stream or North Atlantic Drift. Without currents, the Earth's temperatures would change dramatically. The Equator would get much hotter, while the North and South Pole would get even colder - so how important is seawater here?
Clearly, seawater is part of a brilliant balancing act in nature and our oceans are a valuable resource to us all. However, problems such as pollution and global warming are putting the future of our oceans at risk and while we have taken measures to protect them, these are only the first steps.
Water and Oceans
