Oceans For Dummies. Joseph Kraynak

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Introduction

      The ocean covers about 71 percent of our planet’s surface, contains about 97 percent of its water, is home to more than 90 percent of its living species, produces more than 60 percent of the oxygen on our planet, carries 90 percent of all cargo shipped between countries, produces enough protein to feed a billion people, contributes trillions of dollars to the global economy, regulates the climate, produces weather systems, provides us with all sorts of fun and interesting activities, inspires us, and so much more. Despite all this, we went ahead and totally dissed the ocean by calling our planet Earth … yeah, Earth as in land, ground, dirt. Wouldn’t it have been much more appropriate to call it something like Planet Ocean, or maybe Oceanus, after the son of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth)? We certainly think so.

      But, nobody asked us, did they?

      So, to help reconcile this slight in some small way, Philippe and I decided to write a book about the ocean and plaster its name all over the cover. We want everyone to know how truly amazing the ocean is and to share our fascination with it and its many crazy, astonishing, extraordinary, and sometimes creepy inhabitants. Our purpose in writing this book is to introduce generations of readers, including you, to the ocean from various perspectives — geophysics, biology, meteorology, ecology, economics, and more — in a fun and engaging way, so you can gain a broad understanding of what the ocean is all about without dozing off in the process.

      As lifelong ocean explorers, we felt like this kind of primer on all things ocean, fun enough for the ocean novice but thorough enough