What is the photic zone of the open ocean?
Photic Zone is the top layer, nearest the surface of the ocean and is also called the sunlight layer. In this zone enough light penetrates the water to allow photosynthesis.
What is the climate in the photic zone?
The temperature in this region ranges around 100 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit, while the pressure ranges around 15 to 300 pounds per square inch. Such an environment is very conducive for life. Hence, you can find a wide variety of animals and plants in the photic zone biome.
What is most likely to live in the photic zone of open water?
Photosynthetic algae, called phytoplankton, live in the photic zone. Zooplankton—tiny free-floating animals—eat phytoplankton. This is the first step in many aquatic food webs. Below the photic zone is the dark aphotic zone, where photosynthesis cannot occur.
What is the important characteristic of the photic zone?
photic zone, surface layer of the ocean that receives sunlight. The uppermost 80 m (260 feet) or more of the ocean, which is sufficiently illuminated to permit photosynthesis by phytoplankton and plants, is called the euphotic zone.
What are the three main zones of the open ocean?
Open Ocean
- Epipelagic zone (ocean surface to 200 meters deep).
- Mesopelagic zone (200-1,000m) – This is also known as the twilight zone, because light becomes limited.
- Bathypelagic zone (1,000-4,000m) – This is a dark zone where water pressure is high and the water is cold (around 35-39 degrees).
Which zone within the open ocean zone is home to the most organisms?
The neritic zone is home to the largest variety of organisms found in the ocean.
What factors affect the photic zone?
Primary production in the photic zone is influenced by three major factors—nutrients and light, which are essential for photosynthesis, and grazing pressure, the rate at which the plants are eaten by herbivores.
What is the photic zone of the ocean quizlet?
The photic zone is the part of the ocean near enough to the surface that recieves light so photosynthesis could take place. the aphotic zone is the part of the ocean that is too deep to recieve sunlight.
What are the characteristics of the oceanic zone?
It is the region of open sea beyond the edge of the continental shelf and includes 65% of the ocean’s completely open water. The oceanic zone has a wide array of undersea terrain, including trenches that are often deeper than Mount Everest is tall, as well as deep-sea volcanoes and ocean basins.
What is the climate of the open ocean?
The average temperature of all oceans is about 39°F (4°C). Heat from the sun warms only the surface of the water. Deep down, oceans everywhere are cold and dark.
What are the characteristics of the open ocean?
Characteristics of the Open Ocean. The open ocean is vast and variable. In addition to light changes, pressure and temperature change dramatically from the surface to the deep sea. Warmer waters in the sunlight zone are mixed by wind and waves, creating a surface layer of relatively consistent temperatures.
What are 3 main zones of the open ocean?
What is it like in the open ocean?
In the parts of the open ocean below where light can penetrate, there are fish and other animals like giant squid. Because there is no sunlight, there are no algae to start food chains. Instead many animals living in the deep ocean rely on the bodies of dead animals falling from the water above for food.
Would the temperature be higher in the photic zone or aphotic zone?
The Photic Zone is warm, and the Aphotic Zone is cold. As one descends down into the deeper parts of the ocean, the temperature shifts from warm to cold.
What are the 4 Zones found in the ocean?
Ocean zones and what creatures live in them
- Sunlight Zone. This zone extends from the surface down to about 700 feet.
- Twilight Zone. This zone extends from 700 feet down to about 3,280 feet.
- The Midnight Zone. This zone extends from 3,280 feet to 13,125 feet.
- The Abyssal Zone.
- The Trenches.
How does temperature affect the open ocean?
Higher ocean surface temperatures can increase water vapour in the atmosphere, which influences weather both at sea and over land. Ocean warming in coastal areas can trigger algal blooms and bacterial outbreaks, which can be dangerous to marine life, human health and industries relying on tourism, fisheries, etc.
What is the temperature of the open ocean?
The average temperature of the sea surface is about 20° C (68° F), but it ranges from more than 30° C (86° F) in warm tropical regions to less than 0°C at high latitudes.
Why is the open ocean a desert?
So-called “ocean deserts” or “dead zones” are oxygen-starved (or “hypoxic”) areas of the ocean. They can occur naturally, or be caused by an excess of nitrogen from agricultural fertilizers, sewage effluent and/or emissions from factories, trucks and automobiles.
What can occur in the photic zone?
The photic zone, also called the euphotic or limnetic zone, is the part of a lake or ocean where the rate of photosynthesis is greater than the rate of respiration by phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are microscopic plants living suspended in the water column that have little or no means of motility.
What are the differences between the photic zone and the aphotic zone?
Photic zone receives sunlight which penetrates the photic zone, enabling photosynthesis. The diversity of organisms is high in the photoic zone as it is more favourable for life. The aphotic zone is the portion of the ocean that does not receive sunlight. Sunlight does not penetrate this zone.
How do the ocean currents affect climate?
Ocean currents act much like a conveyer belt, transporting warm water and precipitation from the equator toward the poles and cold water from the poles back to the tropics. Thus, currents regulate global climate, helping to counteract the uneven distribution of solar radiation reaching Earth’s surface.
Where is the open ocean located?
The open oceans or pelagic ecosystems are the areas away from the coastal boundaries and above the seabed. It encompasses the entire water column and lies beyond the edge of the continental shelf. It extends from the tropics to the polar regions and from the sea surface to the abyssal depths.
What is the habitat of the open ocean?
Most of the open ocean habitats are found in the deep ocean beyond the edge of the continental shelf. Ocean and coastal habitats can be created by species living in them. Corals, kelp, mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses are the “eco-engineers” of the coasts.
Is the open ocean a desert?
Despite taking up 10 percent of the ocean’s surface, the South Pacific Gyre (SPG) – the largest of Earth’s five giant ocean-spanning current systems – is generally considered a ‘desert’ in terms of marine biology.
Is there life in the open ocean?
Most life in the open ocean is found in the photic zone. Animals, protists, plants, and bacteria that float or drift in ocean water are called plankton. They are moved around the open ocean by surface currents and wind. Phytoplankton are types of plankton that do photosynthesis like diatoms and other algae.