Water World

Comparing Bodies of Water

• Water covers 71 percent of Earth's surface and exists in three states: liquid, solid, and vapor.
• The hydrologic cycle includes evaporation, transport, condensation, precipitation, groundwater, and runoff, which explains how Earth's water is cycled and recycled.
• Bodies of water include small freshwater brooks, large saltwater oceans, and provide water, oxygen, and food for living organisms.
• Freshwater sources come in the form of lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and creeks, usually found inland or among landforms across the world.
• The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean, covering 30 percent of Earth's surface, found between the West Coast of the Americas and the East Coasts of Asia and Australia.
• The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest ocean, covering more than 20 percent of Earth's surface, found between the East Coast of the Americas and the West Coasts of Europe and Africa.
• The Indian Ocean is the third-largest ocean, covering more than 14 percent of Earth's surface, stretching between the southern parts of Africa and Australia, and borders Iran, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
• The Southern Ocean covers 4 percent of Earth's surface, is the fourth-largest ocean, borders the continent of Antarctica, and connects to the southern portions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
• The Arctic Ocean is the smallest, shallowest ocean, covering less than 3 percent of Earth's surface, completely covered in ice in the winter and partially covered in ice throughout the rest of the year.
• The Southern Ocean is also known as the Antarctic Ocean, and the concept of the Southern Ocean has not yet been universally accepted.
• The trade route across the Atlantic Ocean transformed the world and was the first ocean used for trade.
• Bodies of water are unique to their geographic locations, but they are all connected and interact to create a food source, oxygen source, and water source for all living things.