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Why We Should Focus on Ocean Exploration
- TheKairosTimes
- Apr 11
- 3 min read
By Haime Cha
Many scientists believe that only 5% of the ocean has been physically explored even though it covers 70% of earth’s surface. Humans have been exploring the ocean for hundreds of years but there are still many different species that are undiscovered. The ocean is the guiding force of our weather patterns and temperatures that we experience, and with more data we have about the ocean, the better we can understand the climate on our globe. The exploration of our ocean will be highly beneficial and provide more information about the unknown animals or the less familiar weather patterns.
Our ocean holds a vast portion of the earth’s biodiversity and resources making exploration more crucial than space. We have “250,000 recorded marine species, and many species are yet undiscovered bringing the total estimated number of marine species in the range of millions”(Copernicus Marine Services, 2024).The more we know about these species, the more we can see how resilient the ocean is. Also, the more diverse it is, the more stable the ocean will be against climate change. Additionally, the ocean provides medicine, minerals, and oxygen for people. An article from the National Library of Medicine says, “Marine environment represents countless and diverse resources for new drugs to combat major diseases such as cancer or malaria.” By exploring deeper into the ocean we can discover more organisms that could help fight diseases. There is plenty of potential for the ocean to have more treatments that can go against infections.
Even though exploring space and the ocean is not ideal, the ocean has an effect in our lives. We know that, “By distributing heat and moisture around the globe, the ocean is a driving force for Earth's weather” (NASA, 2020). The ocean cools down areas absorbing most of the solar energy on earth and works against climate change. Without the ocean, we would have higher levels of carbon dioxide and the levels of heat would increase rapidly. This not only affects the environment we live in but it also affects our daily lives.
“The ocean’s tight linkage with the atmosphere makes understanding its behaviour vital for forecasting weather and climate conditions.” states the World Meteorological Organization. The ocean is the driving force of our weather, which is a big factor in our days. There could be rainfall from the ocean evaporating which influences the wet and dry areas. The weather that we have determines whether or not we can go outside, what to wear, or what to do the entire day.
Exploring the ocean is something that will improve our knowledge about the biodiversity in our oceans, and provide more knowledge about our climatic trends. We would be able to work towards saving the diversity in our ocean, and provide more medicine. As well as, learning more about the effect it has on our everyday lives. Only knowing a small fraction of something so crucial to our lives leaves gaps in our knowledge that we could use to our advantage. If we want to improve the lives that we have, the way to do that is through space exploration.
Authors Note:
I am Haime Cha, a middle school student at Stiles Middle School. I believe that our ocean is such a big part of our lives and that we should work towards researching the different wonders in our ocean. There are many things that are still unknown to us and I think that through ocean exploration there is so much more knowledge we could gain. I hope that it motivates more people to advocate towards exploring our ocean.
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