The Open Ocean
The Atlantic
By: Heather Smith and Elizabeth
Mynhier
Climate
• The ocean’s climate is very diverse depending on what
latitude you are at.
• In the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, the weather is
relatively calm and cold. The Antarctic is the colder of
the two because it has more landmass, which can
freeze.
• The tropics near the equator stay warm and have a wet
and a dry season. This are is also home to the
doldrums.
• The places in between can have raging storms and
hurricanes, or calm weather. There are four seasons.
Producers in the Open Ocean
• Photic Zone
– Green, red, brown, and fire algaes
– Sea weed
• Disphotic Zone and Aphotois Zone
– Phytoplankton
• Bacteria and other small organisms that produce energy
from the small amount of light in the deep ocean.
– Archaea
• Living in Hydrothermal vents, they are one of the only
known chemosynthisisers. They are adapted to turn
chemicals in their surroundings into energy.
Consumers in the Open Ocean
• Photic Zone:
– Manatee
• They are an endangered species, but can adapt to
warmer climates.
– Green Sea Turtles
• They are long-migration animals, and are endangered.
Consumers in the Open Ocean
• Disphotic Zone:
– Starfish
– Angelfish
– Octupus
– Sea Anemone
• Aphotois Zone
– Sperm Whale
– Conch
– Squid
Human Effects
• An estimated 100 million tons of trash is floating
in the middle of the North Pacific, and covers an
area twice the size of the United States.
• On isolated beaches in Hawaii, two-foot deep sand is
actually 80 per cent plastic bits now.
• Cruise Ships create 197,400 gallons of waste as
well as a ton of garbage a day, incinerating 7585% of it which releases harmful chemicals into
the air, and dumping ask and sewage sludge
directly into the ocean.
Human Effects
• Near the Southern Atlantic gyre, scientists
“counted hundreds of large floating objects,
including fishing buoys, nets, buckets, crates,
water bottles and construction hard hats”.
• The largest amount of plastic content in the
atlantic—83%—is in an area known as the
North Atlantic subtropical gyre, reaching from
the latitude of Baltimore to that of the
Bahamas
Protection for the Open Ocean
• Many Marine Animals are put on the
endangered species list.
• The Mid-Atlantic Council on the Ocean
(MARCO) is working to get the ocean
conditions improved.
– It’s area stretches from New York to Virginia
• Sea turtle proof-nets have been produced.
Protection for the Open Ocean
• Sea turtle proof-nets have been produced.
Natural Capital
• Petroleum
• Sand and gravel aggregates
• Salt Water
– Campbell's soup?
• Fishing
– Whaling 
– Shark fishing
– Large net fishing
Bibliography
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http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/factsheets/phytoplankton.html
http://www.alternet.org/story/77501/first_map_of_human_impacts_on_oceans_released
http://www.alternet.org/story/77501/first_map_of_human_impacts_on_oceans_released
http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/cruise-ship-pollution-460810
http://www.americanrecycler.com/0211/798plastic.shtml
http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/plastic-pollution-in-the-atlanticocean?news=841327
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/ocean/twilight
http://oceana.org/sites/default/files/o/fileadmin/oceana/uploads/turtles/Trouble4Turtles_W
ebFinal.pdf
http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/01219/will%20stuff.htm
http://www.earthsendangered.com/list.asp
http://students.umf.maine.edu/katie.l.thomas/public.www/Oceans%20Webpage/Atlantic%2
0Ocean/Atlantic%20Ocean%20Creatures%20Webpage.html