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In the tropics, surface temperatures can rise to over 30 ☌ (86 ☏).

Ocean temperatures depend on the amount of solar radiation reaching the ocean surface. Human activity often has negative impacts on ecosystems within the continental shelf. It is more shallow, with a depth of a few hundred meters or less. The continental shelf is where the ocean meets dry land. Light can only penetrate a few hundred more meters the rest of the deeper ocean is cold and dark (these zones are called mesopelagic and aphotic zones). Ocean photosynthesis also produces half of the oxygen in the earth's atmosphere. As a result, the photic zone is the most biodiverse and the source of the food supply which sustains most of the ocean ecosystem. In this process plants and microscopic algae (free floating phytoplankton) use light, water, carbon dioxide, and nutrients to produce organic matter. This is the zone where photosynthesis can occur. The photic zone starts at the surface and is defined to be "the depth at which light intensity is only 1% of the surface value" : 36 (approximately 200 m in the open ocean). The water column is further divided into zones based on depth and the amount of light present. The pelagic zone is the open ocean's water column from the surface to the ocean floor. Oceanographers split the ocean into vertical and horizontal zones based on physical and biological conditions. The ocean influences climate and weather patterns, the carbon cycle, and the water cycle by acting as a huge heat reservoir. The ocean is the primary component of the Earth's hydrosphere, and thus essential to life on Earth. Distinct names are used to identify five different areas of the ocean: Pacific (the largest), Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic (the smallest). The term ocean also refers to any of the large bodies of water into which the world ocean is conventionally divided. The ocean on the surface of the Earth (also known as the sea or the world ocean) is a body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. at the deepest poinst of the ocean) ġ Shore length is not a well-defined measure.