10 facts about our amazing oceans

Oceans cover most of our planet, but we still have a lot to learn about this incredible ecosystem. Brush up on your knowledge of our watery world for World Oceans Day.

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> 1. Earth’s oceans are unique in the Universe — as far as we know

Subsurface oceans of liquid salt water exist on at least six other solar system bodies, possibly on eight. Most of these are much larger than Earth’s.

> 2. For every species of marine life we know of, at least another three are yet to be discovered

The Census of Marine Life found fewer new species than expected. It found only 1,200 new species, which is an increase of only 0.5%. So no, there are far fewer non-microbe species still to be discovered than that.

> 3. Water takes around 1000 years to travel all the way around the whole globe

A typical ocean current speed is 1 m/s. Deep ocean currents are about 0.05 m/s. Twice the circumference of the Earth is 80,000 km. So time for water to travel around the whole globe is between 2.5 and 50 years.

So the first three “facts” are fallacies. I wouldn’t trust the others.