Hydrosphere

What Is The Hydrosphere?

The hydrosphere is all of the Earth's bodies of water. Carbon dioxide is absorbed by the hydrosphere all of the time. This is called a carbon sink. Carbon sinks absorb more carbon dioxide than they release. Carbon sinks are good for the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide levels are rising though. This creates problems for life in the hydrosphere. The increase in carbon dioxide is called ocean acidification. This will be talked more about in the Ocean Acidification page. Also, humans are dumping radioactive substances into the ocean. They dump other industrial waste into the ocean like fertilizers herbicides and pesticides into the ocean too. Things like this kill off life in the hydrosphere. As humans emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the world warms up because carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases trap heat from the sun on Earth. This heating melts ice and raises sea level. Also with heating of the water, thermal expansion happens. These will be talked more about in the Sea Level Rise page.

What can we do to help the hydrosphere?

We can do a lot of things to help the hydrosphere. A lot of them you could probably do right now. Lots of local things can help the hydrosphere. For one thing you can start to mind your carbon footprint. Using less energy lowers the release of carbon dioxide of burning fossil fuels for energy. Even just turning off the lights helps. This will make it so that ocean acidification slows down and it will help the atmosphere too. Another thing we can do is not eat endangered species of fish. Pick fish that are sustainable and are not endangered. You can use less plastic. Plastic often ends up in the ocean and animals get trapped in it or die from eating it. Thousands of animals in the sea die from plastic a year. Use less pesticides and herbicides. These wash down into sewers and into oceans and kills life in the ocean. These are just some small things you can do. If you really want to help you could protest against drilling for oil, pesticides, herbicides, overfishing, and even plastic bags. These are just some of the things you can do.