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Lesson 8
Key Idea 5: Immeasurable Importance

The oceans have historically been thought of as unchanging. Recent research has contradicted this notion: we are slowly coming to realize that the oceans are changing. Because the time scales of oceanic changes are much longer than those of atmospheric changes, we do not directly sense these changes; they are detected through scientific observations collected over months and years.

How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.
-Arthur C. Clarke

Traditional conversations about climate change have often overlooked the oceans, and this may have some serious repercussions. Oceanic forcings can take decades, or even centuries, to reach equilibrium; thus, the effects we are having on our environment will not appear in the oceans for many years. Until recently, neither the funding nor the technology was in place to facilitate proper oceanographic research that enables us to fully appreciate the delicate balance of the oceans.

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