How Energy Travels Across the Seas
In How Energy Travels Across the Seas, geologist Iain Stewart explains why Earth is called the "blue planet," with over three-quarters of its surface covered by water. Explore how the ocean shapes coastlines and carries powerful energy across the planet, creating crashing waves that start as tiny ripples from a breeze. See the raw power of the sea in Hawaii and learn how tides form from the pull of the Moon and Sun. Next watch how this energy creates massive tidal waves, like the powerful tidal bore in the Amazon River, moving upstream and carrying more water than the flow of Niagara Falls! This video is excerpted from BBC’s Earth: The Power of the Planet, a documentary series in which Dr. Iain Stewart discovers how Earth's forces can shape nature, species, and even the climate.
Dr. Iain Stewart tells the story of how our planet works and how, over the course of 4.6 billion years, it came to be the remarkable planet it is today. Learn more.
Lesson Express
Q: Why is it significant that it's the energy, not the water itself, that travels across the ocean?
A: Understanding that it's the energy moving, not the water, helps explain how waves can travel vast distances without moving large amounts of water. This process shows how energy from wind can be transferred across oceans until it encounters land, where it is finally released as a breaking wave.
Q: How do the Moon and Sun work together to influence tides, and what happens when their gravitational forces align?
A: Both the Moon and the Sun exert gravitational pulls on Earth's oceans. When they align, their combined pull creates especially high and low tides, known as spring tides. This alignment releases more energy into the tides, leading to powerful phenomena like tidal bores.
Q: In what ways could powerful tidal bores, like those seen in the Amazon, impact local ecosystems?
A: Tidal bores can erode riverbanks, reshape the landscape, and disrupt local habitats. While they can harm certain species by altering ecosystems, they can also create new habitats and influence sediment distribution, demonstrating how natural forces shape the environment.
More Like This
In A Real Life Finding Nemo, Sir David Attenborough explores the unique relationship between the clownfish and the sea anemone. Often poisonous to other fish, the anemone serves as a protective home for the clownfish. The male clownfish repays the favor by keeping the anemone clean and removing debris. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Blue Planet II, a natural history series that explores the world's oceans, the animals that live in them, and the threats they face, using modern filming techniques and equipment to capture previously unseen areas of the ocean.
In Great White Sharks vs. Cape Fur Seals, seals head out to sea. As they swim, they must get past great white sharks, apex predators that are waiting to throw their weight around to capture a seal snack. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Planet Earth, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
In The Giant Cuttlefish Finds a Mate, narrator Sir David Attenborough explains the color-changing communication of this largest type of cuttlefish. This piques the attention of females, and helps the cuttlefish find a mate. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Blue Planet II, a natural history series that explores the world's oceans, the animals that live in them, and the threats they face, using modern filming techniques and equipment to capture previously unseen areas of the ocean.
In False Killer Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins, narrator Sir David Attenborough describes what happens when a pod of false killer whales finds a pod of dolphins. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Blue Planet II, a natural history series that explores the world's oceans, the animals that live in them, and the threats they face, using modern filming techniques and equipment to capture previously unseen areas of the ocean.
In A Real Life Finding Nemo, Sir David Attenborough explores the unique relationship between the clownfish and the sea anemone. Often poisonous to other fish, the anemone serves as a protective home for the clownfish. The male clownfish repays the favor by keeping the anemone clean and removing debris. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Blue Planet II, a natural history series that explores the world's oceans, the animals that live in them, and the threats they face, using modern filming techniques and equipment to capture previously unseen areas of the ocean.
In Great White Sharks vs. Cape Fur Seals, seals head out to sea. As they swim, they must get past great white sharks, apex predators that are waiting to throw their weight around to capture a seal snack. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Planet Earth, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
In The Giant Cuttlefish Finds a Mate, narrator Sir David Attenborough explains the color-changing communication of this largest type of cuttlefish. This piques the attention of females, and helps the cuttlefish find a mate. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Blue Planet II, a natural history series that explores the world's oceans, the animals that live in them, and the threats they face, using modern filming techniques and equipment to capture previously unseen areas of the ocean.
In False Killer Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins, narrator Sir David Attenborough describes what happens when a pod of false killer whales finds a pod of dolphins. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Blue Planet II, a natural history series that explores the world's oceans, the animals that live in them, and the threats they face, using modern filming techniques and equipment to capture previously unseen areas of the ocean.