Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The various offshore zones may appear straightforward, but in the real world they often don't
work. Consider the United States and Cuba, two countries that aren't exactly bosom buddies.
Each country is theoretically entitled to what is shown on Figure 8-3. But Key West, Florida,
is only about 90 miles from Cuba. Adjustments had to be made, therefore, beginning with a
zone of High Seas in between to guarantee the right of innocent passage to ships of all coun-
tries. After that, the U.S. and Cuba were each allotted equal, but reduced, amounts of the other
zones shown on the diagram.
When you give the world map a major look-see, you find virtually dozens upon dozens of other wa-
teryexpanseswherethediagram“doesn'twork.”Eachwasreconciledonacase-by-basebasis.Straits
were given special attention to guarantee the right of innocent passage.
Getting a rise out of oceans
Sea levels are rising. The ice caps on Greenland and Antarctica, plus a majority of the world's gla-
ciers, are slowly shrinking. The shrinking is a by-product of
global warming
(also called the
green-
house effect
), which you can read about in Chapter 18. As the glaciers slowly recede, their melt water
returns to the oceans, which rise. Perhaps the most important word there is “slowly.” Unless you live
very close to sea level, you have no cause to have a nightmare about the ocean rising around your
ankles. I would caution you, though, to think very carefully about beachfront real estate as a long-
term investment.
How high the oceans will rise is open to debate because nobody knows for certain the future course
and severity of global warming. But consider the past as a portent of possibilities. About 18,000 years
ago, at the peak of the last Ice Age, sea levels were about 475-500 feet lower than they are today —
because so much water was “locked up” on land in the great glaciers. About 400 years ago, the Eng-
lish founded Jamestown, Virginia, and built a wharf. Today, that wharf is about 12 feet under water, a
victim of rising sea level.
Geographically, rising sea level is very important. Perhaps the most basic element of geo-
graphy is the familiar outline of the continents and other major land bodies that you see on a
world map. For the last 18,000 or so years, the world map has been changing, with the ocean
