Portal:Oceans
– Hover over image and scroll to middle for controls to see more selected panorama images –
A panorama of Zanzibar, Tanzania, particularly the Stone Town, taken from the Indian Ocean
A surfer in the Pacific Ocean at the 2010 Mavericks competition, village of Princeton-by-the-Sea, northern California
Clouds over the Southern Ocean, with continent labels
Caesio teres in the South Pacific Ocean in Fiji
A view of the South China Sea, Bacuit Archipelago, municipality of El Nido, Palawan, Philippines
A sea anemone in the Pacific Ocean, Baja California, Mexico
A view of Filfla and the Mediterranean Sea. Filfla is a small, mostly barren, uninhabited islet 4.5 kilometres (2.8 miles) south of Malta.
A view of the Southern Ocean from Great Ocean Road, Port Campbell, Princetown, Victoria, Australia
Satellite view of the Pacific Ocean and the main windward Hawaiian Islands
A view of Myrtos Beach and the Ionian Sea, Cephalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece
Orca (Orcinus orca) hunting a Weddell seal in the Southern Ocean
A mother sperm whale and her calf in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mauritius
Icebergs broken off from glaciers in northern Baffin Bay, Cape York, Greenland
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Introduction
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. Another definition is "any of the large bodies of water into which the great ocean is divided". Separate names are used to identify five different areas of the ocean: Pacific (the largest), Atlantic, Indian, Southern (Antarctic), and Arctic (the smallest). Seawater covers approximately 361,000,000 km2 (139,000,000 sq mi) of the planet. The ocean is the principal component of Earth's hydrosphere, and therefore integral to life on Earth. Acting as a huge heat reservoir, the ocean influences climate and weather patterns, the carbon cycle, and the water cycle. (Full article...)
The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71 percent of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, as well as certain large, entirely landlocked, saltwater lakes, such as the Caspian Sea. (Full article...)
Oceanography (from the Ancient Greek ὠκεανός "ocean" and γράφω "write"), also known as oceanology, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an important Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor; and fluxes of various chemical substances and physical properties within the ocean and across its boundaries. These diverse topics reflect multiple disciplines that oceanographers utilize to glean further knowledge of the world ocean, including astronomy, biology, chemistry, climatology, geography, geology, hydrology, meteorology and physics. Paleoceanography studies the history of the oceans in the geologic past. An oceanographer is a person who studies many matters concerned with oceans including marine geology, physics, chemistry and biology. (Full article...)
Selected article -
An abyssal plain is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor, usually found at depths between 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) and 6,000 metres (20,000 ft). Lying generally between the foot of a continental rise and a mid-ocean ridge, abyssal plains cover more than 50% of the Earth's surface. They are among the flattest, smoothest, and least explored regions on Earth. Abyssal plains are key geologic elements of oceanic basins (the other elements being an elevated mid-ocean ridge and flanking abyssal hills).
The creation of the abyssal plain is the result of the spreading of the seafloor (plate tectonics) and the melting of the lower oceanic crust. Magma rises from above the asthenosphere (a layer of the upper mantle), and as this basaltic material reaches the surface at mid-ocean ridges, it forms new oceanic crust, which is constantly pulled sideways by spreading of the seafloor. Abyssal plains result from the blanketing of an originally uneven surface of oceanic crust by fine-grained sediments, mainly clay and silt. Much of this sediment is deposited by turbidity currents that have been channelled from the continental margins along submarine canyons into deeper water. The rest is composed chiefly of pelagic sediments. Metallic nodules are common in some areas of the plains, with varying concentrations of metals, including manganese, iron, nickel, cobalt, and copper. There are also amounts of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and silicon, due to material that comes down and decomposes. (Full article...)Interesting facts -
- The continental crust below the South China Sea is theorized to have begun splitting apart from the Eurasian Plate around 55 million years ago.
- The tunicate Molgula citrina may have travelled to Alaska in a sea chest via the Northwest Passage.
- Oceanographer and former Florida State University dean Nancy Marcus was also a magician and ventriloquist.
Selected list articles and Marine habitat topics
| Marine habitats |
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- List of oceans
- List of ancient oceans
- List of seas
- List of circumnavigations
- List of cruise lines
- List of largest lakes and seas in the Solar System
- List of marine biologists
- List of marine ecoregions
- List of maritime explorers
- List of naval battles
- List of ocean liners
- List of oceanographic institutions and programs
- List of oldest surviving ships
- List of rogue waves
- List of seafood dishes
- List of submarine topographical features
Tasks
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Here are some tasks awaiting attention:
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General images -
A female warty squid (Moroteuthis ingens) (from Southern Ocean)
Severe cracks in an ice pier in use for four seasons at McMurdo Station slowed cargo operations in 1983 and proved a safety hazard. (from Southern Ocean)
Regional Working Group zones for SOOS (from Southern Ocean)
Based on the medieval Íslendingasögur sagas, including the Grœnlendinga saga, this interpretative map of the "Norse World" shows that Norse knowledge of the Americas and the Atlantic remained limited. (from Atlantic Ocean)
Prime Minister Suga declined to drink the bottle of Fukushima's treated radioactive water that he was holding, which would otherwise be discharged to the Pacific. 2020. (from Pacific Ocean)
Emanuel Bowen's 1780s map of the Arctic features a "Northern Ocean". (from Arctic Ocean)
"Southern Ocean" as alternative to the Aethiopian Ocean, 18th century (from Southern Ocean)
Portrait of Edmund Halley by Godfrey Kneller (before 1721) (from Southern Ocean)
The Arctic region showing the Northeast Passage, the Northern Sea Route within it, and the Northwest Passage. (from Arctic Ocean)
USS Vincennes at Disappointment Bay, Antarctica in early 1840. (from Southern Ocean)
A map of Australia's official interpretation of the names and limits of oceans and seas around Australia (from Southern Ocean)
Seas that are parts of the Southern Ocean (from Southern Ocean)
A bathymetric/topographic map of the Arctic Ocean and the surrounding lands. (from Arctic Ocean)
In the subpolar gyre of the North Atlantic warm subtropical waters are transformed into colder subpolar and polar waters. In the Labrador Sea this water flows back to the subtropical gyre. (from Atlantic Ocean)
Orca (Orcinus orca) hunting a Weddell seal in the Southern Ocean (from Southern Ocean)
Typhoon Tip at global peak intensity on 12 October 1979 (from Pacific Ocean)
Density structure of the upper 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in the Arctic Ocean. Profiles of temperature and salinity for the Amundsen Basin, the Canadian Basin and the Greenland Sea are sketched. (from Arctic Ocean)
The Arctic region; of note, the region's southerly border on this map is depicted by a red isotherm, with all territory to the north having an average temperature of less than 10 °C (50 °F) in July. (from Arctic Ocean)
The Indian Ocean, according to the CIA The World Factbook (blue area), and as defined by the IHO (black outline - excluding marginal waterbodies). (from Indian Ocean)
Mount Saint Helens in 2020 (from Pacific Ocean)
MS Explorer in Antarctica in January 1999. She sank on 23 November 2007 after hitting an iceberg. (from Southern Ocean)
Marine debris strewn over the beaches of the South Atlantic Inaccessible Island (from Atlantic Ocean)
1564 Typus Orbis Terrarum, a map by Abraham Ortelius showed the imagined link between the proposed continent of Antarctica and South America. (from Southern Ocean)
For most of the 16th century, the Portuguese dominated the Indian Ocean trade. (from Indian Ocean)
Walruses on Arctic ice floe (from Arctic Ocean)
Frank Hurley, As time wore on it became more and more evident that the ship was doomed (Endurance trapped in pack ice), National Library of Australia. (from Southern Ocean)
A copepod (from Arctic Ocean)
The economically important Silk Road was blocked from Europe by the Ottoman Empire in c. 1453 with the fall of the Byzantine Empire. This spurred exploration, and a new sea route around Africa was found, triggering the Age of Discovery. (from Indian Ocean)
Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) are the most southerly of Antarctic mammals. (from Southern Ocean)
During summer, warm continental masses draw moist air from the Indian Ocean hence producing heavy rainfall. The process is reversed during winter, resulting in dry conditions. (from Indian Ocean)
The Kennedy Channel. (from Arctic Ocean)
Impact of El Niño and La Niña on North America (from Pacific Ocean)
An iceberg being pushed out of a shipping lane by (L to R) USS Burton Island, USS Atka, and USS Glacier near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, 1965 (from Southern Ocean)
The island geography of the Pacific Ocean Basin (from Pacific Ocean)
Banks of the North-East Atlantic (from Atlantic Ocean)
Ulawun stratovolcano situated on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea (from Pacific Ocean)
Made in 1529, the Diogo Ribeiro map was the first to show the Pacific at about its proper size (from Pacific Ocean)
Air pollution in South Asia spread over the Bay of Bengal and beyond. (from Indian Ocean)
Malé's population has increased from 20,000 people in 1987 to more than 220,000 people in 2020. (from Indian Ocean)
The International Hydrographic Organization's delineation of the "Southern Ocean" has moved steadily southwards since the original 1928 edition of its Limits of Oceans and Seas. (from Southern Ocean)
Thule archaeological site (from Arctic Ocean)
Model of a Fijian drua, an example of an Austronesian vessel with a double-canoe (catamaran) hull and a crab claw sail (from Pacific Ocean)
Pacific Ocean currents have created 3 "islands" of debris. (from Pacific Ocean)
Madagascar's Elephant bird, Mauritius's Dodo bird and ostrich (from left to right) (from Indian Ocean)
Map showing the migration of the Austronesian peoples, the first seaborne human migration in history (c.3000-1500 BCE) (from Pacific Ocean)
Area inside the black line indicates the area constituting the Pacific Ocean prior to 2002; darker blue areas are its informal current borders following the recreation of the Southern Ocean and the reinclusion of marginal seas (from Southern Ocean)
Admiral von Bellingshausen (from Southern Ocean)
Upwelling in the Southern Ocean(from Southern Ocean)
Extent of the Indian Ocean according to International Hydrographic Organization (from Indian Ocean)
Path of the thermohaline circulation. Purple paths represent deep-water currents, while blue paths represent surface currents.
Map of the Pacific Ocean during European Exploration, circa 1754. (from Pacific Ocean)
Map of the Pacific Ocean during European Exploration, circa 1702–1707 (from Pacific Ocean)
Sea cover in the Arctic Ocean, showing the median, 2005 and 2007 coverage (from Arctic Ocean)
Bahama Banks (from Atlantic Ocean)
According to the Coastal hypothesis, modern humans spread from Africa along the northern rim of the Indian Ocean. (from Indian Ocean)
A general delineation of the Antarctic Convergence, sometimes used by scientists as the demarcation of the Southern Ocean (from Southern Ocean)
James Weddell's second expedition in 1823, depicting the brig Jane and the cutter Beaufroy (from Southern Ocean)
Sargassum fish (Histrio histrio) (from Atlantic Ocean)
The Atlantic Gyres influenced the Portuguese discoveries and trading port routes, here shown in the India Run ("Carreira da Índia"), which would be developed in subsequent years. (from Atlantic Ocean)
An adult and sub-adult Minke whale are dragged aboard the Japanese whaling vessel Nisshin Maru (from Southern Ocean)
Famous official portrait of Captain James Cook who proved that waters encompassed the southern latitudes of the globe. "He holds his own chart of the Southern Ocean on the table and his right hand points to the east coast of Australia on it." (from Southern Ocean)
The Austronesian maritime trade network was the first trade routes in the Indian Ocean. (from Indian Ocean)
Waves in the trade winds in the Atlantic Ocean—areas of converging winds that move along the same track as the prevailing wind—create instabilities in the atmosphere that may lead to the formation of hurricanes.
Decrease of old Arctic Sea ice 1982–2007 (from Arctic Ocean)
Map showing a large number of Spanish expeditions across the Pacific Ocean from the 16th to 18th centuries including the Manila galleon route between Acapulco and Manila, the first transpacific trade route in history. (from Pacific Ocean)
Mombasa Port on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast (from Indian Ocean)
Greco-Roman trade with ancient India according to the Periplus Maris Erythraei 1st century CE (from Indian Ocean)
Tropical wet and dry climate in San Andrés Island Caribbean, Colombia (from Atlantic Ocean)
Iceberg A22A in the South Atlantic Ocean (from Atlantic Ocean)
Minke whale (from Arctic Ocean)
As the Gulf Stream meanders across the North Atlantic from the North American east coast to Western Europe its temperature drops by 20 °C (36 °F).
Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars taking over Tahiti on 9 September 1842 (from Pacific Ocean)
Capture of Atlantic north-west cod in million tons (from Atlantic Ocean)
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are a keystone species of the food web. (from Southern Ocean)
Coral reefs of the Maldives (from Indian Ocean)
Approximate extent of the Sargasso Sea (from Atlantic Ocean)
Regions, island nations and territories of Oceania (from Pacific Ocean)
Sunset over the Pacific Ocean as seen from the International Space Station. tops of thunderclouds are also visible. (from Pacific Ocean)
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is the strongest current system in the world oceans, linking the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific basins. (from Southern Ocean)
The Aethiopian Ocean in a 1710 French map of Africa (from Atlantic Ocean)
Sunset in Monterey County, California, U.S. (from Pacific Ocean)
Cod fishery in Norway (from Atlantic Ocean)
Agulhas Bank (from Atlantic Ocean)
A wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) on South Georgia (from Southern Ocean)
1937 delineation (from Southern Ocean)
Major ocean trade routes in the world includes the northern Indian Ocean. (from Indian Ocean)
Maris Pacifici by Ortelius (1589). One of the first printed maps to show the Pacific Ocean (from Pacific Ocean)
Marine debris on a Hawaiian coast (from Pacific Ocean)
False color map of ocean depth in the Atlantic basin (from Atlantic Ocean)
"Terres Australes" (sic) label without any charted landmass (from Southern Ocean)
An unnamed Chagossian on Diego Garcia in 1971 shortly before the British expelled the islanders when the island became a U.S. military base. The man spoke a French-based creole language and his ancestors were most likely brought to the uninhabited island as slaves in the 19th century. (from Indian Ocean)
The Arctic Ocean, with borders as delineated by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), including Hudson Bay (some of which is south of 57°N latitude, off the map). (from Arctic Ocean)
Universalis Cosmographia, the Waldseemüller map dated 1507, from a time when the nature of the Americas was ambiguous, particularly North America, as a possible part of Asia, was the first map to show the Americas separating two distinct oceans. South America was generally considered a "new world" and shows the name "America" for the first time, after Amerigo Vespucci (from Pacific Ocean)
The bathyscaphe Trieste, before her record dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 23 January 1960 (from Pacific Ocean)
Banks of the North-West Atlantic (from Atlantic Ocean)
Embarked and disembarked slaves in the Atlantic slave trade 1525–1863 (first and last slave voyages) (from Atlantic Ocean)
Ring of Fire. The Pacific is ringed by many volcanoes and oceanic trenches. (from Pacific Ocean)
Location of the Southern Ocean gyres. (from Southern Ocean)
1911 South Polar Regions exploration map (from Southern Ocean)
The Antarctic Ocean, as delineated by the draft 4th edition of the International Hydrographic Organization's Limits of Oceans and Seas (2002) (from Southern Ocean)
Three polar bears approach USS Honolulu near the North Pole. (from Arctic Ocean)
Distribution of the major water mass in the Arctic Ocean. The section sketches the different water masses along a vertical section from Bering Strait over the geographic North Pole to Fram Strait. As the stratification is stable, deeper water masses are denser than the layers above. (from Arctic Ocean)
Aldabra giant tortoise from the islands of the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles (from Indian Ocean)
Continents and islands of the Southern Ocean (from Southern Ocean)
Fish of the Notothenioidei suborder, such as this young icefish, are mostly restricted to the Antarctic and Subantarctic (from Southern Ocean)
Tarawa Atoll in the Republic of Kiribati (from Pacific Ocean)
Excavation of the Ertebølle middens in 1880 (from Atlantic Ocean)
1928 delineation (from Southern Ocean)
Manganese nodule (from Southern Ocean)
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In the news
- 17 March 2022 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Panama's maritime authority states that Russia has attacked three Panamanian-flagged civil vessels in the Black Sea since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, causing one of the ships to sink. No deaths have been reported. (Reuters)
- 13 March 2022 – 2021–22 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season
- Around 12 people in Mozambique are dead after Tropical Cyclone Gombe struck the Nampula and Zambezia provinces. (Phys.org)
- 11 March 2022 – Asteroid impact prediction
- 2022 EB5, a small 0.8-2 meter asteroid discovered by the Konkoly Observatory, explodes in a harmless fireball over the Arctic Ocean south of Jan Mayen at 21:22 UTC. This is the smallest asteroid to be discovered before impact. (Minor Planet Mailing List)
- 7 March 2022 –
- One person dies and seven crew members are rescued after a fishing trawler capsizes in the North Sea while travelling to Norway, according to the Norwegian Coast Guard. (BBC News)
- 5 March 2022 – 2021–2022 North Korean missile tests
- North Korea tests a ballistic missile in the Sea of Japan four days before the upcoming South Korean election. This is the ninth test conducted by North Korea this year. (CNBC)
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Topics
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Admiralty law
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| Features |
| Contract of carriage/Charterparty |
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| International conventions |
| International organisations |
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External media
- World Ocean Database and World Ocean Atlas Series – from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Includes the World Ocean Atlas.
- European Atlas of the Seas – the European Atlas of the Seas, from the European Commission
- NOAA Research – NOAA research news, Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)
- Ocean Research – from The World Ocean Observatory
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System – "a global open-access data and information clearing-house on marine biodiversity for science, conservation and sustainable development"
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