Portal:Oceans
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Introduction
Earth's ocean |
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Main five oceans division: Further subdivision: Marginal seas |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Clouds_over_the_Atlantic_Ocean.jpg/220px-Clouds_over_the_Atlantic_Ocean.jpg)
The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approx. 70.8% of Earth. In English, the term ocean also refers to any of the large bodies of water into which the world ocean is conventionally divided. The following names describe five different areas of the ocean: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic/Southern, and Arctic. The ocean contains 97% of Earth's water and is the primary component of Earth's hydrosphere; thus the ocean is essential to life on Earth. The ocean influences climate and weather patterns, the carbon cycle, and the water cycle by acting as a huge heat reservoir. (Full article...)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Waves_in_pacifica_1.jpg/220px-Waves_in_pacifica_1.jpg)
A sea is a large body of salty water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the wider body of seawater.
Selected article -
List of selected articles
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Interesting facts -
- The coral Madracis auretenra has been used to study the likely effects of ocean acidification on corals.
- The bow of the tanker but not the stern.
- Flashes of light emitted by the sea snail Hinea brasiliana may act as a "burglar alarm".
Selected list articles and Marine habitat topics
Marine habitats |
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Coastal habitats |
Ocean surface |
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Open ocean |
Sea floor |
- 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 -
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Coral reefs of the Maldives (from Indian Ocean)
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On the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean temporary logistic stations may be installed, Here, aTwin Otter is refueled on the pack ice at 86°N, 76°43‘W. (from Arctic Ocean)
- Decrease of old Arctic Sea ice 1982–2007 (from
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Typhoon Tip at global peak intensity on 12 October 1979 (from Pacific Ocean)
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Cod fishery in Norway (from Atlantic Ocean)
- Regional Working Group zones for SOOS (from
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- According to the Coastal hypothesis, modern humans spread from Africa along the northern rim of the Indian Ocean. (from
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International Hydrographic Organization's Limits of Oceans and Seas (2002) (from Southern Ocean)The Antarctic Ocean, as delineated by the draft 4th edition of the
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Chagossian on Diego Garcia in 1971, before the British expelled the islanders. He spoke a French-based creole language and his ancestors were likely brought as slaves in the 19th century. (from Indian Ocean)A
- The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is the strongest current system in the world oceans, linking the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific basins. (from
- Frank Hurley: As time wore on it became more and more evident that the ship was doomed (
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Austronesian maritime trade network was the first trade routes in the Indian Ocean. (from Indian Ocean)The
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"Southern Ocean" as alternative to theAethiopian Ocean, 18th century (from Southern Ocean)
- USS Vincennes at Disappointment Bay, Antarctica in early 1840 (from
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Mombasa Port on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast (from Indian Ocean)
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Japanese 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. (from Pacific Ocean)In 2020,
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ASouth Georgia (from Southern Ocean)
- 1911 South Polar Regions exploration map (from
- Map of the Pacific Ocean during European Exploration, circa 1702–1707 (from
- An adult and sub-adult
- Sea cover in the Arctic Ocean, showing the median, 2005 and 2007 coverage (from
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Andaman Negritos are thought to be the first inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, having emigrated from the mainland tens of thousands of years ago. (from Indian Ocean)The
- The island geography of the Pacific Ocean Basin (from
- A map of Australia's official interpretation of the names and limits of oceans and seas around Australia (from
- Seas that are parts of the Southern Ocean (from
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Malé's population has increased from 20,000 people in 1987 to more than 220,000 people in 2020. (from Indian Ocean)
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Trieste before her record dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 23 January 1960 (from Pacific Ocean)The bathyscaphe
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Indian Ocean trade. (from Indian Ocean)For most of the 16th century, the Portuguese dominated the
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GOES-18 spacecraft in September 2023 (from Pacific Ocean)The Pacific Ocean, photograph taken from space by the
- 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
- Walruses on Arctic ice floe (from
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MS Explorer in Antarctica in January 1999. She sank on 23 November 2007 after hitting an iceberg. (from Southern Ocean)
- Map of the Pacific Ocean during European Exploration, circa 1754. (from
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Upwelling in the Southern Ocean(from Southern Ocean)
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Portrait ofEdmund Halley by Godfrey Kneller (before 1721) (from Southern Ocean)
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Kennedy Channel. (from Arctic Ocean)The
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Greco-Roman trade with ancient India according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea 1st century CE (from Indian Ocean)
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A femalewarty squid (Moroteuthis ingens) (from Southern Ocean)
- Map showing the migration of the
- Capture of Atlantic northwest cod in million tons (from
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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)Famous official portrait of Captain
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Antarctic Convergence, sometimes used by scientists as the demarcation of the Southern Ocean (from Southern Ocean)A general delineation of the
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ocean trade routes in the world include the northern Indian Ocean. (from Indian Ocean)Major
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TheAethiopian Ocean depicted in a 1710 French map of Africa (from Atlantic Ocean)
- Sunset over the Pacific Ocean as seen from the
- 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
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The AtlanticPortuguese discoveries and trading port routes, here shown in the India Run ("Carreira da Índia"), which would be developed in subsequent years. (from Atlantic Ocean)
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USS Burton Island, USS Atka, and USS Glacier near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, 1965 (from Southern Ocean)An iceberg being pushed out of a shipping lane by (L to R)
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Marine debris strewn over the beaches of the South Atlantic Inaccessible Island (from Atlantic Ocean)
- 1928 delineation (from
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cutter Beaufroy (from Southern Ocean)
- Location of the Southern Ocean gyres (from
- 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
- Air pollution in South Asia spread over the Bay of Bengal and beyond. (from
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Typus Orbis Terrarum, a map by Abraham Ortelius, showed the imagined link between the proposed continent of Antarctica and South America. (from Southern Ocean)The 1564
- Three
- 1937 delineation (from
- Map showing the proposal presented by the thesis entitled "
- Banks of the northeast Atlantic (from
- Iceberg A22A in the South Atlantic Ocean (from
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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
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ACascadia Subduction Zone along part of the west coast of North America, whose trench is completely buried in sediments. (from Pacific Ocean)
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thermohaline circulation. Purple paths represent deep-water currents, while blue paths represent surface currents.Path of the
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copepod (from Arctic Ocean)A
- Continents and islands of the Southern Ocean (from
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Minke whale (from Arctic Ocean)
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Impact ofLa Niña on North America (from Pacific Ocean)
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Agulhas Bank (from Atlantic Ocean)
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False color map of ocean depth in the Atlantic basin (from Atlantic Ocean)
- Pacific Ocean currents have created three islands of debris. (from
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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)Distribution of the major
- 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
- Thule archaeological site (from
- Banks of the northwest Atlantic (from
- An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) map of the Pacific
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Atlantic slave trade 1525–1863 (first and last slave voyages) (from Atlantic Ocean)Embarked and disembarked slaves in the
- "Terres Australes" [sic] label without any charted landmass (from
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Ertebølle middens in 1880 (from Atlantic Ocean)Excavation of the
- The three major cultural areas of the
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International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), including Hudson Bay (some of which is south of 57°N latitude, off the map) and all other marginal seas. (from Arctic Ocean)The Arctic Ocean, with borders as delineated by the
- The Arctic region showing the
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Maris Pacifici by Ortelius (1589). One of the first printed maps to show the Pacific Ocean (from Pacific Ocean)
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Tarawa Atoll in Kiribati (from Pacific Ocean)
- Madagascar's
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Fijian drua, an example of an Austronesian vessel with a double-canoe (catamaran) hull and a crab claw sail (from Pacific Ocean)Model of a
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Waldseemüller map, dated 1507, was the first map to show the Americas separating two distinct oceans. South America was generally considered the New World and shows the name "America" for the first time, after Amerigo Vespucci (from Pacific Ocean)Universalis Cosmographia, also known as the
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ice pier in use for four seasons at McMurdo Station slowed cargo operations in 1983 and proved a safety hazard. (from Southern Ocean)Severe cracks in an
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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.Waves in the
- Manganese nodule (from
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Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) are the most southerly of Antarctic mammals. (from Southern Ocean)
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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).
- Map showing the proposal presented by the thesis entitled "
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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)The economically important
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Monterey County, California, U.S. (from Pacific Ocean)Sunset in
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Notothenioidei suborder, such as this young icefish, are mostly restricted to the Antarctic and Subantarctic. (from Southern Ocean)Fish of the
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Emanuel Bowen's 1780s map of the Arctic features a "Northern Ocean". (from Arctic Ocean)
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Based on the medievalGrœnlendinga saga, this interpretative map of the "Norse World" shows that Norse knowledge of the Americas and the Atlantic remained limited. (from Atlantic Ocean)
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Made in 1529, theDiogo Ribeiro map was the first to show the Pacific at about its proper size (from Pacific Ocean)
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Bahama Banks (from Atlantic Ocean)
- Admiral von Bellingshausen (from
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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)The
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