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Introduction
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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. In other words, an ocean 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...)
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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. The sea moderates Earth's climate and has important roles in the water cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle. Humans harnessing and studying the sea have been recorded since ancient times, and evidenced well into prehistory, while its modern scientific study is called oceanography. The most abundant solid dissolved in seawater is sodium chloride. The water also contains salts of magnesium, calcium, potassium, and mercury, amongst many other elements, some in minute concentrations. Salinity varies widely, being lower near the surface and the mouths of large rivers and higher in the depths of the ocean; however, the relative proportions of dissolved salts vary little across the oceans. (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...)
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Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of the sea or ocean, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. Marine organisms, mostly microorganisms, produce oxygen and sequester carbon. Marine life in part shape and protect shorelines, and some marine organisms even help create new land (e.g. coral building reefs). Most life forms evolved initially in marine habitats. By volume, oceans provide about 90% of the living space on the planet. The earliest vertebrates appeared in the form of fish, which live exclusively in water. Some of these evolved into amphibians, which spend portions of their lives in water and portions on land. One group of amphibians evolved into reptiles and mammals and a few subsets of each returned to the ocean as sea snakes, sea turtles, seals, manatees, and whales. Plant forms such as kelp and other algae grow in the water and are the basis for some underwater ecosystems. Plankton forms the general foundation of the ocean food chain, particularly phytoplankton which are key primary producers.
Marine invertebrates exhibit a wide range of modifications to survive in poorly oxygenated waters, including breathing tubes as in mollusc siphons. Fish have gills instead of lungs, although some species of fish, such as the lungfish, have both. Marine mammals ( e.g. dolphins, whales, otters, and seals) need to surface periodically to breathe air. (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
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In the news
- 26 May 2022 – Yemeni Civil War
- Five people are killed and more than 50 others are injured after an explosive device detonates at a fish market in Aden, Yemen. (Reuters)
- 20 May 2022 – South China Sea dispute
- The Philippines says that it has established coast guard outposts on three Filipino-controlled islands of the Spratlys in the South China Sea. (AP)
- 15 May 2022 – Russo-Ukrainian War
- Russia launches missile strikes from the Black Sea on "military infrastructure" in Yavoriv Raion, Lviv Oblast, located near Ukraine's western border with Poland. The target was "completely destroyed", according to the region's governor Maksym Kozytskyy. (Reuters)
- 4 May 2022 – 2021–2022 North Korean missile tests
- South Korea and the Japan Coast Guard both accuse North Korea of firing a ballistic missile from Sunan-guyok into the Sea of Japan. (France 24)
- 26 April 2022 – European migrant crisis
- A person is killed and 24 are missing after a migrant vessel crashes off the coast of Spain's Canary Islands. (AP)
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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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