All Topics  
World Ocean

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

World Ocean
 
 
  Topics World Ocean Topic Home

The World Ocean, world ocean, or global ocean is the interconnected system of the Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
's ocean
Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
ic (or marine
Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology....
) water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
s, and comprises the bulk of the hydrosphere
Hydrosphere

A hydrosphere in physical geography describes the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet....
.

The unity and continuity of the World Ocean, with relatively free interchange among its parts, is of fundamental importance to oceanography
Oceanography

Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean. It covers a wide range of topics, including marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor; and fluxes of various chemi...
. Customarily, it is divided into a number of principal oceanic areas that are delimited by the continent
Continent

A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents ? they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia ....
s and various oceanographic features: these divisions are the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
, Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic North Pole region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions....
 (sometimes considered a sea
SEA

See also: Sea and seasThe three-letter acronym SEA may refer to:People/organizations/businesses*Scientists and Engineers for America, a pro-science political advocacy group....
 of the Atlantic), Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
, Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
, and Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean, also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the South Polar Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean south of 60th parallel south latitude....
 (sometimes reckoned instead as just the southern portions of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans).






Discussion
Ask a question about 'World Ocean'
Start a new discussion about 'World Ocean'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The World Ocean, world ocean, or global ocean is the interconnected system of the Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
's ocean
Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
ic (or marine
Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology....
) water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
s, and comprises the bulk of the hydrosphere
Hydrosphere

A hydrosphere in physical geography describes the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet....
.

The unity and continuity of the World Ocean, with relatively free interchange among its parts, is of fundamental importance to oceanography
Oceanography

Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean. It covers a wide range of topics, including marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor; and fluxes of various chemi...
. Customarily, it is divided into a number of principal oceanic areas that are delimited by the continent
Continent

A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents ? they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia ....
s and various oceanographic features: these divisions are the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
, Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic North Pole region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions....
 (sometimes considered a sea
SEA

See also: Sea and seasThe three-letter acronym SEA may refer to:People/organizations/businesses*Scientists and Engineers for America, a pro-science political advocacy group....
 of the Atlantic), Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
, Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
, and Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean, also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the South Polar Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean south of 60th parallel south latitude....
 (sometimes reckoned instead as just the southern portions of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans). In turn, oceanic waters are interspersed by many smaller seas and other bodies of water.

A global ocean has existed in one form or another on Earth for eons, and the notion dates back to classical antiquity
Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome....
 (in the form of Oceanus
Oceanus

Oceanus was believed to be the World Ocean in classical antiquity, which the Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece considered to be an enormous river encircling the world....
). The contemporary concept of the World Ocean was coined by the Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
n oceanographer
Oceanography

Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean. It covers a wide range of topics, including marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor; and fluxes of various chemi...
 Yuly Shokalsky
Yuly Shokalsky

Yuly Mikhailovich Shokalsky was a Russian oceanographer, cartographer, and geographer.A grandson of Anna Petrovna Kern, Pushkin's celebrated mistress, Shokalsky graduated from the Naval Academy in 1880 and made a career in the Imperial Russian Navy, helping establish the Sevastopol Marine Observatory and rising to the rank of Lieutenant-...
 in the early 20th century to describe what is basically a solitary, continuous ocean that covers and encircles most of the Earth.

While continuous, the World Ocean can be visualized as being centered on the Southern Ocean. The Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans can be seen as bays or lobes extending northward from the Southern Ocean. Further north, the Atlantic opens into the Arctic Ocean, which is connected to the Pacific by the Bering Strait
Bering Strait

The Bering Strait is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65? 40' north, slightly south of the polar circle....
:

  • The Southern Ocean is the ocean surrounding Antarctica
    Antarctica

    Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
    , dominated by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current
    Antarctic Circumpolar Current

    The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is an ocean current that flows from west to east around Antarctica. An alternate name for the ACC is the West Wind Drift....
    , generally the ocean south of sixty degrees south latitude. The Southern Ocean is partially covered in sea ice
    Sea ice

    Sea ice is formed from ocean water that freezes. Because the oceans consist of saltwater, this occurs at about -1.8 ?Celsius .Sea ice may be contrasted with icebergs, which are chunks of ice shelf or glaciers that calve into the ocean....
    , the extent of which varies according to the season. The Southern Ocean is the second smallest of the five named oceans.
  • The Atlantic Ocean, the second largest, extends from the Southern Ocean between South America
    South America

    South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
    , Africa
    Africa

    Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
    , North America
    North America

    North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
     and Europe
    Europe

    Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
    , to the Arctic Ocean. The Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean south of Africa at Cape Agulhas
    Cape Agulhas

    Cape Agulhas is the geographic extreme points of Africa of the African continent, commonly thought to be the Cape of Good Hope, and according to popular mythology is the dividing point between the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean oceans....
    .
  • The Indian Ocean extends northward from the Southern Ocean to India
    India

    India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
    , between Africa and Australia
    Australia

    Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
    . The Indian Ocean joins the Pacific Ocean to the east, near Australia.
  • The Pacific Ocean, the largest of all, also reaches northward from the Southern Ocean to the Arctic Ocean. It spans the gap between Australia, Asia
    Asia

    Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
    , North America and Oceania
    Oceania

    Oceania is a geography, often geopolitics, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term "Oceania" was coined in 1831 by French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville....
    . The Pacific Ocean meets the Atlantic south of South America at Cape Horn
    Cape Horn

    Cape Horn island is the southernmost Headlands and bays of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile.Cape Horn is widely considered to be the most southerly point of South America, and marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage; for many years it was a major milestone on the clipper route, by which sailing ships carried tr...
    .
  • The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the five. It joins the Atlantic near Greenland
    Greenland

    Greenland is a member country of the Kingdom of Denmark located between the Arctic Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago....
     and Iceland
    Iceland

    Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland , is an island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean between mainland Europe and Greenland....
    , and joins the Pacific at the Bering Strait
    Bering Strait

    The Bering Strait is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65? 40' north, slightly south of the polar circle....
    . It overlies the North Pole
    North Pole

    The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets the Earth's surface....
    , touching North America in the Western hemisphere
    Western Hemisphere

    The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geography term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian , the other half being the Eastern Hemisphere....
     and Scandinavia
    Scandinavia

    Scandinavia is a historical and geographical subregion in northern Europe that includes the Scandinavian Peninsula. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; some authorities also include Finland and some might even include Iceland....
     and Asia in the Eastern hemisphere
    Eastern Hemisphere

    The Eastern Hemisphere, also Eastern hemisphere or eastern hemisphere, is a geography term for the half of the Earth that is east of the Prime Meridian and west of 180? longitude....
    . The Arctic Ocean is partially covered in sea ice, the extent of which varies according to the season. Some authorities do not consider the Arctic Ocean a bona fide ocean, because it is largely surrounded by land with only limited exchange of water with the other oceans. Consequently, it is considered by some to be a sea
    SEA

    See also: Sea and seasThe three-letter acronym SEA may refer to:People/organizations/businesses*Scientists and Engineers for America, a pro-science political advocacy group....
     of the Atlantic, referred to as the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or Arctic Sea.


The approximate shape of the World Ocean can for most purposes be treated as constant, although in fact it is not: continental drift
Continental drift

Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other. The hypothesis that continents 'drift' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and was fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912....
 continually changes its structure.

See also

  • Sea
    SEA

    See also: Sea and seasThe three-letter acronym SEA may refer to:People/organizations/businesses*Scientists and Engineers for America, a pro-science political advocacy group....
  • Plate tectonics
    Plate tectonics

    Plate tectonics describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere. The theory encompasses the older concepts of continental drift, developed during the first decades of the 20th century by Alfred Wegener, and seafloor spreading, understood during the 1960s....
  • Superocean
    Superocean

    A superocean is an ocean which surrounds a supercontinent. It is less commonly defined as any ocean larger than the current Pacific Ocean. Named global superoceans include Mirovia, which surrounded the supercontinent Rodinia, and Panthalassa, which surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea....
  • World Ocean Atlas
    World Ocean Atlas

    The World Ocean Atlas is a data product of the Ocean Climate Laboratory of the National Oceanographic Data Center . The WOA consists of a climatology of Field of in situ#Earth and atmospheric sciences ocean properties for the World Ocean....
  • Seven Seas
    Seven Seas

    The phrase "Seven Seas" can refer either to a particular set of seven seas or to a great expanse of water in general. Different time periods have used different definitions of the phrase "Seven Seas"....
  • Origin of water on Earth
    Origin of water on Earth

    The question of the origin of water on Earth, or more accurately put, the question of why there is clearly more water on the Earth than on the other planets of the Solar System, has not been clarified....