World Ocean

Animated map exhibiting the world's oceanic waters. A continuous body of water encircling Earth, the World Ocean is divided into a number of principal areas with relatively uninhibited interchange among them. Five oceanic divisions are usually defined: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern; the last two listed are sometimes consolidated into the first three.

Earth's oceans
Arctic Atlantic Indian Pacific Southern
World Ocean

The World Ocean or global ocean (colloquially the sea or the ocean) is the interconnected system of Earth's oceanic waters, and comprises the bulk of the hydrosphere, covering almost 72% of Earth's surface, with a total volume of 1.332 billion cubic kilometers (351 quintillion US gallons).^[1]

Organization

The unity and continuity of the World Ocean, with relatively free interchange among its parts, is of fundamental importance to oceanography.^[2] It is divided into a number of principal oceanic areas that are delimited by the continents and various oceanographic features: these divisions are the Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean (sometimes considered a sea of the Atlantic), Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Southern Ocean (often considered instead as just the southern portions of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans). In turn, oceanic waters are interspersed by many smaller seas, gulfs, and bays.

A global ocean has existed in one form or another on Earth for eons, and the notion dates back to classical antiquity in the form of Oceanus. The contemporary concept of the World Ocean was coined in the early 20th century by the Russian oceanographer Yuly Shokalsky to refer to the continuous ocean that covers and encircles most of Earth.^[3]

If viewed from the southern pole of Earth, the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans can be seen as lobes extending northward from the Southern Ocean. Farther north, the Atlantic opens into the Arctic Ocean, which is connected to the Pacific by the Bering Strait, forming a continuous expanse of water.

• The Pacific Ocean, the largest of the oceans, also reaches northward from the Southern Ocean to the Arctic Ocean. It spans the gap between Australia and Asia, and the Americas. The Pacific Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean south of South America at Cape Horn.
• The Atlantic Ocean, the second largest, extends from the Southern Ocean between the Americas, and Africa and Europe, to the Arctic Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean south of Africa at Cape Agulhas.
• The Indian Ocean, the third largest, extends northward from the Southern Ocean to India, between Africa and Australia. The Indian Ocean joins the Pacific Ocean to the east, near Australia.
• The Arctic Ocean is the smallest of the five. It joins the Atlantic Ocean near Greenland and Iceland and joins the Pacific Ocean at the Bering Strait. It overlies the North Pole, touching North America in the Western Hemisphere and Scandinavia and Siberia in the Eastern Hemisphere. The Arctic Ocean is partially covered in sea ice, the extent of which varies according to the season.
• The Southern Ocean is a proposed ocean surrounding Antarctica, dominated by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, generally the ocean south of sixty degrees south latitude. The Southern Ocean is partially covered in sea ice, the extent of which varies according to the season. The Southern Ocean is the second smallest of the five named oceans.

Plate tectonics, post-glacial rebound and sea level rise continually change the coastline and structure of the world ocean.

See also

• Geological history of Earth
• Ocean
• Oceanus
• Origin of water on Earth
• Plate tectonics
• Sea
• Seven Seas
• Superocean
• World Ocean Atlas

References

Further reading

• Chekin, L. 2002. "The world ocean in medieval cartography". Moscow: S. I. Vavilov Institute of the History of Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences; thesis for Museum of the World Ocean congress.
• "Ocean". The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2003. New York: Columbia University Press; also,
• Danabasoglu, Gokhan ; McWilliams, James C.; & Gent, Peter R. 1994. "The role of mesoscale tracer transports in the global ocean circulation". Science: vol. 264. (no. 5162), pp. 1123–1126.
• Levitus, Sydney; Antonov, John I.; Boyer, Timothy P.; and Stephens, Cathy. 2000. "Warming of the world ocean": abstract, article. Science: vol. 287. (no. 5461), pp. 2225–2229.
• Spilhaus, Athelstan F. 1942. "Maps of the whole world ocean." Geographical Review: vol. 32 (no. 3), pp. 431–5.
• UN Atlas of the Oceans:
  • "Distribution of land and water on the planet", "Origins of the oceans and continents"

External links

• Global Ocean Commission
• Pew Charitable Global Ocean Legacy

Regions of the world
Africa	Mediterranean Northern  Gibraltar Arc Maghreb (Barbary Coast) Barbara (region) Atlas Mountains Sahara Sahel Egypt (Upper Egypt, Middle Egypt, Lower Egypt, Bashmur) Nubia (Lower Nubia) Nile Valley Nile Delta Middle East Sub-Saharan Western East East African Rift: Great Rift Valley, Western or Albertine Rift Valley, Eastern or Gregory Rift Valley, Southern Rift Valley, Rift Valley Lakes (Great Lakes) Central Mittelafrika Southern Horn Ethiopian Highlands (Roof of Africa) Sudan (region) Guinea region Rhodesia (region) (Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia) Negroland Mayombe Igboland (Mbaise) Maputaland Congo Basin Chad Basin Swahili coast Pepper Coast Gold Coast Slave Coast Ivory Coast Tropical Africa Islands Madagascar Anglophone Africa Francophone Africa Lusophone Africa Arabophone Africa
North America	Contiguous United States Northern Pacific Northwest Northeastern United States New England Midwest Mid-Atlantic Western United States Southwest Llano Estacado Mountain States South Central United States Southern United States East Coast West Coast Gulf Coast Bible Belt Rust Belt Appalachia Great Plains Great Lakes Eastern Canada Western Canada Canadian Prairies Northern Canada Atlantic Canada North Mexico Gulf of Mexico West Indies Caribbean (Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, Lucayan Archipelago Western Caribbean Zone Central Isthmus of Panama Mosquito Coast Middle Mesoamerica Aridoamerica Oasisamerica Anglo French Latin (Hispanic) American Cordillera Ring of Fire
South America	Southern Northern (Guianan states) West South America (Andean States) West Indies Patagonia Pampas Pantanal Amazon Amazonia Altiplano Andes Brazilian Highlands Caribbean South America Gran Chaco Llanos Atacama Desert Cerrado Latin (Hispanic) American Cordillera Ring of Fire
Asia	Central Aral Sea Aralkum Desert Caspian Sea Dead Sea Sea of Galilee Transoxiana (Turan) Greater Khorasan Ariana Khwarezm Sistan Kazakhstania Far East Russian Far East Extreme North Eurasian Steppe Pontic–Caspian steppe Wild Fields Yedisan Muravsky Trail Ural (region) Volga region Idel-Ural Kolyma Transbaikal Pryazovia Bjarmaland Kuban Zalesye Ingria Novorossiya Gornaya Shoriya Tulgas Siberia Eastern  Northeastern Inner Asia Manchuria Outer Manchuria Tibet Guanzhong Huizhou (region) Wu (region) Ordos Loop Yangtze River Delta Northern Southern Southeastern Mainland (Indochina) Maritime (Malay Archipelago) East Indies (Greater India) Indian subcontinent Himalayas Mahabharata Range Hindu Kush Ganges Basin Ganges Delta Balochistan Rajputana Punjab (region) Thar Desert Indus Valley Indus River Delta Indo-Gangetic Plain Eastern Coastal Plains Western Coastal Plains Hindi Belt Doab Great Rann of Kutch Little Rann of Kutch Deccan plateau Coromandel Coast Konkan Lakshadweep Andaman and Nicobar Islands Maldive Islands Western Red Sea Middle East (Near East) Arabian Peninsula Persian Gulf Pirate Coast Najd Hejaz Tihamah Eastern Arabia Southern Arabia Hadhramaut Mediterranean Sea Eastern Mediterranean Zagros Mountains Tigris–Euphrates river system Mesopotamia (Upper Mesopotamia, Lower Mesopotamia, Sawad) Canaan Aram (Biblical region) Levant (Mashriq) Southern Levant Levantine Sea Gaza Strip West Bank Galilee Gilead Judea Samaria Arabah Transjordan Jordan Rift Valley Sinai Peninsula Caucasus Transcaucasia Arabian Desert Syrian Desert Fertile Crescent Syria (region) (Greater Syria) Palestine (region) Anatolia (Asia Minor) Cilicia Cappadocia Asia-Pacific Tropical Asia Ring of Fire
Europe	Central Mitteleuropa Danubian countries Prussia (region) Lithuania Minor Northern Nordic Northwestern Scandinavia Scandinavian Peninsula Fennoscandian Peninsula Sápmi Eastern Baltic Crimea Donbass Sloboda Ukraine Southeastern Balkans (Balkan Peninsula) North Caucasus Kabardia Southern Russia European Russia Middle East Southern Italian Peninsula Insular Italy Iberia Gibraltar Arc Southeastern Mediterranean Western Alpine countries Benelux Low Countries Northwestern British Isles Channel Islands Germanic Romance Celtic Slavic countries Eurasian Steppe Pontic–Caspian steppe Wild Fields Pannonian Basin Volhynia Karelia (East Karelia, Karelia (historical province of Finland))
Oceania	Australasia Australia Capital Country Eastern Australia/East Coast of Australia (Eastern Seaboard) Lake Eyre basin Murray–Darling basin Northern Australia Nullarbor Plain Outback Southern Australia Sunraysia Great Victoria Desert New Guinea Zealandia Pacific Islands Micronesia Melanesia Polynesia
Polar	Antarctic Arctic
Oceans	World (Sea) Arctic Atlantic Indian Pacific Great Barrier Reef Mariana Trench Ring of Fire Southern Convergence List of seas
Continents of the world / List of seas / Physical Earth