Portal:Oceans
The Oceans Portal
A portal dedicated to oceans, seas, oceanography and related topics
Selected panorama
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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 surfer in the Pacific Ocean at the 2010 Mavericks competition, village of Princeton-by-the-Sea, northern California
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Introduction
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| Earth's ocean |
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Main five oceans division: Further subdivision: Marginal seas |
The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as oceans (in descending order by area: the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Antarctic/Southern Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean), and are themselves mostly divided into seas, gulfs and subsequent bodies of water. The ocean contains 97% of Earth's water and is the primary component of Earth's hydrosphere, acting as a huge reservoir of heat for Earth's energy budget, as well as for its carbon cycle and water cycle, forming the basis for climate and weather patterns worldwide. The ocean is essential to life on Earth, harbouring most of Earth's animals and protist life. It originated photosynthesis and therefore Earth's atmospheric oxygen, and still supplies half of it. (Full article...)
A sea is a very large body of salty water. The term has two distinct meanings. The first is the interconnected body of seawater that spans most of Earth, known as the sea or the ocean. The second is a named body of water: usually either a marginal sea (a second-order section of the oceanic sea such as the Mediterranean Sea), or a large, nearly landlocked body of water. (Full article...)
Oceanography (from Ancient Greek ὠκεανός (ōkeanós) 'ocean' and γραφή (graphḗ) 'writing'), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. (Full article...)
Selected article -
The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some 215,000 km2 (83,000 sq mi). In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn connects to the Black Sea, by the straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, respectively. The Aegean Islands are located within the sea and some bound it on its southern periphery, including Crete and Rhodes. The sea reaches a maximum depth of 2,639 m (8,658 ft) to the west of Karpathos. The Thracian Sea and the Sea of Crete are main subdivisions of the Aegean Sea.
The Aegean Islands can be divided into several island groups, including the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, the Sporades, the Saronic islands and the North Aegean Islands, as well as Crete and its surrounding islands. The Dodecanese, located to the southeast, includes the islands of Rhodes, Kos, and Patmos; the islands of Delos and Naxos are within the Cyclades to the south of the sea. Lesbos is part of the North Aegean Islands. Euboea, the second-largest island in Greece, is located in the Aegean, despite being administered as part of Central Greece. Nine out of twelve of the Administrative regions of Greece border the sea, along with the Turkish provinces of Edirne, Çanakkale, Balıkesir, İzmir, Aydın and Muğla to the east of the sea. Various Turkish islands in the sea are Imbros, Tenedos, Cunda Island, and the Foça Islands. (Full article...)
Interesting facts -
- Captain James Young's capture of a Spanish frigate in 1799 (illustrated) brought each of his seamen the equivalent of ten years' pay in prize money.
- Observations and samplings from Jasper Seamount show that it is very similar to Hawaiian volcanoes.
- The snail species Oxygyrus keraudrenii shows an evolutionary reduction of the gastropod shell for living in open sea.
Selected list articles and Marine habitat topics
| Marine habitats |
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| Coastal habitats |
| Ocean surface |
| 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 -
The following are images from various ocean-related articles on Wikipedia.
The 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)![Image 2"Terres Australes" [sic] label without any charted landmass (from Southern Ocean)](//thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Geography_world_map.jpeg/120px-Geography_world_map.jpeg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=parser&utm_content=thumbnail)
"Terres Australes" [sic] label without any charted landmass (from Southern Ocean)
Banks of the northeast Atlantic (from Atlantic 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 three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands: Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia (from Pacific Ocean)
The Kennedy Channel. (from Arctic Ocean)
The International Hydrographic Organization's delineation of the "Southern Ocean" has moved steadily southward since the original 1928 edition of its Limits of Oceans and Seas. (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)
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).
1911 South Polar Regions exploration map (from Southern Ocean)
Banks of the northwest Atlantic (from Atlantic Ocean)
1928 delineation (from Southern Ocean)
Location of the Southern Ocean gyres (from Southern Ocean)
Capture of Atlantic northwest cod in million tons (from Atlantic Ocean)
Greco-Roman trade with ancient India according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea 1st century CE (from Indian Ocean)
Continents and islands of the Southern Ocean (from Southern Ocean)
MS Explorer in Antarctica in January 1999. She sank on 23 November 2007 after hitting an iceberg. (from Southern Ocean)
James Weddell's second expedition in 1823, depicting the brig Jane and the cutter Beaufroy (from Southern Ocean)
According to the Coastal hypothesis, modern humans spread from Africa along the northern rim of the Indian Ocean. (from Indian Ocean)
Marine debris strewn over the beaches of the South Atlantic Inaccessible Island (from Atlantic Ocean)
Madagascar's elephant bird, Mauritius's dodo bird and ostrich (from left to right) (from Indian Ocean)
Bahama Banks (from Atlantic Ocean)
A 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)
Mombasa Port on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast (from Indian 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)
Malé's population has increased from 20,000 people in 1987 to more than 220,000 people in 2020. (from Indian Ocean)
Map of the Pacific Ocean during European Exploration, circa 1702–1707 (from Pacific 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)
False color map of ocean depth in the Atlantic basin (from Atlantic Ocean)
The island geography of the Pacific Ocean Basin (from Pacific Ocean)
Maris Pacifici by Ortelius (1589). One of the first printed maps to show the Pacific Ocean (from Pacific Ocean)
Universalis Cosmographia, also known as the 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)
During summer, warm continental masses draw moist air from the Indian Ocean, producing heavy rainfall. The process is reversed during winter, resulting in dry conditions. (from Indian Ocean)
For most of the 16th century, the Portuguese dominated the Indian Ocean trade. (from Indian Ocean)
The British invasion of Isle de France on 29 November 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars (from Indian Ocean)
A general delineation of the Antarctic Convergence, sometimes used by scientists as the demarcation of the Southern Ocean (from Southern Ocean)
The bathyscaphe Trieste before her record dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 23 January 1960 (from Pacific Ocean)
Emanuel Bowen's 1780s map of the Arctic features a "Northern Ocean". (from Arctic Ocean)
Upwelling in the Southern Ocean(from Southern Ocean)
![Image 2"Terres Australes" [sic] label without any charted landmass (from Southern Ocean)](https://mpnr.duckdns.org/en/embed/https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3AGeography_world_map.jpeg)
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Related portals
In the news
- 4 October 2026 –
- The United States Coast Guard suspends the search for the Latitude Air Ambulance Gulfstream G100 aircraft that went missing yesterday with six passengers on board after finding a debris field in the ocean south of Nantucket, Massachussetts. All six passengers, including four Canadian pilots and crew and two Bermudian passengers, are presumed dead. (CBC) (Winnipeg City News)
- 3 October 2026 –
- A Latitude Air Ambulance Gulfstream G100, flying from St. David's Island, Bermuda, to Boston, United States, goes missing over the Atlantic Ocean with six people on board, including four Canadian crew and two Bermudian passengers. (News 18)
- 2 October 2026 – Yemeni civil war
- Red Sea crisis
- 2 October 2026 –
- The United States National Park Service confirms that the Hōlei Sea Arch, located on Hawaii's Big Island, has collapsed into the Pacific Ocean. (The Guardian)
- 2 October 2026 – China–Japan relations
- 2025–2026 China–Japan diplomatic crisis, East China Sea EEZ disputes
WikiProjects
Topics
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Categories
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Oceans
Seas
Oceanography
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
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Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
Admiralty law
| Admiralty and maritime law |
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| History |
| Features |
| Contract of carriage / charterparty |
| Parties |
| Judiciaries |
| International organizations |
| International conventions |
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| International Codes |
Need assistance?
Do you have a question about oceans, seas or oceanography that you can't find the answer to? Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.
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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