Portal:Oceans


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Introduction

Surface view of the Atlantic Ocean

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 (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic/Southern, and 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, originating photosynthesis and therefore Earth's atmospheric oxygen, still supplying half of it. (Full article...)

Waves in Pacifica, California

A sea is a large body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. Particular seas are either marginal seas, second-order sections of the oceanic sea (e.g. the Mediterranean Sea), or certain large, nearly landlocked bodies 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...)

This marker indicating sea level is situated between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.

Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datum – a standardised geodetic datum – that is used, for example, as a chart datum in cartography and marine navigation, or, in aviation, as the standard sea level at which atmospheric pressure is measured to calibrate altitude and, consequently, aircraft flight levels. A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is instead a long-term average of tide gauge readings at a particular reference location.

The term above sea level generally refers to the height above mean sea level (AMSL). The term APSL means above present sea level, comparing sea levels in the past with the level today. (Full article...)

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Interesting facts - show different entries

  • Clover grass used to grow in the Pacific Ocean, but has not been seen there since a severe storm in 1996.

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The following are images from various ocean-related articles on Wikipedia.

In the news

18 April 2025 – Red Sea crisis
US–UK airstrikes on Yemen
March–April 2025 United States attacks in Yemen
The Houthis say that American airstrikes targeted the Ras Isa port in Yemen, killing 74 people and wounding 171 others. This marks the single-deadliest known attack under President Donald Trump’s new campaign targeting the Houthis. (AP)
17 April 2025 – Red Sea crisis
March–April 2025 United States attacks in Yemen
The United States Navy launches a wave of missile strikes across Houthi-controlled Yemen, killing at least one person in Sanaa. (AP)

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Seas


Oceanography

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Admiralty law

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