List of seas

Marginal seas as defined by the International Maritime Organization

This is a list of seas - large divisions of the World Ocean, including areas of water variously, gulfs, bights, bays, and straits.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Terminology

There are several terms used for bulges of ocean that result from indentations of land, which overlap in definition:[10]

Many features could be considered to be more than one of these, and all of these terms are used in place names inconsistently; especially bays, gulfs, and bights which can be very large or very small. This list includes large areas of water no matter the term used in the name.

Marginal seas

Sources differ over which seas are considered marginal seas as well as which ocean a given sea is considered a marginal part of. There is no single ultimate authority on the matter.

Atlantic Ocean

Sometimes the Arctic Ocean itself is considered a marginal sea of the Atlantic,[11][12] in addition to the below.

Americas

(coast wise north to south)

Europe, Africa, and Asia

The Norwegian Sea
Aegean, Adriatic, Ionian, and Tyrrhenian seas

Northern islands

The Irish Sea

(east to west)

Arctic Ocean

(clockwise from 180°)

Southern Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Arabian Sea as a marginal sea of the Indian Ocean.

Pacific Ocean

Coral Sea

Defined by currents

Not included

Entities called "seas" which are not divisions of the Earth's World Ocean are not included in this list. Excluded are:

Other items not included:

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ There is no accepted technical definition of sea amongst oceanographers. A rather weak definition is that a sea is a sub-division of an ocean, which means that it must have oceanic basin crust on its floor. This definition for example accepts the Caspian, which was once part of an ancient ocean, as a sea.[1] The Introduction to Marine Biology defines a sea as a "land-locked" body of water, adding that the term "sea" is only one of convenience, but the book is written by marine biologists, not oceanographers.[2] The Glossary of Mapping Sciences similarly states that the boundaries between seas and other bodies of water are arbitrary.[3]
  2. ↑ According to this definition, the Caspian would be excluded as it is legally an "international lake".[9]
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Proposed names to the IHO 2002 draft. This draft was never approved by the IHO (or any other organization), and the 1953 IHO document (which does not contain these names which mostly originated from 1962 onward) remains currently in force.[14] Leading geographic authorities and atlases do not use these names, including the 2014 10th edition World Atlas from the National Geographic Society and the 2014 12th edition of the Times Atlas of the World. But Soviet and Russian-issued state maps do include them.[15][16]

References

  1. ↑ Conforti, B; Bravo, Luigi Ferrari (2005-12-30). "The Italian Yearbook of International Law 2004". ISBN 9789004150270.
  2. ↑ Karleskint, George; Turner, Richard L; Small, James W (2009-01-02). "Introduction to Marine Biology". ISBN 9780495561972.
  3. ↑ The Glossary of the Mapping Sciences - Google Books. Books.google.co.uk. 1994. ISBN 9780784475706. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
  4. ↑ American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (1994). Glossary of the mapping sciences. ASCE Publications. p. 469. ISBN 978-0-7844-0050-0. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  5. ↑ "What's the difference between an ocean and a sea?". Oceanservice.noaa.gov. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  6. ↑ Vukas, B (2004). "The Law of the Sea: Selected Writings". ISBN 9789004138636.
  7. ↑ Gupta, Manoj (2010). "Indian Ocean Region: Maritime Regimes for Regional Cooperation". ISBN 9781441959898.
  8. ↑ "Seven Seas - Discover The Seven Seas of the Earth". Geography.about.com. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
  9. ↑ Gokay, Bulent (2001-04-07). "The Politics of Caspian Oil". ISBN 9780333739730.
  10. ↑ "gulf - coastal feature".
  11. ↑ James C. F. Wang (1992). Handbook on ocean politics & law. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 14–. ISBN 9780313264344. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  12. ↑ Longhurt, Alan R. (2007). Ecological Geography of the Sea. Academic Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-12-455521-1. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  13. 1 2 3 often treated as part of Mediterranean Sea
  14. ↑ "Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd (currently in-force) edition" (PDF). International Hydrographic Organization. 1953. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  15. ↑
  16. ↑
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