The Blue World

Blog#8

The Blue World

Ocean and Sea

Abstract

According to Scientists and Geologists, the three fourth part of the surface of the earth is covered with water. The water bodies which cover the earth are of various types; like ponds, lakes, rivers, basins, gulfs, straits, bays, seas and oceans. We are familiar with the above given water body examples; either in our daily life or while surfing over Internet, but the Oceans and Seas are special and huge enough, such that they can balance the climate, environment, life on earth along with the movement of the earth and responsible for the existence of our mother planet to be, as it is today.

We have generally divided the huge water bodies outside our countries in two parts: Ocean and Sea.

 

Introduction

Oceans

Most of the part on the surface of our mother earth is covered by water. For our convenience of study, we have divided these water surfaced areas in different locations and named them “Oceans”, each of which contains huge mass of salt water and covers most of the region of the land.

Oceans are enormous areas filled with water. They cover two thirds of the total Earth’s surface. There are five oceans in total, which form a gigantic water body and hence the sea level is always at an equal level. These gigantic water bodies support the giant ecosystem of thousands of creatures that depend on water to survive. Scientists divide these oceans into five zones, where different types of animals live in different zones.

The different zones of the oceans are:

1.     Light zone (0-200 meters)

The top 200 meters of ocean water is called light zone. After ten meters, almost all the red part of the white light is absorbed by the water, and thus many creatures appear dull in color. In this zone, tiny plants grow (which are invisible to naked eyes, but can be seen with microscope) known as phytoplankton. Phytoplankton begins a food web which supports almost all ocean life. The phytoplankton is eaten by microscopic animals, which are known as zooplanktons and some bigger animals too. Some animals swim to the deeper zones to escape from predators.

 

2.     Twilight zone (200-1000 meters)

From the depth of 200 to 1000 meters lies the twilight zone. Enough light reaches to the zone to see and seen by other animals. In this zone, might sperm whales plunge, which can dive to a depth of 1000 meters and even can hold their breaths for 90 minutes. The deepest known dive of any sperm whale was of 3000 meters, with a speed of four meters a second to reach there.

 Giant squids are found in the twilight zone. The giant squids are known as the monsters of the deep. They can grow to length of 15 meters, in which their tentacles are also 12 meters long. The diameter of the eyeballs of giant squid can measure up to 40 centimeters. The size of a giant squid may be bigger than an African Elephant.  

 

3.     Dark zone (1000-4000 meters)

The dark zone lies between the depths of 1000 to 4000 meters, where absolutely no light can penetrate. Far from the sun rays, this zone is intensively cold, with bone crushing pressure from the colossal weight of water above. Billions of particles fall down heading to the seabed, which is known as Marine Snow. This Snow is made from droppings of animals, dead plants and animals from above. Small flakes collect together to form large and heavy flakes and move towards seabed at a speed of 200 meters a day. The fierce looking fang tooth fish have enormous teeth, but they are only 15 centimeters in length, and these fishes are not as scary as they sound to be. Greenland sharks can grow up to a length of 6 meters, but since they live beneath the Arctic Ice, they rarely come closer to seashore but pose a little threat to the human. 

 

4.     Abyssal zone (4000-6000 meters)

Down to the Dark zone is the Abyssal zone or abyss, which has depth between 4000 to 6000 meters. The place where the continental slope ends, there stretches the sea floor into a giant plain. About one third of the seabed is in abyss. The creature, sea cucumber, also known as sea pigs are sausage like animals of the abyss. These are enjoyed as a delicious delicacy in some parts of the world.

  

5.     Hadal zone (6000- 10000 meters or extreme point)

 

The oceans plunge to depths in a few places, called as trench. This zone is called as the hadal zone, named after a Greek word ‘hades’, which means ‘unseen’. The deepest trench in the world is the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, plunging to depth of 11,034 meters. Scientists know very little about the animals that live in the hadal zone. The deepest living fish is believed to be the fish belonging to the family called Abyssobrotula. One fish, Abyssobrotula galatheae was captured in 1970 at a depth of 8370 meters by explorers in the Puerto Rico Trench. Scientists tried to bring the fish to the surface, but the fish did not survive the journey.   

 

The ocean is one of the most remarkable habitats. The ocean water is constantly moving and changing. Creatures living in the deep oceans need to cope in the oceans without light, and weighing many tons of water above them. The ocean water heats up slowly and cools down slowly. This is the reason that it can hold temperature about 4000 times better than air can do.

 

Sea

Seas are also large water bodies with high amount of the salt water. Sometimes people correlate and interchangeably use the terms Ocean and Sea but there is huge and clear difference between the two.

Sea can be defined as a part of ocean partially surrounded by land.

Difference between Ocean and Sea:

Sea are comparatively smaller in size, exits at the places near the oceans meet the land. Sea are also often enclosed or surrounded by the Lands. The span of seas is much less than that of the oceans.

 

Geographic division and Location of

the Oceans and Seas

 

According to the above said definition, there are

five oceans in the world:

1.     Pacific Ocean

 The Pacific Ocean is the largest and the deepest of the earth’s five oceanic divisions, which lies between the Antarctic region in the south to that of the Arctic region in the north. The continents which are covering the ocean are Asia and Australia in the west and that in the east are North America and South America.

Island: Tahiti, Easter Islands, Bora Bora, Islands of Hawaii, Sakhalin, Guadalcanal, Tinian, Kritimati, Solomon Islands, Tokalau, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, Pitcairn, Guam and all countries in the region of Oceania.

Average depth: 4,280 Meters

Area: 165.2 Million Square Km

                       Coordinates: 0-degree North 160-degree West

Water Volume: 710 Million Cubic Kilometer

 

2.     Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean lies between North America and South America on the west and Europe and Africa on the east. On north and south, we have Arctic Ocean and Southern Ocean respectively. Atlantic Ocean is the second largest ocean in the world.

Island: Ireland, Tenerife, Inaccessible Island, Madeira Island, South Georgia Island, Fuerteventura, Long Island, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, Assateague Island, Santiago, Ascention Island, Sao Miguel Island, La Palma, Martha’s Vineyard, Isla Margarita, Robben Island, Boa Vista, El Hierro, Sal, Bouvet Island, Greenland, Devil’s Island, Terceira Island, Malo, Long Beach Island, Sable Island, Santa Antao, Faial Island, Sao Vicente, Pico Island, Rockall, Corvo Island, Gough Island, Parrot Cay, Graciosa, Sao Jorge, Isla de los Estados, Hestur, Flores Island, Vagar, Fogo, Saunders Island, Kalsoy, Santa Maria Island, Sao Nicolao, Disko Island, Nightingale Island, Sea Lion Island, Mykines.    

Average depth: 3,646 meters

Area: 85.13 million square kilometers 

Coordinates: 0 degree North 25 degree West

Water Volume: 310,410,900 cubic kilometers

 

3.     Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean is the third largest ocean in the world, after Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The ocean lies between Asia on north, including the country after whom it is named, i.e. India. On the east are Indonesia and Australia; and that on the west is Africa. In south, it extends till Antarctica.

Island: Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Reunion, Seychelles, Mauritius.

Average depth: 3741 meters

Area: 70.6 million square kilometers

Coordinates: 20 degree South 80 degree East

Water Volume: 264 million cubic kilometers

 

4.     Southern Ocean

Southern Ocean lies from the coast of Antarctica and is extended till sixty degrees’ south latitude in the north from all sides. The Southern Ocean is the fourth largest Ocean in the world. Since the 1980s, the climate of this area has been rapidly changing, which brought change in the marine ecosystem.

Island: South Georgia Island, D’Urville Island, Coronation Island, King George Island, Bouvet Island, Elephant Island, Livingston, Ross Island, Sturge Island, Thurston, Joinville Island, Anvers Island, Brabant, Adelaide, Mill Island, Jacobs Island, Ile Amsterdam, Macquarie Island, Ile Saint-Paul, Auckland Islands, Scott Island, Campbell Island, Clarence Island, Peter I Island, Signy Island, Young Island, Drygalski, Booth Island, Bridgeman Island, Nansen Island.

Average depth: 3,270 meters

Area: 20.3 million square kilometers

Coordinates: 68-degree South 160-degree West

Water Volume: 71.8 million cubic kilometers

 

5.     Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean is almost centered at the North Pole within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic Ocean has been the smallest and shallowest of the five oceans in the world. It includes the North Pole region in the Northern Hemisphere

Island: Wiese Island, Hall Island, Oodaaq, Storoya, Semyonovsky Island, Vaygach Island, Stolbovoy Island, Belkovsky Island, Novaya Sibir, Kongsoya.

Average depth: 1,038 meters

Area: 14.1 million square kilometers

Coordinates: 65-degree North 60 degree West

Water Volume: 18.07 million cubic kilometers

 

Seas

Sea is a portion of the ocean that is partially surrounded by land.

According to the above said definition, there are 50 main seas in the world.

Asia:

1.     South China Sea

                             Area: 3.5 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

                           Neighboring countries: Brunei, China, Indonesia,                                     Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam

2.     Sea of Japan (East Sea)

                             Area: 978,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

Neighboring countries: Japan, Sakhalin Islands, North Korea, South Korea, Russia 

3.     East China Sea

                             Area: 770,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

Neighboring countries: South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China

4.     Bering Sea

                             Area: 2 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Russia, Alaska

5.       Yellow Sea

                             Area: 380,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

Neighboring countries: China, North Korea, South Korea

6.     Philippine Sea

                             Area: 5.695 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

Neighboring countries: Philippine, Caroline, Mariana, Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Bonin, Japanese Islands

7.     Sulu Sea

                             Area: 260,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Borneo, Philippines

8.     Celebes Sea

                             Area: 280,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

Neighboring countries: Sulu Archipelago, Sulu Sea, Philippines

 

9.     Arabian Sea

                             Area: 3.862 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Indian Ocean

Neighboring countries: India, Pakistan, Iran, Oman, Yemen, Maldives

10.Caspian Sea

                             Area: 371,000 square kilometers

Neighboring countries: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Caspian Sea is an inland sea.

11.Andaman Sea

                             Area: 797,700 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Indian Ocean

Neighboring countries: Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

12.Kara Sea

                             Area: 926,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Arctic Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Siberia

13.Java Sea

                             Area: 320,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Indian Ocean

Neighboring countries: Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi

14.Laptev Sea

                             Area: 662,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Arctic Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Russia

15.East Siberian Sea

                             Area: 987,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Arctic Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Russia

16.Levantine Sea

                             Area: 320,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Atlantic Ocean

Neighboring countries: Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Aegean Sea

17.Bohol Sea

                             Area: 4117.3 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Indian Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Philippines Archipelago

18.Bohai Sea

                             Area: 78,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: China

 

Europe

1.     Mediterranean Sea

                             Area: 2.5 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Atlantic Ocean

Neighboring countries: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey

2.     Black Sea

                             Area: 422,000 square kilometers

Ocean: Atlantic Ocean (Part of the Mediterranean Sea)

Neighboring countries: Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, turkey, Bulgaria, Romania

3.     Baltic Sea

                             Area: 377,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Arctic Ocean

Neighboring countries: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany

4.       North Sea

                             Area: 575,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Arctic Ocean

Neighboring countries: Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France

5.       Adriatic Sea

                             Area: 1,386,000 square kilometers

Ocean: Atlantic Ocean (Part of the Mediterranean Sea)

Neighboring countries: Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Italy

6.       Barents Sea

                             Area: 1.4 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Arctic Ocean

Neighboring countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia

7.     Ionian Sea

                             Area: 169,000 square kilometers

Ocean: Atlantic Ocean (Part of the Mediterranean Sea)

                             Neighboring countries: Albania, Greece, Sicily, Italy

8.     Aegean Sea

                             Area: 214,000 square kilometers

Ocean: Atlantic Ocean (Part of the Mediterranean Sea)

Neighboring countries: Greece, Turkey, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria

9.     Celtic Sea

                             Area: 300,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Atlantic Ocean

Neighboring countries: Ireland, Wales, England, France

10.Tyrrhenian Sea

                             Area: 275,000 square kilometers

Ocean: Atlantic Ocean (Part of the Mediterranean Sea)

                             Neighboring countries: Italy, France

11.Norwegian Sea

                             Area: 1.383 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Arctic Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Norway, Iceland, Denmark

12.Greenland Sea

                            Area: 1.205 million square kilometers

                            Ocean: Arctic Ocean

                            Neighboring countries: Iceland

13.Irish Sea

                             Area: 46,007 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Atlantic Ocean

Neighboring countries: Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland

14.Sea of Azov

                             Area: 39,000 square kilometers

Ocean: Atlantic Ocean (Part of the Mediterranean Sea)

                             Neighboring countries: Russia, Ukraine

15.White Sea

                             Area: 90,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Arctic Ocean        

Neighboring countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russia

 

Africa

1.     Red Sea

                             Area: 438,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Indian Ocean

Neighboring countries: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti

 

Australia

1.     Coral Sea

                             Area: 4.791 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

Neighboring countries: Papua New Guinea, Tasman, Pacific Island Chains of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia

2.     Tasman Sea

                             Area: 2.3 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

Neighboring countries: Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania

3.     Arafura Sea

                             Area: 650,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Indian Ocean

Neighboring countries: Australia, Timor Leste, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea

4.     Solomon Sea

                             Area: 720,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Pacific Ocean

Neighboring countries: New Guinea, New Britain, Solomon Islands

5.     Timor Sea

                             Area: 610,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Indian Ocean

Neighboring countries: Timor Leste, Indonesia, Arafura, Australia

 

South America

1.     Argentine Sea

                              Area: 1 million square kilometers

                              Ocean: Atlantic Ocean

                            Neighboring countries: Argentina, Uruguay, Falkland                               Islands

 

North America

1.     Caribbean Sea

                              Area: 2.754 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Atlantic Ocean

Neighboring countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, United States, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama

2.     Sargasso Sea

                             Area: 4 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Atlantic Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Bermuda

3.     Beaufort Sea

                             Area: 476,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Arctic Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Canada, Alaska

4.     Chukchi Sea

                             Area: 620,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Arctic Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Russia, Alaska

5.     Labrador Sea

                             Area: 841,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Atlantic Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Canada, Greenland

 

Antarctica

1.     Weddell Sea

                             Area: 2.8 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Southern Ocean

Neighboring countries: Antarctica, British and Argentine Territories

2.     Ross Sea

                             Area: 1.55 million square kilometers

                             Ocean: Southern Ocean

Neighboring countries: Mary Bryd Land, Victoria Land in Antarctica

3.     Bellingshausen Sea

                             Area: 487,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Southern Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Antarctica

4.     Amundsen Sea

                             Area: 695,000 square kilometers

                             Ocean: Southern Ocean

                             Neighboring countries: Antarctica

 

Conclusion:

              The study of Oceans and seas are crucial for the life on earth because as per the scientific evidences, the life has been evolved from the water itself and then inhabited onto the land. Every faculty of science do research work on the oceans and blue life like Environmentalists, Mineralogists, Biologists, Naturologists, defense strategists etc. The number of lives/creatures living under water is much more than that on the land. We can predict and know flow of wind and weather, behavioral changes of forests, rivers along with evolution of life and many more things on the basis of the data received from the study of blue world.

              In the political world also the importance of the ocean is tremendous as we are dependent on it for our high volume business through sea routes and economic activities. Countries also make blue strategy which helps them to expand their geopolitical influence and military power.

  

Total Words: 2700 approx.

Sources of Data:

Wikipedia

Other course materials

Static Times websites

Google and other websites

School Atlas