Portal:Oceans


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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...)

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...)

Bathymetry of the Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico (Spanish: Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southwest and south by the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo; and on the southeast by Cuba. The coastal areas along the Southern U.S. states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, which border the Gulf on the north, are occasionally referred to as the "Third Coast" of the United States (in addition to its Atlantic and Pacific coasts), but more often as "the Gulf Coast".

The Gulf of Mexico took shape about 300 million years ago (mya) as a result of plate tectonics. The Gulf of Mexico basin is roughly oval and is about 810 nautical miles (1,500 kilometers; 930 miles) wide. Its floor consists of sedimentary rocks and recent sediments. It is connected to part of the Atlantic Ocean through the Straits of Florida between the U.S. and Cuba, and with the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatán Channel between Mexico and Cuba. Because of its narrow connection to the Atlantic Ocean, the gulf has very small tidal ranges. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various ocean-related articles on Wikipedia.
11 June 2025 – Mediterranean Sea migrant smuggling
At least eight migrants are found dead and 22 others are missing as the United Nations International Organization for Migration and the Djiboutian government launch a joint rescue operation after migrants were forced off a boat and forced to swim to shore off the coast of Djibouti. (AP)
8 June 2025 – 2025 San Diego Cessna 414 crash
All six occupants are killed after a Cessna 414 crashed into the ocean off the coast of Point Loma after takeoff from San Diego International Airport in San Diego, California, United States. (CBS News)
5 June 2025 – Mediterranean Sea migrant smuggling, Sudanese refugee crisis
The Freedom Flotilla, a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid en route to Gaza with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, Irish actor Liam Cunningham, and French European Parliament member Rima Hassan, rescue four Sudanese civil war refugees from a dinghy near Libya. (The Times of Israel) (The Print)
28 May 2025 – Red Sea crisis
Israel says it launched airstrikes against targets in Houthi-controlled Yemen, destroying the last operational plane of Yemenia Airlines at Sanaa International Airport. (Reuters)
16 May 2025 – Red Sea crisis
The Israeli Air Force launches airstrikes on the ports of Hudaydah and Salif in Houthi-controlled Yemen, as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defense minister Israel Katz warn that if the Houthis persist in attacking Israel, their leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi will be directly targeted. (Al Arabiya)
  • WikiProject Oceans
  • WikiProject Limnology and Oceanography
  • WikiProject Marine life
  • WikiProject Cetaceans
  • WikiProject Fishes
  • WikiProject Sharks

Related WikiProjects
  • WikiProject Arthropods
  • WikiProject Fisheries and Fishing
  • WikiProject Lakes
  • WikiProject Rivers

More topics
Select [►] to view subcategories Oceans
Oceans
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Seas
Oceans surrounding Antarctica
Arctic Ocean
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Seas
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Oceanography
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