The Oceans Portal
A portal dedicated to oceans, seas, oceanography and related topics
Selected panorama
– Hover over image and scroll to middle for controls to see more selected panorama images –
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
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpeg){kind=small}
Introduction
   |
| Earth's ocean |
|---|
|
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, harboring 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 -
Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural, and residential waste; particles; noise or light; excess carbon dioxide; or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there. The majority of this waste (80%) comes from land-based activity, although marine transportation significantly contributes as well. It is a combination of chemicals and trash, most of which comes from land sources and is washed or blown into the ocean. This pollution results in damage to the environment, to the health of all organisms, and to economic structures worldwide. Since most inputs come from land, via rivers, sewage, or the atmosphere, it means that continental shelves are more vulnerable to pollution. Air pollution is also a contributing factor, as it carries iron, carbonic acid, nitrogen, silicon, sulfur, pesticides, and dust particles into the ocean. The pollution often comes from nonpoint sources such as agricultural runoff, wind-blown debris, and dust. These nonpoint sources are largely due to runoff that enters the ocean through rivers, but wind-blown debris and dust can also play a role, as these pollutants can settle into waterways and oceans. Pathways of pollution include direct discharge, land runoff, ship pollution, bilge pollution, dredging (which can create dredge plumes), atmospheric pollution and, potentially, deep sea mining.
Different types of marine pollution can be grouped as pollution from marine debris, plastic pollution, including microplastics, ocean acidification, nutrient pollution, toxins, and underwater noise. Plastic pollution in the ocean is a type of marine pollution by plastics, ranging in size from large original materials such as bottles and bags, down to microplastics formed from the fragmentation of plastic materials. Marine debris is mainly discarded human rubbish that floats on or is suspended in the ocean. Plastic pollution is harmful to marine life. (Full article...)
Interesting facts -
- The sea snail Halystina umberlee (pictured) was named after the homonymous fictional evil goddess from the Forgotten Realms role-playing game setting.
- The Guanacaste Conservation Area, located in Northwest Costa Rica, is a 163,000-hectare (400,000-acre) expanse of protected land and sea.
- The pea crab Tunicotheres moseri lives inside the water-filled chamber of a sea squirt.
Selected list articles and Marine habitat topics
| Marine habitats |
|---|
| 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
 |
Here are some tasks awaiting attention:
|
General images -
The following are images from various ocean-related articles on Wikipedia.
Cod fishery in Norway (from Atlantic Ocean)
Coral reefs of the Maldives (from Indian Ocean)
Admiral von Bellingshausen (from Southern Ocean)
For most of the 16th century, the Portuguese dominated the Indian Ocean trade. (from Indian Ocean)
Area inside the black line indicates the area constituting the Pacific Ocean prior to 2002; darker blue areas are its informal current borders following the recreation of the Southern Ocean and the reinclusion of marginal seas. (from Southern Ocean)
The three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands: Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia (from Pacific Ocean)
Bahama Banks (from Atlantic Ocean)
The 1564 Typus Orbis Terrarum, a map by Abraham Ortelius, showed the imagined link between the proposed continent of Antarctica and South America. (from Southern Ocean)
False color map of ocean depth in the Atlantic basin (from Atlantic Ocean)
Banks of the northeast Atlantic (from Atlantic Ocean)
Calanus hyperboreus (from Arctic Ocean)
Upwelling in the Southern Ocean(from Southern Ocean)
Pacific Ocean currents have created three islands of debris. (from Pacific Ocean)
An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) map of the Pacific (from Pacific Ocean)
Sunset over the Pacific Ocean as seen from the International Space Station. Tops of thunderclouds are also visible. (from Pacific Ocean)
In 2020, Japanese Prime Minister Suga declined to drink the bottle of Fukushima's treated radioactive water that he was holding, which would otherwise be discharged to the Pacific. (from Pacific Ocean)
Capture of Atlantic northwest cod in million tons (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)
Severe cracks in an ice pier in use for four seasons at McMurdo Station slowed cargo operations in 1983 and proved a safety hazard. (from Southern Ocean)
A general delineation of the Antarctic Convergence, sometimes used by scientists as the demarcation of the Southern Ocean (from Southern Ocean)
Air pollution in the Indian subcontinent spread over the Bay of Bengal and beyond. (from Indian Ocean)
The bathyscaphe Trieste before her record dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 23 January 1960 (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)
Embarked and disembarked slaves in the Atlantic slave trade 1525–1863 (first and last slave voyages) (from Atlantic Ocean)
On the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean temporary logistic stations may be installed. Here, a Twin Otter is refueled on the pack ice at 86°N, 76°43'W. on April 16, 1990 during a flight to the North Pole (from Arctic Ocean)
James Weddell's second expedition in 1823, depicting the brig Jane and the cutter Beaufroy (from Southern Ocean)![Image 32"Terres Australes" [sic] label without any charted landmass (from Southern Ocean)](https://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)
Greco-Roman trade with ancient India according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea 1st century CE (from Indian Ocean)
A Ring of Fire; the Pacific is ringed by many volcanoes and oceanic trenches. This map does not show the Cascadia subduction zone along part of the west coast of North America, whose trench is completely buried in sediments. (from Pacific Ocean)
Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) are the most southerly of Antarctic mammals. (from Southern Ocean)
In the subpolar gyre of the North Atlantic warm subtropical waters are transformed into colder subpolar and polar waters. In the Labrador Sea this water flows back to the subtropical gyre. (from Atlantic Ocean)
Madagascar's elephant bird, Mauritius's dodo bird and ostrich (from left to right) (from Indian Ocean)
According to the Coastal hypothesis, modern humans spread from Africa along the northern rim of the Indian Ocean. (from Indian Ocean)
Seas that are parts of the Southern Ocean (from Southern Ocean)
Iceberg A22A in the South Atlantic Ocean (from Atlantic Ocean)
Banks of the northwest Atlantic (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).
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)
Marine debris strewn over the beaches of the South Atlantic Inaccessible Island (from Atlantic Ocean)
Manganese nodule (from Southern 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)
USS Vincennes at Disappointment Bay, Antarctica in early 1840 (from Southern Ocean)
Thule archaeological site (from Arctic Ocean)
.jpg)
.jpeg)
![Image 32"Terres Australes" [sic] label without any charted landmass (from Southern Ocean)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Geography_world_map.jpeg)
.jpg)
Related portals
In the news
- 21 October 2026 –
- The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) of the United Kingdom approves production from the Jackdaw gas field after energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh authorized the NSTA to grant consent, allowing operator Adura to begin supplying gas by late October. (UPI)
- 19 October 2026 – Mediterranean Sea migrant smuggling
- Twelve migrants, including an infant, are killed when two separate speedboats capsize off the coast of the Lesbos and Samos islands in Greece. (AP)
- 18 October 2026 – Free trade agreements of Vietnam
- Vietnam signs a free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) that reduces or eliminates tariffs on industrial, agricultural, and fish products and covers services, intellectual property, and sustainable development. (AFP)
- 13 October 2026 – Russo-Ukrainian war
- Two merchant ships are hit by unknown drones off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, with one sinking. Eleven crew members are missing and 20 in total are rescued. Bulgarian prime minister Rumen Radev has blamed Russia and summoned its ambassador. It is the second such attack in six days. (Reuters)
- 13 October 2026 –
- Indonesian authorities release 20 protected green sea turtles back into the oceans off Bali after they were seized from an empty boat abandoned by wildlife smugglers last week. (AP)
WikiProjects
Topics
Ocean currents and gyres | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Currents |
| ||||||||||
| Gyres |
| ||||||||||
| Related | |||||||||||
| Present |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Former | ||
More topics
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg){kind=small}
Categories
Select [►] to view subcategories
Oceans
Seas
Oceanography
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
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 |
|---|
 |
| History |
| Features |
| Contract of carriage / charterparty |
| Parties |
| Judiciaries |
| International organizations |
| International conventions |
|
| 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"
Discover Wikipedia using portals
