Sea

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This article is about the bodies of water. For other uses, see Sea (disambiguation)
The sea at La Jolla, California in the Gulf of Catalina

A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean.[1] It is also used sometimes to describe a large saline lake that lacks a natural outlet, such as the Caspian Sea.

Arctic (belonging to the Arctic Ocean) and Antarctic (Southern Ocean) seas, as well as some other seas freeze in winter. This occurs below the freezing point of pure water, at about -1.8 °C (28.8 °F). Frozen salt water becomes sea ice.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

Phoenician (yellow) and Greek (red) colonies in the Mediterranean in the 1st millennium BC
Main articles: History of navigation and Ancient maritime history

Humans navigated seas from antiquity. Ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians navigated the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Hannu was the first see explorer of whom there is any information. He sailed along the Red Sea and further to the Arabian Peninsula and the African Coast around 2750 BC.[3] In the 1st millennium BC, Phoenicians and Greeks established colonies all over the Mediterranean, including its outlets like the Black Sea. The seas along the eastern and the southern Asian coast were used by Arabs and Chinese for navigation, and the North Sea and the Baltic Sea were known to Europeans in Roman times. Other seas were not used for navigation in the antiquity and were actually discovered.

The White Sea was known to Novgorodians and used for navigation since not later that the 13th century.[4] Pomors, living at the White Sea coast, also sailed to Svalbard, but the Barents Sea got its name later, due to the 16th century Dutch expedition headed by Willem Barentsz. Other seas in Arctic Russia were explored in connection with the search of the Northern Sea Route. In the first half of the 17th century the Kara Sea was already used on a regular basis for navigation between the city of Arkhangelsk and the mouth of the Ob River and upstream to the city of Mangazeya (Mangazeya Trade Route) and to the mouth of the Yenisei River (Yenisey Trade Route).[5] In 1648, Semyon Dezhnev led an expedition down the Kolyma River, around the cape now known as Cape Dezhnev, and to the mouth of the Anadyr River.[6] By the end of the 17th century, the seas along what is now Arctic and Pacific coasts of Russia were already discovered, although the systematic description and reliable mapping of the coast line only started in the 18th century, and the geographical locations of all islands were only established in the first half of the 20th century, when aviation was employed.

[edit] List of seas

[edit] Atlantic Ocean

[edit] Mediterranean Sea

[edit] Baltic Sea

Archipelago Sea

[edit] Others

[edit] Arctic Ocean

Beaufort Sea

[edit] Southern Ocean

[edit] Indian Ocean

[edit] Pacific Ocean

[edit] Landlocked seas

Some large inland lakes, usually brackish, are called "seas".

[edit] List of seas by surface area

No. Name of the Water Body Surface area (sq.mi) Surface area (sq.km)
1 Philippine Sea 2,000,000 5,177,762
2 Coral Sea 1,850,000 4,791,000
3 Arabian Sea 1,491,130 3,862,000
4 South China Sea 1,351,936 3,500,000
5 Weddell Sea 1,081,548 2,800,000
6 Caribbean Sea 1,063,000 2,754,000
7 Mediterranean Sea 965,000 2,500,000
8 Tasman Sea 900,000 2,330,000
9 Bering Sea 873,000 2,260,100
10 Bay of Bengal 838,970 2,172,000
Rank Body of water Square miles (square kilometres)
1 Pacific Ocean 64,196,000 sq mi (166,270,000 km²)
2 Atlantic Ocean 33,400,000 sq mi (87,000,000 km²)
3 Indian Ocean 28,400,000 sq mi (74,000,000 km²)
4 Southern Ocean 20,327,000 sq mi (52,650,000 km²)
5 Arctic Ocean 5,100,000 sq mi (13,000,000 km²)
6 Arabian Sea 1,491,000 sq mi (3,860,000 km²)
7 South China Sea 1,148,000 sq mi (2,970,000 km²)
8 Caribbean Sea 971,000 sq mi (2,510,000 km²)
9 Mediterranean Sea 969,000 sq mi (2,510,000 km²)
10 Bering Sea 873,000 sq mi (2,260,000 km²)
11 Bay of Bengal 838,612 sq mi (2,172,000 km²)
12 Gulf of Mexico 582,000 sq mi (1,510,000 km²)
13 Sea of Okhotsk 537,000 sq mi (1,390,000 km²)
14 Sea of Japan 391,000 sq mi (1,010,000 km²)
15 Hudson Bay 282,000 sq mi (730,000 km²)
16 East China Sea 257,000 sq mi (670,000 km²)
17 Andaman Sea 218,100 sq mi (565,000 km²)
18 Red Sea 175,000 sq mi (450,000 km²)
19 Black Sea 168,500 sq mi (436,000 km²)
20 North Sea 165,000 sq mi (430,000 km²)
21 Baltic Sea 147,000 sq mi (380,000 km²)
22 Yellow Sea 113,500 sq mi (294,000 km²)
23 Persian Gulf 88,800 sq mi (230,000 km²)
24 Adriatic Sea 60,000 sq mi (160,000 km²)
25 Gulf of California 59,000 sq mi (150,000 km²)

Bodies of water which are missing from this table, and their approximate areas, include:

[edit] Nomenclature

  • The Sea of Galilee is a small freshwater lake with a natural outlet, which is called Lake Tiberias or Lake Kinneret on modern Israeli maps, but its original name remains in use.
  • The Sea of Cortés is more commonly known as the Gulf of California.
  • The Dead Sea is actually a lake, as is the Caspian Sea and the mainly dried up Aral Sea.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Sea - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". Merriam-webster.com. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sea. Retrieved 2012-03-13. 
  2. ^ "Sea ice (ice formation)". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. 2012 [last update]. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/939404/sea-ice. Retrieved 5 March 2012. 
  3. ^ "The Ancient World - Egypt". marinersmuseum.org. Mariners' Museum. 2012 [last update]. http://www.marinersmuseum.org/education/ancient-world-egypt. Retrieved 5 March 2012. 
  4. ^ "Зацепились за Моржовец" (in Russian). Русское географическое общество. 2012 [last update]. http://www.rgo.ru/2010/08/zacepilis-za-morzhovec/. Retrieved 5 March 2012. 
  5. ^ Урванцев, Н. Н. (1969). "История открытия и освоения медно-никелевых руд Сибирского Севера" (in Russian). Moscow: Недра. http://library.ikz.ru/hronologiya-osvoeniya-sibiri/Mangazeya. Retrieved 7 March 2012. 
  6. ^ Howgego, Ray (2001 [last update]). "Discoverers Web: Dezhnev". win.tue.nl. http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/dezhnev.html. Retrieved 7 March 2012. 
  7. ^ a b c often treated as part of Mediterranean Sea

[edit] External links

Look up sea in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Seas
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