Water covers greater than 70% of the Earth’s surface. The blue color of oceans and large water bodies is the reason, why our planet looks blue from the space and has a name the “Blue Planet”.
Oceans and Seas
By the way, 96.5% of the planet’s water supplies lie in seas and oceans. And only 2.5% of it is freshwater, which, in fact, is mostly contained in ice covers. While there are many large bodies of water all over the planet earth, there are only five big oceans.
5 Oceans
They are (in order of size):
Deepest Ocean Points
- Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean 35,827 ft
- Puerto Rico Trench, Atlantic Ocean 30,246 ft
- Java Trench, Indian Ocean 24,460 ft
- South Sandwich Trench, Southern Ocean, 23,737 ft
- Arctic Basin, Arctic Ocean 18,456 ft
Islands
List of Seas
A sea is defined as any large body of water with “Sea” in the name. Seas are a part of an ocean that is usually enclosed by islands, archipelagos, or peninsulas, and other landforms.
There are too many gulfs, bays, fjord, sound, and cove that are named and defined by political boundaries rather than separation in water bodies. Therefore, to keep our list short, consistent, and to the point, we will only list the seas that have an independent existence in its own right (from travel perspective).
Atlantic Ocean (Americas)
- Labrador Sea
- Gulf of Maine (includes Massachusetts and Fundy Bays)
- Gulf of Mexico
- Caribbean Sea
- Argentine Sea
Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania
- Norwegian Sea
- North Sea
- Baltic Sea
- English Channel (separates England from France and the busiest shipping route in the world)
- Irish Sea
- Celtic Sea
- Bay of Biscay
- Mediterranean Sea
- Tyrrhenian Sea
- Marmara Sea
- Black Sea
- Sea of Azov
- Irminger Sea
- Denmark Strait (separates Greenland from Iceland)
- Irish Sea (separates Ireland from Great Britain)
Arctic Ocean
- Chukchi Sea
- East Siberian Sea
- Laptev Sea
- Kara Sea
- Barents Sea
- Queen Victoria Sea
- Wandel Sea
- Greenland Sea
- The Northwest Passages (a sea route to the Pacific Ocean through the Arctic Ocean)
- Beaufort Sea
Southern Ocean
- Amundsen Sea
- Bellingshausen Sea
- Cooperation Sea
- Cosmonauts Sea
- Davis Sea
- D’Urville Sea
- Drake Passage
- King Haakon VII Sea
- Lazarev Sea
- Mawson Sea
- Riiser-Larsen Sea
- Ross Sea
- Scotia Sea
- Somov Sea
- Weddell Sea
Indian Ocean
- Andaman Sea
- Arabian Sea
- Bay of Bengal
- Laccadive Sea
- Red Sea
- Timor Sea
Pacific Ocean
Americas
- Bering Sea
- Chilean Sea
- Sea of Chiloe
- Salish Sea
Asia and Oceania
- Arafura Sea
- Bali Sea
- Banda Sea
- Bismarck Sea
- Bohai Sea
- Bohol Sea (Mindanao Sea)
- Camotes Sea
- Celebes Sea
- Ceram Sea
- Coral Sea
- East China Sea
- Flores Sea
- Halmahera Sea
- Java Sea
- Koro Sea
- Molucca Sea
- Philippine Sea
- Savu Sea
- Sea of Japan
- Sea of Okhotsk
- Seto Inland Sea
- Sibuyan Sea
- Solomon Sea
- South China Sea
- Sulu Sea
- Tasman Sea
- Visayan Sea
- Yellow Sea
Planet Earth
- Total Surface Area of Earth (510,066,000 sq km)
- Land Area on Earth (148,647,000 sq km)
- Ocean Area (335,258,000 sq km)
- Total Water Area (361,419,000 sq km)
- Type of Water (97% salt water and 3% freshwater)
Impact on Human Life
Water is vital for all forms of life. It also plays an important role in the world economy. Water supplies are used for agriculture, fishing (in both salt and freshwater), and long-distance travel or recreation via boats, yachts, large cruise ships and for oil and product transportations via large tankers and transport ships.
It is also a central substance for many sports, such as swimming, boating, boat racing, surfing, and diving.
Water usually becomes the reason of political conflicts as well. Not all people on Earth have free access to safe water even nowadays. However, in 2006, the United Nations issued a report, which stated that there is enough water for everyone, but access to it is affected by mismanagement and corruption.
The organizations concerned with water protection include WaterAid, the International Water Association, the American Water Resources Association and Water 1st. They all undertake projects, which aim to use effective water management, to reduce poverty.
August 22, 2016 12:00 am Leave your thoughts
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