How many oceans are there? The simple answer to this question is the following are the major oceans of the world. 1) Pacific Ocean 2) Atlantic Ocean 3) Indian Ocean 4) the Arctic Ocean 5) the Antarctic or the Southern Ocean. These five oceans are connected, are known as The Global Ocean. About 71% of the total surface of the earth is covered with an Ocean. It is almost three-quarters of the earth’s surface, and, as seen from outer space it seems a blue sphere due to the reflection from the oceans. It is known as The Blue Planet. The word Ocean comes from the Greek word Okeanos which means the Greek god of the Ocean.
Seven Seas and Five Oceans
The Seven Seas are North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern Oceans. Seven seas are denoted as local bodies of water or foreign bodies of water, and traffic routes, in history.
In early European books, Seven Seas referred to the North Sea, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Baltic, Black, Arabian, and Red seas.
In Greek literature, the Seven Seas were the Adriatic, Mediterranean, Black, Aegean, Caspian, and Red seas.
After North America’s discovery, the opinion about Seven Seas was the Arctic, the Atlantic, Pacific, the Indian, the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and the Gulf of Mexico.
But now, modern Seven Seas comprise of smallest to largest the Arctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans.
Geographically, Oceans are the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern or (Antarctic), and Arctic Oceans.
Five Oceans Of The World
The five oceans of the world are bound known as The Global Ocean or The Ocean. The depth of the oceans is small as compared to their area. These five oceans are;
1) The Pacific Ocean
- The Pacific was named, by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who found the Pacific very peaceful Pacifique represents peacefully French. In dissimilarity to its name, the isles of the peaceful oceans are frequently hit by storms and cyclones. The countries that connect the Pacific, continually experience volcanoes and quakes. Villages were diminished, by Tsunamis, the huge waves affected by an underwater earthquake.
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The Pacific Ocean is the largest and covers more than a third of the earth’s surface. It is extending from the North to the Southern Ocean in the south. It covers 179.7 million square kilometers, larger than all of the Earth’s land area combined.
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The Pacific is largest, towards the east at 5°N latitude where it enters the Columbian Coast from Indonesia, a distance of 19,800 km. Its distant western location is possible the Strait of Malacca. The deepest part of the Western Pacific Ocean is about 10,911 m (35,797 ft.) deep, known as the Mariana Trench. However, this is greater than the height of the highest mountain on land, Mount Everest.
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25000 Pacific islands are in the Pacific Ocean, which is more than any other ocean. These islands are found mostly in the south of the equator.
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Pacific contains the following largest Seas; the Coral Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea Tasman Sea, Japan Sea, and the Yellow Sea. The Indian Ocean connected with the Pacific by the Straits of Malacca in the west. While the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific are joined by the Straits of Magellan in the east.
- The Pacific Ocean is nowadays reducing due to plate tectonics, while the Atlantic Ocean is expanding by approximately an inch per year on three sides. Around average 0.2 square miles per year.
2) The Atlantic Ocean
- The Second largest ocean is the Atlantic Ocean. The name Atlantic is derived from the “Sea of Atlas” in Greek mythology. It covers approximately one-fifth of the entire global ocean, which is 106.4 million square kilometers with a coastline of 111,000 kilometers. It occupies, about 20% of the earth’s surface, about four times the size of both the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean has some of the world’s richest fishing resources, especially in the waters covering the surface.
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Puerto Rico Trench is the deepest area found in the Atlantic Ocean at 8,605 m or 28,232 ft. The Atlantic ocean’s width may vary from 2,848 km between Brazil and Liberia to a wide 4,830 km between the United States and northern Africa.
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The ocean’s topography can makeup by imagining a large S-shape gulf expanding from north to south. It is divided into North Atlantic and South Atlantic by counter waves at the equator about 8° N latitude. In the west, the slope’s direction is towards, North and South America. In the east, it is bound to the Pacific Ocean. In the north and south, to the Arctic Ocean. The 20° east, meridian splits the Atlantic from the Indian Ocean in the east. The Arctic Ocean is divided from the Atlantic by a line from Greenland to southernmost Svalbard to northern Norway. The lowest point is 4,665 m deep in the Fram Basin.
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Panama Canal now engages the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. Underwater mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge extends from Iceland in the north, to about 58° S latitude, serving very wide at about 1,600 km. Defects created valley extends along with a length of the Mid-Atlantic crest, and the depth of this crest is less than 2,700 m in many places with mountain ridges that appear to form islands above water. A smaller underwater crest in the south Atlantic is known as the Walvis Ridge.
3) The Indian Ocean
- It is the third-largest ocean, covering 73,556,000 square kilometers, which is about 20% of the water on the earth’s surface. The Indian Ocean is the smaller, and complicated of the three major oceans of the world.
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The North Indian Ocean, joined by Iran, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. To the east, Sunda Islands, Malay Peninsula, and Australia. In the south, it joins Antarctica and Africa, and to the west, Arabian Peninsula. In the southwest, it is joined by the Atlantic. In the South, it joins with Africa, and the Pacific Ocean to the east and southeast.
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The Indian Ocean has few islands, and continental shelves are narrow, having an average width of 200 kilometers. 3,890 m or 12,760 ft. is the average depth of the ocean. It is different from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in many aspects. It is landlocked in Northern Hemisphere and does not expand to the Arctic ocean. The Indian Ocean has a temperate-to-cold area. In the north, it has asymmetric, and inverted surface circulation. It has two sources of highly salty water, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. In the north, below the surface layer, the water is low in oxygen.
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In the Indian ocean, cliffs comprise a covered, and functional mountain sequence, the basis of the worldwide oceanic cliff network, contains centers of seafloor spreading in various areas. The cliffs construct an inverted Y on the ocean bed, starts in the Arabian Sea upper northwest with the Carlsberg ridge. And turn due to the south past the Chagos-Laccadive Plateau and coming to be the Mid-Indian Ridge.
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The ridge branches in the southeast of Madagascar, are southwest cliff goes on to the southwest until it incorporates into the Atlantic Ridge of Indian ocean south of Africa. The Southeast cliff moves towards the east until it unites the Pacific-Antarctic cliff south of Tasmania.
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Aseismic or earthquake-free Ninetyeast Ridge is most striking, which is the biggest in the world ocean. In 1962, it was noted, that it moves northward along the 90° E meridian for 2,800 miles or 4,500 km from the zonal Broken cliff at latitudes 31° S to 9° N and can be searched distant under the residues of the Bay of Bengal. Other significant meridional aseismic contains the Chagos-Laccadive, Mozambique, and Madagascar plains, which are not components of the worldwide oceanic ridge structure.
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In the Indian Ocean, continental ridge expands to a width of approximately 120 kilometers or 75 miles. Island ridges are nearly 1,000 ft. or 300 meters wide. At a depth of about 140 meters or 460 ft. shelf break and below the broken underwater valleys indent the vertical slope. The Indus river of Asia, the Ganges, and the Zambezi river of Africa have built large valleys. Deposition cones of the Ganges are the larger in the world.
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Trenches in the Indian Ocean are rarest than the other oceans of the world. Seismically active, volcanic, and narrow about 80 km, Java Trench is the second-longest in the world. In Indonesia, the Tsunamis produced by an earthquake devastated nearshore towns and entered the Bengal and western shores of the Indian Ocean.
- Mangrove marshes, deltas, salt marshes, lagoons, beaches coral reefs, dunes, and islands are the defined coastal structures of the Indian Ocean. Pakistan strengthens the most tectonically active coasts with 190 kilometers or 120 miles Indus River delta. Mangroves are in most deltas and estuaries. Correlating with the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean the Indian Ocean has very few islands. Maldives, Madagascar, Socotra, Sri Lanka, and Seychelles are the continental elements. Saint Paul, Prince Edward, Christmas Cocos, Amsterdam are the islands of the Indian ocean.
4) Antarctica or the Southern Ocean
- The Fourth largest ocean in the world is the Antarctic Ocean. The Antarctic ocean covers 20,327,000 square km, the area is comparatively more than twice the size of the United States. The southern ocean has limited areas of shallow water. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current moves permanently towards the east, chasing and uniting by itself.
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It is the longest ocean current in the world which transfers 130 million cubic meters per second, and it is a hundred times the flow of the entire world’s rivers. It is the recently named ocean by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. The Antarctic ocean extending from the Antarctic coast to the line of latitude at 60° S. It surrounds the whole Antarctic continent.
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This continent is the driest, windiest, and coldest, temperature varies from nearly 10°C to -2°C. Severe cyclonic hurricanes travel towards the east around the continent. It is due to the temperature difference between the open ocean and ice. When Antarctica and South America separated from each other, the drake path opened, and the Southern Ocean formed 30 million years ago. This drake passage gives way to travel through the Panama Canal.
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The Antarctic ocean has depths of 4000 to 5000 meters. The lowest point is the Southern end of the South oceanic Trench, which is -7,235 meters, and the highest point is sea level. Acidification, commercial exploitation, and climate cause modifications in the ocean’s physical, biological, and chemical structures.
- The atmosphere of the Antarctic Ocean, promotes seals, whales, penguins, and albatrosses life. A Few decades before, the Antarctic region was safe from human exploitation. But now, it is at risk due to unsustainable fishing, rubbish dumping, and climate change. Every year, thousands of animals died because of ingesting plastic, hooks, and fishing nets. The 7% of penguin species making 90% of the hundred million bird species in Antarctica.
- High winds, large icebergs, smaller icebergs, iceberg fragments, Continental shelf crushed by glacial sediments, large waves, and ship icing are natural hazards.
- Manganese nodules, oil and gas fields, sand and stone, placer sediments, freshwater, fish, krill, whales, and squid are the Natural Resources of this Southern Ocean.
5) The Arctic Ocean
- The Arctic is the smallest ocean in the world, is covered by Eurasia and North America. Mostly, the Arctic ocean is surrounded by sea ice the whole year. The Arctic Ocean is allocated by a submerged ocean crest called the Lomonosov ridge into the 4,000 to 4,500 m deep Eurasian or Nasin basin and the 4,000 m deep North American or Hyperborean gulf.
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The topography of the Arctic Ocean, bottom varies, comprising of fault-barrier crests, abyssal ranges, ocean abysm. Due to the continental edge on the Eurasian side pits have an average depth of 1,038 m. The Arctic Ocean has an area of 5,440,000 square miles or 14,090,000 square kilometers. It is 5 times larger than the Mediterranean Sea. The average depth of the Arctic Ocean is 3,240 ft. or 987 meters.
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The residues of the Arctic Ocean floor, reports the quality of the biological atmosphere, climate, and ecosystem on time scales, defined by the capacity to experiment with coring and at findings concluded by the ratios of deposition. From hundreds of residues, just four of them permeate deeply enough to predate the beginning of cold climatic situations.
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Almost 80 million-year-old black silts and 67-year-old siliceous muds are the oldest part of the Arctic Ocean which was comparatively warm and biologically effective before 40 million years. The Arctic Ocean contains terrigenous residues formed by edging glaciers and transported by sea ice.
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The temperature and salinity of this ocean vary seasonally as the ice covers freezes and melts. It is warming quickly than others and feeling the outset of climate change. The losing of sea ice will change the climate patterns around the world. In 2018, the Arctic Ocean faced a second-terrible sea ice decrease. Some parts of Greenland, open the ocean for the first time.
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Organisms like algae and bacteria, combine to form Plankton, which creates the basis of the Arctic food chain. Plankton converts carbon dioxide into organic matter, which is the feed of small fishes and whales. Fish and whales are the food source of the people living there. The Arctic Ocean has very little plant existence except for phytoplankton. Nutrients from streams and the tides of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans give food for the Arctic phytoplankton.
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Scientists revealed that warming waters could damage wildlife. Like for the search of food and seals polar bear depends on the sea ice. It also affects the zooplankton life process and the various animals that prey on them.
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In 1960, Fridtjof Nansen discovered the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is known as the Nansen Cordillera. The Nansen Basin is the smallest Arctic ocean subbasin, which lies between the Nansen Gakkel Ridge and Eurasian Continental margin. In 1950, the Amerasia Basin was discovered, split into two unequal basins by the Alpha Ridge, which is an uneven, broad mountain range that broadens to 4,600 ft. of the ocean surface.
Summary
How many Oceans are there? There are five oceans, which cover 71% of the Earth’s surface. These five oceans are the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern or Antarctic, and the Arctic Ocean. These oceans are connected and form one global ocean. The Pacific Ocean is the largest, and the Arctic Ocean is the smallest in the world.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are many confusions related to this question How many Oceans are there? The answer to this question is given above in this article, but some frequently asked questions are;
Q1. Are there 5 or 7 Oceans?
As we know that, there are five oceans Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and the Arctic, while South Pacific, North Pacific, South Atlantic, North Atlantic, Indian Southern, and the Arctic Ocean are seven seas named by their origin.
Q2. Which Ocean is coldest?
The Arctic Ocean is the coldest in the world. It is covered with ice the whole year. Arctic oceans maintain an abundance of different life aspects highly transformed in their life history, physiology, and ecology to the intense and seasonal climate and this atmosphere.
Q3. What are the interesting facts about the Ocean?
Following are the unbelievable facts about the ocean;
The majority of living species live underwater, it is about 94%.
Oceans cover 71% of the earth’s surface, so it is important for the earth, and only 5% of the ocean discovered. Researchers try to find out more about the ocean on earth.
Mid-Ocean Ridge is the longest mountain chain present underwater.
Every other day, new marine species are discovered, they are about 240,470 species registered on the World Register Of Marine Species.
70 to 80% of Oxygen we use to breathe on earth, is produced by aquatic algae and plants.
Lake or river flow underwater when hydrogen sulfide and saltwater of the ocean mixes, it comes to be heavier than the rest of water around it.
The Pacific Ocean surrounds 25000 islands, and it is the largest ocean in the world.
Q4. What Ocean is the hottest?
The Persian Gulf is the hottest ocean, because, in summer, temperatures reach 90 degrees Fahrenheit. A temperature of 132.8 degrees Fahrenheit, was reported at a depth of about 6,500 feet in the Red Sea, which is another hot spot.
Q5. Which ocean is more dangerous?
Aside from coastal threats, the Indian Ocean is the most dangerous of all the oceans, counting down from ocean to ocean. Because of its warm temperature, sailing through the Indian Ocean has become a difficult activity. It makes it vulnerable to climatic changes such as monsoons, tsunamis, cyclones, and, more commonly, strong winds.
Q6. In a cup of ocean water, how much salt is there?
Start with 250 mL (1 cup) of water to get a sense of how salty the sea is? 1 L of seawater contains 35 g of salt, so 35/4 = 8.75 or 9 g of salt is present in 250 mL (1/4 liter). It will be near enough to 2 level teaspoons of salt in the cup of Ocean water. The salt concentration (salinity) in seawater is about 35 parts per thousand.
Q7. What is the deepest ocean on the planet?
The ocean’s average depth is around 12,100 feet. The Challenger Deep, centered under the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which stretches several hundred kilometers southwest of Guam’s US territorial island, is the deepest portion of the ocean.
Q8. Why can’t we head to the ocean’s deepest depths?
“The deep ocean’s tremendous pressures make it an incredibly dangerous place to explore.” The air pressure pressing down on the body is around 15 pounds per square inch at sea level, something you don’t notice. The intensity would drop to zero if you traveled into space, above the Earth’s atmosphere. This means that most people can comfortably dive to a depth of 60 feet. Freediving to a depth of 20 feet (6.09 meters) is the limit for most swimmers. When discovering underwater reefs, experienced divers can successfully dive to a depth of 40 feet (12.19 meters).
Q9. Is it possible for humans to survive underwater?
It is possible to survive underwater, and you may soon be moving to an underwater area. Humans living underwater might not be as even though you thought. Underwater towns, once only used in video games or science fiction, maybe a reasonable solution for mankind in the future.
Q10. Is there a lost city in Atlantis?
Atlantis didn’t exist at all; it was created by Plato. Throughout history, several scholars and scientists have concluded that Plato’s account of the lost kingdom of Atlantis was fictitious. The Atlantis story claims of a moral, spiritual people who lived in a technologically advanced, utopian society. The gods became angry that the people had lost their way and returned to unethical pursuits, and they became selfish, petty, and “ethically corrupt.”
Conclusion
How many Oceans are there? The major oceans of the world are listed below as a basic answer to this issue. The Pacific Ocean is the largest, followed by the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, and the Antarctic or the Southern Ocean. The Global Ocean refers to the five oceans that are linked together. Oceans occupy about 71 percent of the earth’s total surface area or almost three-quarters of the planet’s total area.
After the discovery of North America, the Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Caribbean, Mediterranean, and the Gulf of Mexico were considered the Seven Seas. However, the Arctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans now make up the current Seven Seas, from smallest to largest. The Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans are divided by geography.
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