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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article focuses on human experience, history, and culture of the collective seas
of Earth. For natural science aspects, see more at Ocean. For individual seas,
see List of seas on Earth. For other uses, see Sea (disambiguation) and The Sea
(disambiguation).

Atlantic Ocean near the Faroe Islands

A sea is a large body of salty water. There are particular seas and the
sea. The sea commonly refers to the World Ocean, the wider body
of seawater. 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.

The salinity of water bodies varies widely, being lower near the surface and the
mouths of large rivers and higher in the depths of the ocean; however, the relative
proportions of dissolved salts vary little across the oceans. The most abundant solid
dissolved in seawater is sodium chloride. The water also
contains salts of magnesium, calcium, potassium, and mercury, amongst many other
elements, some in minute concentrations. A wide variety of organisms,
including bacteria, protists, algae, plants, fungi, and animals live in the seas, which
offers a wide range of marine habitats and ecosystems, ranging vertically from
the sunlit surface and shoreline to the great depths and pressures of the cold,
dark abyssal zone, and in latitude from the cold waters under polar ice caps to the
warm waters of coral reefs in tropical regions. Many of the major groups of
organisms evolved in the sea and life may have started there.

The ocean moderates Earth's climate and has important roles in the water, carbon,
and nitrogen cycles. The surface of water interacts with the atmosphere, exchanging
properties such as particles and temperature, as well as currents. Surface
currents are the water currents that are produced by the atmosphere's currents and
its winds blowing over the surface of the water, producing wind waves, setting up
through drag slow but stable circulations of water, as in the case of the ocean
sustaining deep-sea ocean currents. Deep-sea currents, known together as
the global conveyor belt, carry cold water from near the poles to every ocean and
significantly influence Earth's climate. Tides, the generally twice-daily rise and fall
of sea levels, are caused by Earth's rotation and the gravitational effects of
the Moon and, to a lesser extent, of the Sun. Tides may have a very
high range in bays or estuaries. Submarine earthquakes arising from tectonic
plate movements under the oceans can lead to destructive tsunamis, as can
volcanoes, huge landslides, or the impact of large meteorites.

The seas have been an integral element for humans throughout history and culture.
Humans harnessing and studying the seas have been recorded since ancient times
and evidenced well into prehistory, while its modern scientific study is
called oceanography and maritime space is governed by the law of the sea,
with admiralty law regulating human interactions at sea. The seas provide substantial
supplies of food for humans, mainly fish, but also shellfish, mammals and seaweed,
whether caught by fishermen or farmed underwater. Other human uses of the seas
include trade, travel, mineral extraction, power generation, warfare, and leisure
activities such as swimming, sailing, and scuba diving. Many of these activities
create marine pollution.

Definition
[edit]
Further information: List of seas on Earth

Oceans and marginal seas

as defined by the International Maritime Organization
The sea is the interconnected system of all the Earth's oceanic waters, including
the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern and Arctic Oceans.[1] However, the word "sea"
can also be used for many specific, much smaller bodies of seawater, such as
the North Sea or the Red Sea. There is no sharp distinction between seas
and oceans, though generally seas are smaller, and are often partly (as marginal
seas or particularly as a mediterranean sea) or wholly (as inland seas) enclosed
by land.[2] However, an exception to this is the Sargasso Sea which has no coastline
and lies within a circular current, the North Atlantic Gyre.[3]: 90 Seas are generally
larger than lakes and contain salt water, but the Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake.[4]
[a]
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that all of the ocean
is "sea".[8][9][b]

Legal definition
[edit]
The law of the sea has at its center the definition of the boundaries of the ocean,
clarifying its application in marginal seas. But what bodies of water other than the
sea the law applies to is being crucially negotiated in the case of the Caspian
Sea and its status as "sea", basically revolving around the issue of the Caspian Sea
about either being factually an oceanic sea or only a saline body of water and
therefore solely a sea in the sense of the common use of the word, like all
other saltwater lakes called sea.[citation needed]

Physical science
[edit]

Composite images of the Earth created

by NASA in 2001
Further information: Ocean § Physical properties, and Physical oceanography
Earth is the only known planet with seas of liquid water on its surface,[3]:
22
although Mars possesses ice caps and similar planets in other solar systems may
have oceans.[11] Earth's 1,335,000,000 cubic kilometers (320,000,000 cu mi) of sea
contain about 97.2 percent of its known water[12][c] and covers approximately 71
percent of its surface.[3]: 7 [17] Another 2.15% of Earth's water is frozen, found in the sea
ice covering the Arctic Ocean, the ice cap covering Antarctica and its adjacent seas,
and various glaciers and surface deposits around the world. The remainder (about
0.65% of the whole) form underground reservoirs or various stages of the water
cycle, containing the freshwater encountered and used by most terrestrial
life: vapor in the air, the clouds it slowly forms, the rain falling from them, and
the lakes and rivers spontaneously formed as its waters flow again and again to the
sea.[12]

The scientific study of water and Earth's water

cycle is hydrology; hydrodynamics studies the physics of water in motion. The more
recent study of the sea in particular is oceanography. This began as the study of the
shape of the ocean's currents[18] but has since expanded into a large
and multidisciplinary field:[19] it examines the properties of seawater;
studies waves, tides, and currents; charts coastlines and maps the seabeds; and
studies marine life.[20] The subfield dealing with the sea's motion, its forces, and the
forces acting upon it is known as physical oceanography.[21] Marine biology (biological
oceanography) studies the plants, animals, and other organisms inhabiting marine
ecosystems. Both are informed by chemical oceanography, which studies the
behavior of elements and molecules within the oceans: particularly, at the moment,
the ocean's role in the carbon cycle and carbon dioxide's role in the increasing
acidification of seawater. Marine and maritime geography charts the shape and
shaping of the sea, while marine geology (geological oceanography) has provided
evidence of continental drift and the composition and structure of the Earth, clarified
the process of sedimentation, and assisted the study of volcanism and earthquakes.
[19]

Seawater
[edit]
Main article: Seawater

Salinity map taken from the Aquarius

Spacecraft. The rainbow colours represent salinity levels: red = 40 ‰, purple = 30 ‰
Salinity
[edit]
A characteristic of seawater is that it is salty. Salinity is usually measured in parts per
thousand (‰ or per mil), and the open ocean has about 35 grams (1.2 oz) solids per
litre, a salinity of 35 ‰. The Mediterranean Sea is slightly higher at 38 ‰,[22] while the
salinity of the northern Red Sea can reach 41‰.[23] In contrast, some
landlocked hypersaline lakes have a much higher salinity, for example, the Dead
Sea has 300 grams (11 oz) dissolved solids per litre (300 ‰).

While the constituents of table salt (sodium and chloride) make up about 85 percent
of the solids in solution, there are also other metal ions such
as magnesium and calcium, and negative ions including sulphate, carbonate,
and bromide. Despite variations in the levels of salinity in different seas, the relative
composition of the dissolved salts is stable throughout the world's oceans.[24]
[25]
Seawater is too saline for humans to drink safely, as the kidneys cannot excrete
urine as salty as seawater.[26]

Major solutes in seawater (3.5% salinity)[25]

Solute Concentration (‰) % of total salts

Chloride 19.3 55

Sodium 10.8 30.6

Sulphate 2.7 7.7

Magnesium 1.3 3.7

Calcium 0.41 1.2

Potassium 0.40 1.1

Bicarbonate 0.10 0.4

Bromide 0.07 0.2

Carbonate 0.01 0.05

Strontium 0.01 0.04

Borate 0.01 0.01

Fluoride 0.001 <0.01

All other solutes <0.001 <0.01

Although the amount of salt in the ocean remains relatively constant within the scale
of millions of years, various factors affect the salinity of a body of water.
[27]
Evaporation and by-product of ice formation (known as "brine rejection") increase
salinity, whereas precipitation, sea ice melt, and runoff from land reduce it.
[27]
The Baltic Sea, for example, has many rivers flowing into it, and thus the sea
could be considered as brackish.[28] Meanwhile, the Red Sea is very salty due to its
high evaporation rate.[29]

Temperature
[edit]
Sea temperature depends on the amount of solar radiation falling on its surface. In
the tropics, with the sun nearly overhead, the temperature of the surface layers can
rise to over 30 °C (86 °F) while near the poles the temperature in equilibrium with the
sea ice is about −2 °C (28 °F). There is a continuous circulation of water in the
oceans. Warm surface currents cool as they move away from the tropics, and the
water becomes denser and sinks. The cold water moves back towards the equator
as a deep sea current, driven by changes in the temperature and density of the
water, before eventually welling up again towards the surface. Deep seawater has a
temperature between −2 °C (28 °F) and 5 °C (41 °F) in all parts of the globe.[30]

Seawater with a typical salinity of 35 ‰[31] has a freezing point of about −1.8 °C
(28.8 °F).[32] When its temperature becomes low enough, ice crystals form on the
surface. These break into small pieces and coalesce into flat discs that form a thick
suspension known as frazil. In calm conditions, this freezes into a thin flat sheet
known as nilas, which thickens as new ice forms on its underside. In more turbulent
seas, frazil crystals join into flat discs known as pancakes. These slide under each
other and coalesce to form floes. In the process of freezing, salt water and air are
trapped between the ice crystals. Nilas may have a salinity of 12–15 ‰, but by the
time the sea ice is one year old, this falls to 4–6 ‰.[33]

pH value
[edit]
Further information: Ocean acidification and Seawater § pH value
Seawater is slightly alkaline and had an average pH of about 8.2 over the past 300
million years.[34] More recently, climate change has resulted in an increase of
the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere; about 30–40% of the added CO2 is
absorbed by the oceans, forming carbonic acid and lowering the pH (now below
8.1[34]) through a process called ocean acidification.[35][36][37] The extent of further ocean
chemistry changes, including ocean pH, will depend on climate change
mitigation efforts taken by nations and their governments.[38]

Oxygen concentration
[edit]
Further information: Ocean deoxygenation and Ocean stratification
The amount of oxygen found in seawater depends primarily on the plants growing in
it. These are mainly algae, including phytoplankton, with some vascular plants such
as seagrasses. In daylight, the photosynthetic activity of these plants produces
oxygen, which dissolves in the seawater and is used by marine animals. At night,
photosynthesis stops, and the amount of dissolved oxygen declines. In the deep sea,
where insufficient light penetrates for plants to grow, there is very little dissolved
oxygen. In its absence, organic material is broken down by anaerobic bacteria
producing hydrogen sulphide.[39]

Climate change is likely to reduce levels of oxygen in surface waters since the
solubility of oxygen in water falls at higher temperatures.[40] Ocean deoxygenation is
projected to increase hypoxia by 10%, and triple suboxic waters (oxygen
concentrations 98% less than the mean surface concentrations), for each 1 °C of
upper-ocean warming.[41]

Light
[edit]
The amount of light that penetrates the sea depends on the angle of the sun, the
weather conditions and the turbidity of the water. Much light gets reflected at the
surface, and red light gets absorbed in the top few metres. Yellow and green light
reach greater depths, and blue and violet light may penetrate as deep as 1,000
metres (3,300 ft). There is insufficient light for photosynthesis and plant growth
beyond a depth of about 200 metres (660 ft).[42]

Sea level
[edit]
Main articles: Sea level and Sea level rise
Over most of geologic time, the sea level has been higher than it is today.[3]: 74 The
main factor affecting sea level over time is the result of changes in the oceanic crust,
with a downward trend expected to continue in the very long term.[43] At the last
glacial maximum, some 20,000 years ago, the sea level was about 125 metres
(410 ft) lower than in present times (2012).[44]

For at least the last 100 years, sea level has been rising at an average rate of about
1.8 millimetres (0.071 in) per year.[45] Most of this rise can be attributed to an increase
in the temperature of the sea due to climate change, and the resulting slight thermal
expansion of the upper 500 metres (1,600 ft) of water. Additional contributions, as
much as one quarter of the total, come from water sources on land, such as melting
snow and glaciers and extraction of groundwater for irrigation and other agricultural
and human needs.[46]

Waves
[edit]
Duration: 13 seconds.0:13Movement of molecules as waves pass

When the wave enters shallow water, it slows down

and its amplitude (height) increases.
Main article: Wind wave
Wind blowing over the surface of a body of water forms waves that are perpendicular
to the direction of the wind. The friction between air and water caused by a gentle
breeze on a pond causes ripples to form. A strong blow over the ocean causes
larger waves as the moving air pushes against the raised ridges of water. The waves
reach their maximum height when the rate at which they are travelling nearly
matches the speed of the wind. In open water, when the wind blows continuously as
happens in the Southern Hemisphere in the Roaring Forties, long, organised masses
of water called swell roll across the ocean.[3]: 83–84 [47][48][d] If the wind dies down, the wave
formation is reduced, but already-formed waves continue to travel in their original
direction until they meet land. The size of the waves depends on the fetch, the
distance that the wind has blown over the water and the strength and duration of that
wind. When waves meet others coming from different directions, interference
between the two can produce broken, irregular seas.[47] Constructive interference can
cause individual (unexpected) rogue waves much higher than normal.[49] Most waves
are less than 3 m (10 ft) high[49] and it is not unusual for strong storms to double or
triple that height;[50] offshore construction such as wind farms and oil
platforms use metocean statistics from measurements in computing the wave forces
(due to for instance the hundred-year wave) they are designed against.[51] Rogue
waves, however, have been documented at heights above 25 meters (82 ft).[52][53]

The top of a wave is known as the crest, the lowest point between waves is the
trough and the distance between the crests is the wavelength. The wave is pushed
across the surface of the sea by the wind, but this represents a transfer of energy
and not a horizontal movement of water. As waves approach land and move into
shallow water, they change their behavior. If approaching at an angle, waves may
bend (refraction) or wrap rocks and headlands (diffraction). When the wave reaches
a point where its deepest oscillations of the water contact the seabed, they begin to
slow down. This pulls the crests closer together and increases the waves' height,
which is called wave shoaling. When the ratio of the wave's height to the water depth
increases above a certain limit, it "breaks", toppling over in a mass of foaming water.
[49]
This rushes in a sheet up the beach before retreating into the sea under the
influence of gravity.[47]

Tsunami
[edit]
Main article: Tsunami

The 2004 tsunami in Thailand

A tsunami is an unusual form of wave caused by an infrequent powerful event such
as an underwater earthquake or landslide, a meteorite impact, a volcanic eruption or
a collapse of land into the sea. These events can temporarily lift or lower the surface
of the sea in the affected area, usually by a few feet. The potential energy of the
displaced seawater is turned into kinetic energy, creating a shallow wave, a tsunami,
radiating outwards at a velocity proportional to the square root of the depth of the
water and which therefore travels much faster in the open ocean than on a
continental shelf.[54] In the deep open sea, tsunamis have wavelengths of around 80
to 300 miles (130 to 480 km), travel at speeds of over 600 miles per hour (970 km/h)
[55]
and usually have a height of less than three feet, so they often pass unnoticed at
this stage.[56] In contrast, ocean surface waves caused by winds have wavelengths of
a few hundred feet, travel at up to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h) and are up to 45 feet
(14 metres) high.[56]

As a tsunami moves into shallower water its speed decreases, its wavelength
shortens and its amplitude increases enormously,[56] behaving in the same way as a
wind-generated wave in shallow water but on a vastly greater scale. Either the
trough or the crest of a tsunami can arrive at the coast first.[54] In the former case, the
sea draws back and leaves subtidal areas close to the shore exposed which
provides a useful warning for people on land.[57] When the crest arrives, it does not
usually break but rushes inland, flooding all in its path. Much of the destruction may
be caused by the flood water draining back into the sea after the tsunami has struck,
dragging debris and people with it. Often several tsunami are caused by a single
geological event and arrive at intervals of between eight minutes and two hours. The
first wave to arrive on shore may not be the biggest or most destructive. [54]

Currents
[edit]
Main article: Ocean current

Surface currents: red–warm, blue–cold

Wind blowing over the surface of the sea causes friction at the interface between air
and sea. Not only does this cause waves to form, but it also makes the surface
seawater move in the same direction as the wind. Although winds are variable, in
any one place they predominantly blow from a single direction and thus a surface
current can be formed. Westerly winds are most frequent in the mid-latitudes while
easterlies dominate the tropics.[58] When water moves in this way, other water flows in
to fill the gap and a circular movement of surface currents known as a gyre is
formed. There are five main gyres in the world's oceans: two in the Pacific, two in the
Atlantic and one in the Indian Ocean. Other smaller gyres are found in lesser seas
and a single gyre flows around Antarctica. These gyres have followed the same
routes for millennia, guided by the topography of the land, the wind direction and
the Coriolis effect. The surface currents flow in a clockwise direction in the Northern
Hemisphere and anticlockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The water moving away
from the equator is warm, and that flowing in the reverse direction has lost most of its
heat. These currents tend to moderate the Earth's climate, cooling the equatorial
region and warming regions at higher latitudes.[59] Global climate and weather
forecasts are powerfully affected by the world ocean, so global climate
modelling makes use of ocean circulation models as well as models of other major
components such as the atmosphere, land surfaces, aerosols and sea ice.[60] Ocean
models make use of a branch of physics, geophysical fluid dynamics, that describes
the large-scale flow of fluids such as seawater.[61]

The global conveyor belt shown in blue

with warmer surface currents in red
Surface currents only affect the top few hundred metres of the sea, but there are
also large-scale flows in the ocean depths caused by the movement of deep water
masses. A main deep ocean current flows through all the world's oceans and is
known as the thermohaline circulation or global conveyor belt. This movement is
slow and is driven by differences in density of the water caused by variations in
salinity and temperature.[62] At high latitudes the water is chilled by the low
atmospheric temperature and becomes saltier as sea ice crystallizes out. Both these
factors make it denser, and the water sinks. From the deep sea near Greenland,
such water flows southwards between the continental landmasses on either side of
the Atlantic. When it reaches the Antarctic, it is joined by further masses of cold,
sinking water and flows eastwards. It then splits into two streams that move
northwards into the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Here it is gradually warmed,
becomes less dense, rises towards the surface and loops back on itself. It takes a
thousand years for this circulation pattern to be completed.[59]
Besides gyres, there are temporary surface currents that occur under specific
conditions. When waves meet a shore at an angle, a longshore current is created as
water is pushed along parallel to the coastline. The water swirls up onto the beach at
right angles to the approaching waves but drains away straight down the slope under
the effect of gravity. The larger the breaking waves, the longer the beach and the
more oblique the wave approach, the stronger is the longshore current.[63] These
currents can shift great volumes of sand or pebbles, create spits and make beaches
disappear and water channels silt up.[59] A rip current can occur when water piles up
near the shore from advancing waves and is funnelled out to sea through a channel
in the seabed. It may occur at a gap in a sandbar or near a man-made structure such
as a groyne. These strong currents can have a velocity of 3 ft (0.9 m) per second,
can form at different places at different stages of the tide and can carry away unwary
bathers.[64] Temporary upwelling currents occur when the wind pushes water away
from the land and deeper water rises to replace it. This cold water is often rich in
nutrients and creates blooms of phytoplankton and a great increase in the
productivity of the sea.[59]

Tides
[edit]
Main article: Tide

High tides (blue) at the nearest and furthest points of

the Earth from the Moon
Tides are the regular rise and fall in water level experienced by seas and oceans in
response to the gravitational influences of the Moon and the Sun, and the effects of
the Earth's rotation. During each tidal cycle, at any given place the water rises to a
maximum height known as "high tide" before ebbing away again to the minimum "low
tide" level. As the water recedes, it uncovers more and more of the foreshore, also
known as the intertidal zone. The difference in height between the high tide and low
tide is known as the tidal range or tidal amplitude.[65][66]

Most places experience two high tides each day, occurring at intervals of about 12
hours and 25 minutes. This is half the 24 hours and 50 minute period that it takes for
the Earth to make a complete revolution and return the Moon to its previous position
relative to an observer. The Moon's mass is some 27 million times smaller than the
Sun, but it is 400 times closer to the Earth.[67] Tidal force or tide-raising force
decreases rapidly with distance, so the moon has more than twice as great an effect
on tides as the Sun.[67] A bulge is formed in the ocean at the place where the Earth is
closest to the Moon because it is also where the effect of the Moon's gravity is
stronger. On the opposite side of the Earth, the lunar force is at its weakest and this
causes another bulge to form. As the Moon rotates around the Earth, so do these
ocean bulges move around the Earth. The gravitational attraction of the Sun is also
working on the seas, but its effect on tides is less powerful than that of the Moon,
and when the Sun, Moon and Earth are all aligned (full moon and new moon), the
combined effect results in the high "spring tides". In contrast, when the Sun is at 90°
from the Moon as viewed from Earth, the combined gravitational effect on tides is
less causing the lower "neap tides".[65]

A storm surge can occur when high winds pile water up against the coast in a
shallow area and this, coupled with a low-pressure system, can raise the surface of
the sea at high tide dramatically.

Ocean basins
[edit]
Main article: Ocean basin

Three types of plate boundary

The Earth is composed of a magnetic central core, a mostly liquid mantle and a hard
rigid outer shell (or lithosphere), which is composed of the Earth's rocky crust and
the deeper mostly solid outer layer of the mantle. On land the crust is known as
the continental crust while under the sea it is known as the oceanic crust. The latter
is composed of relatively dense basalt and is some five to ten kilometres (three to six
miles) thick. The relatively thin lithosphere floats on the weaker and hotter mantle
below and is fractured into a number of tectonic plates.[68] In mid-ocean, magma is
constantly being thrust through the seabed between adjoining plates to form mid-
oceanic ridges and here convection currents within the mantle tend to drive the two
plates apart. Parallel to these ridges and nearer the coasts, one oceanic plate may
slide beneath another oceanic plate in a process known as subduction.
Deep trenches are formed here and the process is accompanied by friction as the
plates grind together. The movement proceeds in jerks which cause earthquakes,
heat is produced and magma is forced up creating underwater mountains, some of
which may form chains of volcanic islands near to deep trenches. Near some of the
boundaries between the land and sea, the slightly denser oceanic plates slide
beneath the continental plates and more subduction trenches are formed. As they
grate together, the continental plates are deformed and buckle causing mountain
building and seismic activity.[69][70]

The Earth's deepest trench is the Mariana Trench which extends for about 2,500
kilometres (1,600 mi) across the seabed. It is near the Mariana Islands, a
volcanic archipelago in the West Pacific. Its deepest point is 10.994 kilometres
(nearly 7 miles) below the surface of the sea.[71]
Coasts
[edit]
Main article: Coast

Praia da Marinha in Algarve, Portugal

The Baltic Sea in the archipelago of Turku, Finland

The zone where land meets sea is known as the coast and the part between the
lowest spring tides and the upper limit reached by splashing waves is the shore.
A beach is the accumulation of sand or shingle on the shore.[72] A headland is a point
of land jutting out into the sea and a larger promontory is known as a cape. The
indentation of a coastline, especially between two headlands, is a bay, a small bay
with a narrow inlet is a cove and a large bay may be referred to as a gulf.
[73]
Coastlines are influenced by several factors including the strength of the waves
arriving on the shore, the gradient of the land margin, the composition and hardness
of the coastal rock, the inclination of the off-shore slope and the changes of the level
of the land due to local uplift or submergence. Normally, waves roll towards the
shore at the rate of six to eight per minute and these are known as constructive
waves as they tend to move material up the beach and have little erosive effect.
Storm waves arrive on shore in rapid succession and are known as destructive
waves as the swash moves beach material seawards. Under their influence, the
sand and shingle on the beach is ground together and abraded. Around high tide,
the power of a storm wave impacting on the foot of a cliff has a shattering effect as
air in cracks and crevices is compressed and then expands rapidly with release of
pressure. At the same time, sand and pebbles have an erosive effect as they are
thrown against the rocks. This tends to undercut the cliff, and
normal weathering processes such as the action of frost follows, causing further
destruction. Gradually, a wave-cut platform develops at the foot of the cliff and this
has a protective effect, reducing further wave-erosion.[72]

Material worn from the margins of the land eventually ends up in the sea. Here it is
subject to attrition as currents flowing parallel to the coast scour out channels and
transport sand and pebbles away from their place of origin. Sediment carried to the
sea by rivers settles on the seabed causing deltas to form in estuaries. All these
materials move back and forth under the influence of waves, tides and currents.
[72]
Dredging removes material and deepens channels but may have unexpected
effects elsewhere on the coastline. Governments make efforts to prevent flooding of
the land by the building of breakwaters, seawalls, dykes and levees and other sea
defences. For instance, the Thames Barrier is designed to protect London from a
storm surge,[74] while the failure of the dykes and levees around New
Orleans during Hurricane Katrina created a humanitarian crisis in the United States.

Water cycle
[edit]
Main article: Water cycle
The sea plays a part in the water or hydrological cycle, in which
water evaporates from the ocean, travels through the atmosphere as
vapour, condenses, falls as rain or snow, thereby sustaining life on land, and largely
returns to the sea.[75] Even in the Atacama Desert, where little rain ever falls, dense
clouds of fog known as the camanchaca blow in from the sea and support plant life.
[76]

In central Asia and other large land masses, there are endorheic basins which have
no outlet to the sea, separated from the ocean by mountains or other natural
geologic features that prevent the water draining away. The Caspian Sea is the
largest one of these. Its main inflow is from the River Volga, there is no outflow and
the evaporation of water makes it saline as dissolved minerals accumulate. The Aral
Sea in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and Pyramid Lake in the western United States
are further examples of large, inland saline water-bodies without drainage. Some
endorheic lakes are less salty, but all are sensitive to variations in the quality of the
inflowing water.[77]

Carbon cycle
[edit]
Further information: Oceanic carbon cycle and Biological pump
Oceans contain the greatest quantity of actively cycled carbon in the world and are
second only to the lithosphere in the amount of carbon they store.[78] The oceans'
surface layer holds large amounts of dissolved organic carbon that is exchanged
rapidly with the atmosphere. The deep layer's concentration of dissolved inorganic
carbon is about 15 percent higher than that of the surface layer[79] and it remains
there for much longer periods of time.[80] Thermohaline circulation exchanges carbon
between these two layers.[78]

Carbon enters the ocean as atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in the surface
layers and is converted into carbonic acid, carbonate, and bicarbonate:[81]

CO2 (gas) ⇌ CO2 (aq)

CO2 (aq) + H2O ⇌ H2CO3
H2CO3 ⇌ HCO3− + H+
HCO3− ⇌ CO32− + H+
It can also enter through rivers as dissolved organic carbon and is
converted by photosynthetic organisms into organic carbon. This can
either be exchanged throughout the food chain or precipitated into the
deeper, more carbon-rich layers as dead soft tissue or in shells and
bones as calcium carbonate. It circulates in this layer for long periods
of time before either being deposited as sediment or being returned to
surface waters through thermohaline circulation.[80]

Life in the sea

[edit]
Main article: Marine life

Coral reefs are among the

most biodiverse habitats in the world.

Marine habitats

Coastal habitats

 Littoral zone
 Intertidal zone
 Estuaries
 Mangrove forests
 Seagrass meadows
 Kelp forests
 Coral reefs
 Continental shelf
 Neritic zone

Ocean surface
 Surface microlayer
 Epipelagic zone

Open ocean
 Pelagic zone
  Oceanic zone

Sea floor
 Seamounts
 Hydrothermal vents
 Cold seeps
 Demersal zone
 Benthic zone
 Marine sediment

 v
 t
 e

The oceans are home to a diverse collection of life forms that use it as
a habitat. Since sunlight illuminates only the upper layers, the major
part of the ocean exists in permanent darkness. As the different depth
and temperature zones each provide habitat for a unique set of
species, the marine environment as a whole encompasses an
immense diversity of life.[82] Marine habitats range from surface water
to the deepest oceanic trenches, including coral reefs, kelp
forests, seagrass meadows, tidepools, muddy, sandy and rocky
seabeds, and the open pelagic zone. The organisms living in the sea
range from whales 30 metres (98 feet) long to microscopic
phytoplankton and zooplankton, fungi, and bacteria. Marine life plays
an important part in the carbon cycle as photosynthetic organisms
convert dissolved carbon dioxide into organic carbon and it is
economically important to humans for providing fish for use as food.[83]
[84]: 204–229

Life may have originated in the sea and all the major groups of
animals are represented there. Scientists differ as to precisely where
in the sea life arose: the Miller-Urey experiments suggested a dilute
chemical "soup" in open water, but more recent suggestions include
volcanic hot springs, fine-grained clay sediments, or deep-sea "black
smoker" vents, all of which would have provided protection from
damaging ultraviolet radiation which was not blocked by the early
Earth's atmosphere.[3]: 138–140

Marine habitats
[edit]
Main article: Marine habitats
Marine habitats can be divided horizontally into coastal and open
ocean habitats. Coastal habitats extend from the shoreline to the edge
of the continental shelf. Most marine life is found in coastal habitats,
even though the shelf area occupies only 7 percent of the total ocean
area. Open ocean habitats are found in the deep ocean beyond the
edge of the continental shelf. Alternatively, marine habitats can be
divided vertically into pelagic (open water), demersal (just above the
seabed) and benthic (sea bottom) habitats. A third division is
by latitude: from polar seas with ice shelves, sea ice and icebergs, to
temperate and tropical waters.[3]: 150–151

Coral reefs, the so-called "rainforests of the sea", occupy less than 0.1
percent of the world's ocean surface, yet their ecosystems include 25
percent of all marine species.[85] The best-known are tropical coral
reefs such as Australia's Great Barrier Reef, but cold water reefs
harbour a wide array of species including corals (only six of which
contribute to reef formation).[3]: 204–207 [86]

Algae and plants

[edit]
See also: Marine primary production
Marine primary producers – plants and microscopic organisms in the
plankton – are widespread and very essential for the ecosystem. It
has been estimated that half of the world's oxygen is produced by
phytoplankton.[87][88] About 45 percent of the sea's primary production of
living material is contributed by diatoms.[89] Much larger algae,
commonly known as seaweeds, are important
locally; Sargassum forms floating drifts, while kelp form seabed
forests.[84]: 246–255 Flowering plants in the form of seagrasses grow in
"meadows" in sandy shallows,[90] mangroves line the coast in tropical
and subtropical regions[91] and salt-tolerant plants thrive in regularly
inundated salt marshes.[92] All of these habitats are able to sequester
large quantities of carbon and support a biodiverse range of larger and
smaller animal life.[93]

Light is only able to penetrate the top 200 metres (660 ft) so this is the
only part of the sea where plants can grow.[42] The surface layers are
often deficient in biologically active nitrogen compounds. The
marine nitrogen cycle consists of complex microbial transformations
which include the fixation of nitrogen, its
assimilation, nitrification, anammox and denitrification.[94] Some of
these processes take place in deep water so that where there is an
upwelling of cold waters, and also near estuaries where land-sourced
nutrients are present, plant growth is higher. This means that the most
productive areas, rich in plankton and therefore also in fish, are mainly
coastal.[3]: 160–163

Animals and other marine life

[edit]

A thornback cowfish
There is a broader spectrum of higher animal taxa in the sea than on
land, many marine species have yet to be discovered and the number
known to science is expanding annually.[95] Some vertebrates such
as seabirds, seals and sea turtles return to the land to breed but
fish, cetaceans and sea snakes have a completely aquatic lifestyle
and many invertebrate phyla are entirely marine. In fact, the oceans
teem with life and provide many varying microhabitats.[95] One of these
is the surface film which, even though tossed about by the movement
of waves, provides a rich environment and is home to
bacteria, fungi, microalgae, protozoa, fish eggs and various larvae.[96]

The pelagic zone contains macro- and microfauna and myriad

zooplankton which drift with the currents. Most of the smallest
organisms are the larvae of fish and marine invertebrates which
liberate eggs in vast numbers because the chance of any one embryo
surviving to maturity is so minute.[97] The zooplankton feed on
phytoplankton and on each other and form a basic part of the complex
food chain that extends through variously sized fish and
other nektonic organisms to
large squid, sharks, porpoises, dolphins and whales.[98] Some marine
creatures make large migrations, either to other regions of the ocean
on a seasonal basis or vertical migrations daily, often ascending to
feed at night and descending to safety by day.[99] Ships can introduce
or spread invasive species through the discharge of ballast water or
the transport of organisms that have accumulated as part of
the fouling community on the hulls of vessels.[100]

The demersal zone supports many animals that feed on benthic

organisms or seek protection from predators and the seabed provides
a range of habitats on or under the surface of the substrate which are
used by creatures adapted to these conditions. The tidal zone with its
periodic exposure to the dehydrating air is home
to barnacles, molluscs and crustaceans. The neritic zone has many
organisms that need light to flourish. Here, among algal-encrusted
rocks live sponges, echinoderms, polychaete worms, sea
anemones and other invertebrates. Corals often contain
photosynthetic symbionts and live in shallow waters where light
penetrates. The extensive calcareous skeletons they extrude build up
into coral reefs which are an important feature of the seabed. These
provide a biodiverse habitat for reef-dwelling organisms. There is less
sea life on the floor of deeper seas but marine life also flourishes
around seamounts that rise from the depths, where fish and other
animals congregate to spawn and feed. Close to the seabed
live demersal fish that feed largely on pelagic organisms
or benthic invertebrates.[101] Exploration of the deep sea by
submersibles revealed a new world of creatures living on the seabed
that scientists had not previously known to exist. Some like
the detrivores rely on organic material falling to the ocean floor. Others
cluster round deep sea hydrothermal vents where mineral-rich flows of
water emerge from the seabed, supporting communities whose
primary producers are sulphide-oxidising chemoautotrophic bacteria,
and whose consumers include specialised bivalves, sea anemones,
barnacles, crabs, worms and fish, often found nowhere else.[3]: 212 A
dead whale sinking to the bottom of the ocean provides food for an
assembly of organisms which similarly rely largely on the actions of
sulphur-reducing bacteria. Such places support unique biomes where
many new microbes and other lifeforms have been discovered.[102]

Humans and the sea

[edit]
History of navigation and exploration
[edit]
Main articles: History of navigation, History of cartography, Maritime
history, Ancient maritime history, and Ocean exploration

Map showing
the seaborne migration and expansion of the Austronesians beginning
at around 3000 BC
Humans have travelled the seas since they first built sea-going
craft. Mesopotamians were using bitumen to caulk their reed
boats and, a little later, masted sails.[103] By c. 3000
BC, Austronesians on Taiwan had begun spreading into maritime
Southeast Asia.[104] Subsequently, the Austronesian "Lapita" peoples
displayed great feats of navigation, reaching out from the Bismarck
Archipelago to as far away as Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.[105] Their
descendants continued to travel thousands of miles between tiny
islands on outrigger canoes,[106] and in the process they found many
new islands, including Hawaii, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), and New
Zealand.[107]

The Ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians explored

the Mediterranean and Red Sea with the Egyptian Hannu reaching
the Arabian Peninsula and the African Coast around 2750 BC.[108] In
the first millennium BC, Phoenicians and Greeks established colonies
throughout the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.[109] Around 500 BC,
the Carthaginian navigator Hanno left a detailed periplus of an Atlantic
journey that reached at least Senegal and possibly Mount Cameroon.
[110][111]
In the early Mediaeval period, the Vikings crossed the North
Atlantic and even reached the northeastern fringes of North America.
[112]
Novgorodians had also been sailing the White Sea since the 13th
century or before.[113] Meanwhile, the seas along the eastern and
southern Asian coast were used by Arab and Chinese traders.[114] The
Chinese Ming Dynasty had a fleet of 317 ships with 37,000 men
under Zheng He in the early fifteenth century, sailing the Indian and
Pacific Oceans.[3]: 12–13 In the late fifteenth century, Western European
mariners started making longer voyages of exploration in search of
trade. Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1487
and Vasco da Gama reached India via the Cape in 1498. Christopher
Columbus sailed from Cadiz in 1492, attempting to reach the eastern
lands of India and Japan by the novel means of travelling westwards.
He made landfall instead on an island in the Caribbean Sea and a few
years later, the Venetian navigator John
Cabot reached Newfoundland. The Italian Amerigo Vespucci, after
whom America was named, explored the South American coastline in
voyages made between 1497 and 1502, discovering the mouth of
the Amazon River.[3]: 12–13 In 1519 the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand
Magellan led the Spanish Magellan-Elcano expedition which would be
the first to sail around the world.[3]: 12–13

Gerardus Mercator's 1569

world map. The coastline of the old world is quite accurately depicted,
unlike that of the Americas. Regions in high latitudes (Arctic, Antarctic)
are greatly enlarged on this projection.
As for the history of navigational instrument, a compass was first used
by the ancient Greeks and Chinese to show where north lies and the
direction in which the ship is heading. The latitude (an angle which
ranges from 0° at the equator to 90° at the poles) was determined by
measuring the angle between the Sun, Moon or a specific star and the
horizon by the use of an astrolabe, Jacob's staff or sextant.
The longitude (a line on the globe joining the two poles) could only be
calculated with an accurate chronometer to show the exact time
difference between the ship and a fixed point such as the Greenwich
Meridian. In 1759, John Harrison, a clockmaker, designed such an
instrument and James Cook used it in his voyages of exploration.
[115]
Nowadays, the Global Positioning System (GPS) using over thirty
satellites enables accurate navigation worldwide.[115]

With regards to maps that are vital for navigation, in the second
century, Ptolemy mapped the whole known world from the "Fortunatae
Insulae", Cape Verde or Canary Islands, eastward to the Gulf of
Thailand. This map was used in 1492 when Christopher Columbus set
out on his voyages of discovery.[116] Subsequently, Gerardus
Mercator made a practical map of the world in 1538, his map
projection conveniently making rhumb lines straight.[3]: 12–13 By the
eighteenth century better maps had been made and part of the
objective of James Cook on his voyages was to further map the
ocean. Scientific study has continued with the depth recordings of
the Tuscarora, the oceanic research of the Challenger
voyages (1872–1876), the work of the Scandinavian seamen Roald
Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen, the Michael Sars expedition in 1910,
the German Meteor expedition of 1925, the Antarctic survey work
of Discovery II in 1932, and others since.[19] Furthermore, in 1921,
the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) was set up, and it
constitutes the world authority on hydrographic surveying and nautical
charting.[117] A fourth edition draft was published in 1986 but so far
several naming disputes (such as the one over the Sea of Japan)
have prevented its ratification.

History of oceanography and deep sea exploration

[edit]
Main article: Deep-sea exploration
Scientific oceanography began with the voyages of Captain James
Cook from 1768 to 1779, describing the Pacific with unprecedented
precision from 71 degrees South to 71 degrees North.[3]: 14 John
Harrison's chronometers supported Cook's accurate navigation and
charting on two of these voyages, permanently improving the standard
attainable for subsequent work.[3]: 14 Other expeditions followed in the
nineteenth century, from Russia, France, the Netherlands and the
United States as well as Britain.[3]: 15 On HMS Beagle, which
provided Charles Darwin with ideas and materials for his 1859
book On the Origin of Species, the ship's captain, Robert FitzRoy,
charted the seas and coasts and published his four-volume report of
the ship's three voyages in 1839.[3]: 15 Edward Forbes's 1854
book, Distribution of Marine Life argued that no life could exist below
around 600 metres (2,000 feet). This was proven wrong by the British
biologists W. B. Carpenter and C. Wyville Thomson, who in 1868
discovered life in deep water by dredging.[3]: 15 Wyville Thompson
became chief scientist on the Challenger expedition of 1872–1876,
which effectively created the science of oceanography.[3]: 15

On her 68,890-nautical-mile (127,580 km) journey round the

globe, HMS Challenger discovered about 4,700 new marine species,
and made 492 deep sea soundings, 133 bottom dredges, 151 open
water trawls and 263 serial water temperature observations.[118] In the
southern Atlantic in 1898/1899, Carl Chun on the Valdivia brought
many new life forms to the surface from depths of over 4,000 metres
(13,000 ft). The first observations of deep-sea animals in their natural
environment were made in 1930 by William Beebe and Otis
Barton who descended to 434 metres (1,424 ft) in the spherical
steel Bathysphere.[119] This was lowered by cable but by 1960 a self-
powered submersible, Trieste developed by Jacques Piccard, took
Piccard and Don Walsh to the deepest part of the Earth's oceans,
the Mariana Trench in the Pacific, reaching a record depth of about
10,915 metres (35,810 ft),[120] a feat not repeated until 2012
when James Cameron piloted the Deepsea Challenger to similar
depths.[121] An atmospheric diving suit can be worn for deep sea
operations, with a new world record being set in 2006 when a US
Navy diver descended to 2,000 feet (610 m) in one of these
articulated, pressurized suits.[122]

At great depths, no light penetrates through the water layers from

above and the pressure is extreme. For deep sea exploration it is
necessary to use specialist vehicles, either remotely operated
underwater vehicles with lights and cameras or crewed submersibles.
The battery-operated Mir submersibles have a three-person crew and
can descend to 20,000 feet (6,100 m). They have viewing ports,
5,000-watt lights, video equipment and manipulator arms for collecting
samples, placing probes or pushing the vehicle across the sea bed
when the thrusters would stir up excessive sediment.[123]

Bathymetry is the mapping and study of the topography of the ocean

floor. Methods used for measuring the depth of the sea include single
or multibeam echosounders, laser airborne depth sounders and the
calculation of depths from satellite remote sensing data. This
information is used for determining the routes of undersea cables and
pipelines, for choosing suitable locations for siting oil rigs and offshore
wind turbines and for identifying possible new fisheries.[124]

Ongoing oceanographic research includes marine lifeforms,

conservation, the marine environment, the chemistry of the ocean, the
studying and modelling of climate dynamics, the air-sea boundary,
weather patterns, ocean resources, renewable energy, waves and
currents, and the design and development of new tools and
technologies for investigating the deep.[125] Whereas in the 1960s and
1970s, research could focus on taxonomy and basic biology, in the
2010s, attention has shifted to larger topics such as climate change.
[126]
Researchers make use of satellite-based remote sensing for
surface waters, with research ships, moored observatories and
autonomous underwater vehicles to study and monitor all parts of the
sea.[127]

Law
[edit]
"Freedom of the seas" is a principle in international law dating from
the seventeenth century. It stresses freedom to navigate the oceans
and disapproves of war fought in international waters.[128] Today, this
concept is enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea (UNCLOS), the third version of which came into force in 1994.
Article 87(1) states: "The high seas are open to all states, whether
coastal or land-locked." Article 87(1) (a) to (f) gives a non-exhaustive
list of freedoms including navigation, overflight, the laying
of submarine cables, building artificial islands, fishing and scientific
research.[128] The safety of shipping is regulated by the International
Maritime Organization. Its objectives include developing and
maintaining a regulatory framework for shipping, maritime safety,
environmental concerns, legal matters, technical co-operation and
maritime security.[129]

UNCLOS defines various areas of water. "Internal waters" are on the

landward side of a baseline and foreign vessels have no right of
passage in these. "Territorial waters" extend to 12 nautical miles (22
kilometres; 14 miles) from the coastline and in these waters, the
coastal state is free to set laws, regulate use and exploit any resource.
A "contiguous zone" extending a further 12 nautical miles allows
for hot pursuit of vessels suspected of infringing laws in four specific
areas: customs, taxation, immigration and pollution. An "exclusive
economic zone" extends for 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres; 230
miles) from the baseline. Within this area, the coastal nation has sole
exploitation rights over all natural resources. The "continental shelf" is
the natural prolongation of the land territory to the continental margin's
outer edge, or 200 nautical miles from the coastal state's baseline,
whichever is greater. Here the coastal nation has the exclusive right to
harvest minerals and also living resources "attached" to the seabed.[128]

War
[edit]
Main article: Naval warfare

Naval warfare: The explosion of the

Spanish flagship during the Battle of Gibraltar, 25 April
1607 by Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen, formerly attributed to Hendrik
Cornelisz Vroom
Control of the sea is important to the security of a maritime nation, and
the naval blockade of a port can be used to cut off food and supplies
in time of war. Battles have been fought on the sea for more than
3,000 years. In about 1210 B.C., Suppiluliuma II, the king of
the Hittites, defeated and burned a fleet
from Alashiya (modern Cyprus).[130] In the decisive 480 B.C. Battle of
Salamis, the Greek general Themistocles trapped the far larger fleet of
the Persian king Xerxes in a narrow channel and attacked vigorously,
destroying 200 Persian ships for the loss of 40 Greek vessels.[131] At
the end of the Age of Sail, the British Royal Navy, led by Horatio
Nelson, broke the power of the combined French and Spanish fleets
at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar.[132]

With steam and the industrial production of steel plate came greatly
increased firepower in the shape of
the dreadnought battleships armed with long-range guns. In 1905, the
Japanese fleet decisively defeated the Russian fleet, which had
travelled over 18,000 nautical miles (33,000 km), at the Battle of
Tsushima.[133] Dreadnoughts fought inconclusively in the First World
War at the 1916 Battle of Jutland between the Royal Navy's Grand
Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet.[134] In
the Second World War, the British victory at the 1940 Battle of
Taranto showed that naval air power was sufficient to overcome the
largest warships,[135] foreshadowing the decisive sea-battles of
the Pacific War including the Battles of the Coral Sea, Midway, the
Philippine Sea, and the climactic Battle of Leyte Gulf, in all of which
the dominant ships were aircraft carriers.[136][137]

Submarines became important in naval warfare in World War I, when

German submarines, known as U-boats, sank nearly 5,000 Allied
merchant ships,[138] including the RMS Lusitania, which helped to bring
the United States into the war.[139] In World War II, almost 3,000 Allied
ships were sunk by U-boats attempting to block the flow of supplies to
Britain,[140] but the Allies broke the blockade in the Battle of the Atlantic,
which lasted the whole length of the war, sinking 783 U-boats.
[141]
Since 1960, several nations have maintained fleets of nuclear-
powered ballistic missile submarines, vessels equipped to
launch ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads from under the sea.
Some of these are kept permanently on patrol.[142][143]

Travel
[edit]
Sailing ships or packets carried mail overseas, one of the earliest
being the Dutch service to Batavia in the 1670s.[144] These added
passenger accommodation, but in cramped conditions. Later,
scheduled services were offered but the time journeys took depended
much on the weather. When steamships replaced sailing
vessels, ocean-going liners took over the task of carrying people. By
the beginning of the twentieth century, crossing the Atlantic took about
five days and shipping companies competed to own the largest and
fastest vessels. The Blue Riband was an unofficial accolade given to
the fastest liner crossing the Atlantic in regular service.
The Mauretania held the title with 26.06 knots (48.26 km/h) for twenty
years from 1909.[145] The Hales Trophy, another award for the fastest
commercial crossing of the Atlantic, was won by the United States in
1952 for a crossing that took three days, ten hours and forty minutes.
[146]

The great liners were comfortable but expensive in fuel and staff. The
age of the trans-Atlantic liners waned as cheap intercontinental flights
became available. In 1958, a regular scheduled air service between
New York and Paris taking seven hours doomed the Atlantic ferry
service to oblivion. One by one the vessels were laid up, some were
scrapped, others became cruise ships for the leisure industry and still
others floating hotels.[147]

Trade
[edit]
Main articles: Shipping and Trade

Shipping routes, showing

relative density of commercial shipping around the world
Maritime trade has existed for millennia. The Ptolemaic dynasty had
developed trade with India using the Red Sea ports, and in the first
millennium BC, the Arabs, Phoenicians, Israelites and Indians traded
in luxury goods such as spices, gold, and precious stones.[148] The
Phoenicians were noted sea traders and under the Greeks and
Romans, commerce continued to thrive. With the collapse of the
Roman Empire, European trade dwindled but it continued to flourish
among the kingdoms of Africa, the Middle East, India, China and
southeastern Asia.[149] From the 16th to the 19th centuries, over a
period of 400 years, about 12–13 million Africans were shipped across
the Atlantic to be sold as slaves in the Americas as part of the Atlantic
slave trade.[150][151]: 194

Large quantities of goods are transported by sea, especially across

the Atlantic and around the Pacific Rim. A major trade route passes
through the Pillars of Hercules, across the Mediterranean and
the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean and through the Straits of
Malacca; much trade also passes through the English Channel.
[152]
Shipping lanes are the routes on the open sea used by cargo
vessels, traditionally making use of trade winds and currents. Over 60
percent of the world's container traffic is conveyed on the top twenty
trade routes.[153] Increased melting of Arctic ice since 2007 enables
ships to travel the Northwest Passage for some weeks in summertime,
avoiding the longer routes via the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal.
[154]

Shipping is supplemented by air freight, a more expensive process

mostly used for particularly valuable or perishable cargoes. Seaborne
trade carries more than US$4 trillion worth of goods each year.[155] Bulk
cargo in the form of liquids, powder or particles are carried loose in
the holds of bulk carriers and include crude oil, grain, coal, ore, scrap
metal, sand and gravel.[156] Other cargo, such as manufactured goods,
is usually transported within standard-sized, lockable containers,
loaded on purpose-built container ships at dedicated terminals.
[157]
Before the rise of containerization in the 1960s, these goods were
loaded, transported and unloaded piecemeal as break-bulk cargo.
Containerization greatly increased the efficiency and decreased the
cost of moving goods by sea, and was a major factor leading to the
rise of globalization and exponential increases in international trade in
the mid-to-late 20th century.[158]

Food
[edit]
Main articles: Fishing, Whaling, Seal hunting, and Seaweed farming

German factory ship, 92 metres (302 ft)

long
Fish and other fishery products are among the most widely consumed
sources of protein and other essential nutrients.[159] In 2009, 16.6% of
the world's intake of animal protein and 6.5% of all protein consumed
came from fish.[159] In order to fulfill this need, coastal countries have
exploited marine resources in their exclusive economic zone, although
fishing vessels are increasingly venturing further afield to exploit
stocks in international waters.[160] In 2011, the total world production of
fish, including aquaculture, was estimated to be 154 million tonnes, of
which most was for human consumption.[159] The harvesting of wild fish
accounted for 90.4 million tonnes, while annually increasing
aquaculture contributes the rest.[159] The north west Pacific is by far the
most productive area with 20.9 million tonnes (27 percent of the global
marine catch) in 2010.[159] In addition, the number of fishing vessels in
2010 reached 4.36 million, whereas the number of people employed in
the primary sector of fish production in the same year amounted to
54.8 million.[159]

Modern fishing vessels include fishing trawlers with a small crew,

stern trawlers, purse seiners, long-line factory vessels and
large factory ships which are designed to stay at sea for weeks,
processing and freezing great quantities of fish. The equipment used
to capture the fish may be purse seines, other seines, trawls,
dredges, gillnets and long-lines and the fish species most frequently
targeted are herring, cod, anchovy, tuna, flounder, mullet, squid
and salmon. Overexploitation has become a serious concern; it does
not only cause the depletion of fish stocks, but also substantially
reduce the size of predatory fish populations.[161] It has been estimated
that "industrialized fisheries typically reduced community biomass by
80% within 15 years of exploitation."[161] In order to avoid
overexploitation, many countries have introduced quotas in their own
waters.[162] However, recovery efforts often entail substantial costs to
local economies or food provision.

Fishing boat in Sri Lanka

Artisan fishing methods include rod and line, harpoons, skin diving,
traps, throw nets and drag nets. Traditional fishing boats are powered
by paddle, wind or outboard motors and operate in near-shore waters.
The Food and Agriculture Organization is encouraging the
development of local fisheries to provide food security to coastal
communities and help alleviate poverty.[163]

Aquaculture
[edit]
Main article: Aquaculture
About 79 million tonnes (78M long tons; 87M short tons) of food and
non-food products were produced by aquaculture in 2010, an all-time
high. About six hundred species of plants and animals were cultured,
some for use in seeding wild populations. The animals raised
included finfish, aquatic reptiles, crustaceans, molluscs, sea
cucumbers, sea urchins, sea squirts and jellyfish.
[159]
Integrated mariculture has the advantage that there is a readily
available supply of planktonic food in the ocean, and waste is
removed naturally.[164] Various methods are employed. Mesh
enclosures for finfish can be suspended in the open seas, cages can
be used in more sheltered waters or ponds can be refreshed with
water at each high tide. Shrimps can be reared in shallow ponds
connected to the open sea.[165] Ropes can be hung in water to grow
algae, oysters and mussels. Oysters can be reared on trays or in
mesh tubes. Sea cucumbers can be ranched on the seabed.
[166]
Captive breeding programmes have raised lobster larvae for
release of juveniles into the wild resulting in an increased lobster
harvest in Maine.[167] At least 145 species of seaweed – red, green, and
brown algae – are eaten worldwide, and some have long been farmed
in Japan and other Asian countries; there is great potential for
additional algaculture.[168] Few maritime flowering plants are widely
used for food but one example is marsh samphire which is eaten both
raw and cooked.[169] A major difficulty for aquaculture is the tendency
towards monoculture and the associated risk of widespread disease.
Aquaculture is also associated with environmental risks; for
instance, shrimp farming has caused the destruction of
important mangrove forests throughout southeast Asia.[170]

Leisure
[edit]
Main articles: Cruising (maritime), Sailing, and Recreational boat
fishing
Use of the sea for leisure developed in the nineteenth century, and
became a significant industry in the twentieth century.[171] Maritime
leisure activities are varied, and
include beachgoing, cruising, yachting, powerboat
racing[172] and fishing;[173] commercially organized voyages on cruise
ships;[174] and trips on smaller vessels for ecotourism such as whale
watching and coastal birdwatching.[175]

Scuba diver with face mask, fins and

underwater breathing apparatus
Sea bathing became the vogue in Europe in the 18th century
after William Buchan advocated the practice for health reasons.
[176]
Surfing is a sport in which a wave is ridden by a surfer, with or
without a surfboard. Other marine water sports include kite surfing,
where a power kite propels a rider on a board across the water,
[177]
windsurfing, where the power is provided by a fixed, manoeuvrable
sail[178] and water skiing, where a powerboat is used to pull a skier.[179]

Beneath the surface, freediving is necessarily restricted to shallow

descents. Pearl divers can dive to 40 feet (12 m) with baskets to
collect oysters.[180] Human eyes are not adapted for use underwater but
vision can be improved by wearing a diving mask. Other useful
equipment includes fins and snorkels, and scuba equipment allows
underwater breathing and hence a longer time can be spent beneath
the surface.[181] The depths that can be reached by divers and the
length of time they can stay underwater is limited by the increase of
pressure they experience as they descend and the need to
prevent decompression sickness as they return to the surface.
Recreational divers restrict themselves to depths of 100 feet (30 m)
beyond which the danger of nitrogen narcosis increases. Deeper
dives can be made with specialised equipment and training.[181]

Industry
[edit]
Power generation
[edit]
Main articles: Marine energy and Offshore wind power
The sea offers a very large supply of energy carried by ocean
waves, tides, salinity differences, and ocean temperature
differences which can be harnessed to generate electricity.[182] Forms
of sustainable marine energy include tidal power, ocean thermal
energy and wave power.[182][183] Electricity power stations are often
located on the coast or beside an estuary so that the sea can be used
as a heat sink. A colder heat sink enables more efficient power
generation, which is important for expensive nuclear power plants in
particular.[184]

Tidal power: the 1 km Rance Tidal

Power Station in Brittany generates 0.5 GW.
Tidal power uses generators to produce electricity from tidal flows,
sometimes by using a dam to store and then release seawater. The
Rance barrage, 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) long, near St
Malo in Brittany opened in 1967; it generates about 0.5 GW, but it has
been followed by few similar schemes.[3]: 111–112

The large and highly variable energy of waves gives them enormous
destructive capability, making affordable and reliable wave machines
problematic to develop. A small 2 MW commercial wave power plant,
"Osprey", was built in Northern Scotland in 1995 about 300 metres
(980 feet) offshore. It was soon damaged by waves, then destroyed by
a storm.[3]: 112

Offshore wind power is captured by wind turbines placed out at sea; it

has the advantage that wind speeds are higher than on land, though
wind farms are more costly to construct offshore.[185] The first offshore
wind farm was installed in Denmark in 1991,[186] and the installed
capacity of worldwide offshore wind farms reached 34 GW in 2020,
mainly situated in Europe.[187]

Extractive industries
[edit]
Main articles: Offshore drilling and Deep sea mining
The seabed contains large reserves of minerals which can be
exploited by dredging. This has advantages over land-based mining in
that equipment can be built at
specialised shipyards and infrastructure costs are lower.
Disadvantages include problems caused by waves and tides, the
tendency for excavations to silt up and the washing away of spoil
heaps. There is a risk of coastal erosion and environmental damage.
[188]

Minerals precipitated near a

hydrothermal vent
Seafloor massive sulphide deposits are potential sources
of silver, gold, copper, lead and zinc and trace metals since their
discovery in the 1960s. They form when geothermally heated water is
emitted from deep sea hydrothermal vents known as "black smokers".
The ores are of high quality but prohibitively costly to extract.[189]

There are large deposits of petroleum and natural gas, in rocks

beneath the seabed. Offshore platforms and drilling rigs extract the oil
or gas and store it for transport to land. Offshore oil and gas
production can be difficult due to the remote, harsh environment.
[190]
Drilling for oil in the sea has environmental impacts. Animals may
be disorientated by seismic waves used to locate deposits, and there
is debate as to whether this causes the beaching of whales.[191] Toxic
substances such as mercury, lead and arsenic may be released. The
infrastructure may cause damage, and oil may be spilt.[192]

Large quantities of methane clathrate exist on the seabed and

in ocean sediment, of interest as a potential energy source.[193] Also on
the seabed are manganese nodules formed of layers
of iron, manganese and other hydroxides around a core. In the Pacific,
these may cover up to 30 percent of the deep ocean floor. The
minerals precipitate from seawater and grow very slowly. Their
commercial extraction for nickel was investigated in the 1970s but
abandoned in favour of more convenient sources.[194] In suitable
locations, diamonds are gathered from the seafloor using suction
hoses to bring gravel ashore. In deeper waters, mobile seafloor
crawlers are used and the deposits are pumped to a vessel above. In
Namibia, more diamonds are now collected from marine sources than
by conventional methods on land.[195]
 Reverse osmosis desalination plant
The sea holds large quantities of valuable dissolved minerals.[196] The
most important, Salt for table and industrial use has been harvested
by solar evaporation from shallow ponds since prehistoric
times. Bromine, accumulated after being leached from the land, is
economically recovered from the Dead Sea, where it occurs at 55,000
parts per million (ppm).[197]

Fresh water production

[edit]
Desalination is the technique of removing salts from seawater to
leave fresh water suitable for drinking or irrigation. The two main
processing methods, vacuum distillation and reverse osmosis, use
large quantities of energy. Desalination is normally only undertaken
where fresh water from other sources is in short supply or energy is
plentiful, as in the excess heat generated by power stations. The brine
produced as a by-product contains some toxic materials and is
returned to the sea.[198]

Indigenous sea peoples

[edit]
Several nomadic indigenous groups in Maritime Southeast Asia live in
boats and derive nearly all they need from the sea. The Moken
people live on the coasts of Thailand and Burma and islands in
the Andaman Sea.[199] Some Sea Gypsies are accomplished free-
divers, able to descend to depths of 30 metres (98 ft), though many
are adopting a more settled, land-based way of life.[200][201]

The indigenous peoples of the Arctic such as

the Chukchi, Inuit, Inuvialuit and Yup'iit hunt marine mammals
including seals and whales,[202] and the Torres Strait Islanders of
Australia include the Great Barrier Reef among their possessions.
They live a traditional life on the islands involving hunting, fishing,
gardening and trading with neighbouring peoples in Papua and
mainland Aboriginal Australians.[203]

In culture
[edit]
Main article: Sea in culture

The Great Wave off

Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1830[3]: 8
The sea appears in human culture in contradictory ways, as both
powerful but serene and as beautiful but dangerous.[3]: 10 It has its place
in literature, art, poetry, film, theatre, classical music, mythology and
dream interpretation.[204] The Ancients personified it, believing it to be
under the control of a being who needed to be appeased, and
symbolically, it has been perceived as a hostile environment
populated by fantastic creatures; the Leviathan of the Bible,
[205]
Scylla in Greek mythology,[206] Isonade in Japanese mythology,
[207]
and the kraken of late Norse mythology.[208]

Dutch Golden Age painting: The Y at

Amsterdam, seen from the Mosselsteiger (mussel pier) by Ludolf
Bakhuizen, 1673[209]
The sea and ships have been depicted in art ranging from simple
drawings on the walls of huts in Lamu[204] to seascapes by Joseph
Turner. In Dutch Golden Age painting, artists such as Jan
Porcellis, Hendrick Dubbels, Willem van de Velde the Elder and his
son, and Ludolf Bakhuizen celebrated the sea and the Dutch navy at
the peak of its military prowess.[209][210] The Japanese artist Katsushika
Hokusai created colour prints of the moods of the sea, including The
Great Wave off Kanagawa.[3]: 8

Music too has been inspired by the ocean, sometimes by composers

who lived or worked near the shore and saw its many different
aspects. Sea shanties, songs that were chanted by mariners to help
them perform arduous tasks, have been woven into compositions and
impressions in music have been created of calm waters, crashing
waves and storms at sea.[211]: 4–8

The Oceanids (The Naiads of the Sea),

a painting by Gustave Doré (c. 1860)
As a symbol, the sea has for centuries played a role
in literature, poetry and dreams. Sometimes it is there just as a gentle
background but often it introduces such themes as storm, shipwreck,
battle, hardship, disaster, the dashing of hopes and death.[211]: 45 In
his epic poem the Odyssey, written in the eighth century BC,
[212]
Homer describes the ten-year voyage of the Greek
hero Odysseus who struggles to return home across the sea's many
hazards after the war described in the Iliad.[213] The sea is a recurring
theme in the Haiku poems of the Japanese Edo period poet Matsuo
Bashō (松尾 芭蕉) (1644–1694).[214] In the works of psychiatrist Carl
Jung, the sea symbolizes the personal and the collective
unconscious in dream interpretation, the depths of the sea
symbolizing the depths of the unconscious mind.[215]

Environmental issues
[edit]
Main articles: Ocean § Threats from human activities, and Human
impact on marine life
The environmental issues that affect the sea can loosely be grouped
into those that stem from marine pollution, from over exploitation and
those that stem from climate change. They all impact marine
ecosystems and food webs and may result in consequences as yet
unrecognised for the biodiversity and continuation of marine life forms.
[216]
An overview of environmental issues is shown below:

 Marine pollution: Pathways of pollution include direct

discharge, land runoff, ship pollution, atmospheric pollution
and, potentially, deep sea mining. The types of marine
pollution can be grouped as pollution from marine
debris, plastic pollution, including microplastics, nutrient
pollution, toxins and underwater noise.
 Over exploitation and biodiversity loss: overfishing, habitat
loss, introduction of invasive species
 Effects of climate change on the sea: an increase in sea
surface temperature as well as ocean temperatures at
greater depths, more frequent marine heatwaves,
 a reduction in pH value, a rise in sea level from ocean
warming and ice sheet melting, sea ice decline in the Arctic,
increased upper ocean stratification, reductions in oxygen
levels, increased contrasts in salinity (salty areas becoming
saltier and fresher areas becoming less salty),[217] changes
to ocean currents including a weakening of the Atlantic
meridional overturning circulation, and stronger tropical
cyclones and monsoons.[218]
Marine pollution
[edit]
Main article: Marine pollution
Many substances enter the sea as a result of human activities.
Combustion products are transported in the air and deposited into the
sea by precipitation. Industrial outflows and sewage contribute heavy
metals, pesticides, PCBs, disinfectants, household cleaning products
and other synthetic chemicals. These become concentrated in the
surface film and in marine sediment, especially estuarine mud. The
result of all this contamination is largely unknown because of the large
number of substances involved and the lack of information on their
biological effects.[219] The heavy metals of greatest concern are copper,
lead, mercury, cadmium and zinc which may be bio-accumulated by
marine organisms and are passed up the food chain.[220]

Much floating plastic rubbish does not biodegrade, instead

disintegrating over time and eventually breaking down to the
molecular level. Rigid plastics may float for years.[221] In the centre of
the Pacific gyre there is a permanent floating accumulation of
mostly plastic waste[222] and there is a similar garbage patch in the
Atlantic.[223] Foraging sea birds such as the albatross and petrel may
mistake debris for food, and accumulate indigestible plastic in their
digestive systems. Turtles and whales have been found with plastic
bags and fishing line in their stomachs. Microplastics may sink,
threatening filter feeders on the seabed.[224]

Most oil pollution in the sea comes from cities and industry.[225] Oil is
dangerous for marine animals. It can clog the feathers of sea birds,
reducing their insulating effect and the birds' buoyancy, and be
ingested when they preen themselves in an attempt to remove the
contaminant. Marine mammals are less seriously affected but may be
chilled through the removal of their insulation, blinded, dehydrated or
poisoned. Benthic invertebrates are swamped when the oil sinks, fish
are poisoned and the food chain is disrupted. In the short term, oil
spills result in wildlife populations being decreased and unbalanced,
leisure activities being affected and the livelihoods of people
dependent on the sea being devastated.[226] The marine environment
has self-cleansing properties and naturally occurring bacteria will act
over time to remove oil from the sea. In the Gulf of Mexico, where oil-
eating bacteria are already present, they take only a few days to
consume spilt oil.[227]
Run-off of fertilisers from agricultural land is a major source of
pollution in some areas and the discharge of raw sewage has a similar
effect. The extra nutrients provided by these sources can
cause excessive plant growth. Nitrogen is often the limiting factor in
marine systems, and with added nitrogen, algal blooms and red
tides can lower the oxygen level of the water and kill marine animals.
Such events have created dead zones in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf
of Mexico.[225] Some algal blooms are caused by cyanobacteria that
make shellfish that filter feed on them toxic, harming animals like sea
otters.[228] Nuclear facilities too can pollute. The Irish Sea was
contaminated by radioactive caesium-137 from the
former Sellafield nuclear fuel processing plant[229] and nuclear
accidents may also cause radioactive material to seep into the sea, as
did the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in
2011.[230]

The dumping of waste (including oil, noxious liquids, sewage and

garbage) at sea is governed by international law. The London
Convention (1972) is a United Nations agreement to control ocean
dumping which had been ratified by 89 countries by 8 June 2012.
[231]
MARPOL 73/78 is a convention to minimize pollution of the seas by
ships. By May 2013, 152 maritime nations had ratified MARPOL.[232]

See also
[edit]

 Oceans portal

 Water portal

 Geography portal

 World portal

 Ocean surface topography – Shape of the ocean surface

relative to the geoid
 List of seas
 Bay
 Gulf
Notes
[edit]

1. ^ There is no accepted technical definition of sea amongst

oceanographers. One definition is that a sea is a sub-division
of an ocean, which means that it must have oceanic
basin crust on its floor. This definition accepts the Caspian as
a sea because it was once part of an ancient ocean.
[5]
The Introduction to Marine Biology defines a sea as a "land-
locked" body of water, adding that the term "sea" is only one
of convenience.[6] The Glossary of Mapping Sciences similarly
 states that the boundaries between seas and other bodies of
water are arbitrary.[7]
2. ^ According to this definition, the Caspian would be excluded
as it is legally an "international lake".[10]
3. ^ Hydrous ringwoodite recovered from volcanic
eruptions suggests that the transition zone between
the lower and upper mantle holds between one[13] and
three[14] times as much water as all of the world's surface
oceans combined. Experiments to recreate the conditions of
the lower mantle suggest it may contain still more water as
well, as much as five times the mass of water present in the
world's oceans.[15][16]
4. ^ "As the waves leave the region where they were generated,
the longer ones outpace the shorter because their velocity is
greater. Gradually, they fall in with other waves travelling at
similar speed – where different waves are in phase they
reinforce each other, and where out of phase they are
reduced. Eventually, a regular pattern of high and low waves
(or swell) is developed that remains constant as it travels out
across the ocean."[3]: 83–84

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