List of seas on Earth

This is a list of seas of the World Ocean, including marginal seas, areas of water, various gulfs, bights, bays, and straits.^[2] In many cases it is a matter of tradition for a body of water to be named a sea or a bay, etc., therefore all these types are listed here. Entities called "seas" which are not divisions of the World Ocean are not included in this list, nor are ocean gyres.

Terminology

• Ocean – the four to seven largest named bodies of water in the World Ocean, all of which have "ocean" in the name (see: Borders of the oceans for details).
• Sea has several definitions:^[a]
  • A division of an ocean, delineated by landforms,^[6] currents (e.g., Sargasso Sea), or specific latitude or longitude boundaries. This includes but is not limited to marginal seas, and this is the definition used for inclusion in this list.
  • A marginal sea is a division of an ocean, partially enclosed by islands, archipelagos, or peninsulas, adjacent to or widely open to the open ocean at the surface, and/or bounded by submarine ridges on the sea floor.^[7]
  • The World Ocean. For example, the Law of the Sea states that all of the World Ocean is "sea",^{[8][9][10][b]} and this is also common usage for "the sea".
  • Any large body of water with "sea" in the name, including lakes.
• River – a narrow strip of water that flows over land from a higher elevation to a lower one
• Tributary – a small river that flows into a larger one
• Estuary – the piece of a river that flows into the sea or ocean
• Strait – a narrow area of water connecting two wider areas of water, also sometimes known as a passage
• Channel – usually wider than a strait
• Passage – connects waters between islands, also sometimes known as a strait
• Canal – a human-made channel
• Fjard – a large open water between groups of islands

There are several terms used for bulges of ocean that result from indentations of land, which overlap in definition, and which are not consistently differentiated:^[12]

• Bay – generic term; though most features with "bay" in the name are small, some are very large
• Gulf – a very large bay, often a top-level division of an ocean or sea
• Fjord – a long bay with steep sides, typically formed by a glacier
• Bight – a bay that is typically shallower than a sound
• Sound – a large, wide bay which is typically deeper than a bight or a strait
• Cove – a small, typically sheltered bay with a relatively narrow entrance
• Inlet – a narrow and long bay similar to a land peninsula, but adjoining the sea
• Polynya – least used of these terms, a patch of water surrounded by ice

Many features could be considered to be more than one of these, and all of these terms are used in place names inconsistently; especially bays, gulfs, and bights, which can be very large or very small. This list includes large areas of water no matter the term used in the name.

Largest seas by area

The largest terrestrial seas, in decreasing order of area, are:

Marginal seas by ocean

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (July 2023)

Seas may be considered marginal between ocean and land, or between oceans in which case they may be treated as marginal parts of either. There is no ultimate authority on the matter.^[13]

Defined by ocean currents

While all other seas in the world are defined at least in part by land boundaries, there is only one sea which is defined only by ocean currents:^[20]

• Sargasso Sea – a sea defined by the four ocean currents which create the North Atlantic Gyre

Not included

Entities called "seas" which are not divisions of the World Ocean are not included in this list. Excluded are:

• Lakes, ponds, etc.:
  • Salt lakes with "sea" in the name: Aral Sea, Dead Sea, Caspian Sea, Salton Sea
  • Freshwater lakes with "sea" in the name: Sea of Galilee
  • Bodies of water identified in lakes (bays, straits, etc.)
• Ocean gyres
• Seas in fiction, mythology, or religion

See also

• Inland sea
• List of largest lakes and seas in the Solar System
• Mediterranean seas
• Oceanography

Notes

References

External links

The dictionary definition of marginal sea at Wiktionary