What is the difference between ocean and sea?

Jump to Last Post 1-6 of 6 discussions (6 posts)
  1. Lovely 7 profile image60
    Lovely 7posted 12 years ago

    What is the difference between ocean and sea?

  2. Tusitala Tom profile image70
    Tusitala Tomposted 12 years ago

    The terms are largely interchangeable.  However, strictly speaking, the way it was explained to me is there are only seven (7) oceans.  The North Atlantic, the South Atlantic, The Indian Ocean, the North Pacific, the South Pacific and the Arctic and the Antartic Oceans.    You often find an ocean or even a part of it divided into seas.  For example, around Papua-New Guinea you have the Bismark Sea, the Arafura Sea, the Coral Sea et cetera.   Seas are often named after island or lands close by to them, whereas oceans flank onto many lands.

    Even oceans are fairly arbitarily located. For example, where does the Indian Ocean give way to the Antarctic Ocean?   Where does the North Pacific become the Arctic Ocean?

    Easy to see why it can be a little confusing...

  3. karthikkash profile image64
    karthikkashposted 12 years ago

    It would simply be the size according to my knowledge. In the increasing size of water bodies there are ponds, streams, rivers, seas and oceans. There are numerous seas in the world, but there are 5 (7, if you divide the Atlantic and Pacific into north and south) oceans which are the largest water bodies.

  4. Goody5 profile image60
    Goody5posted 12 years ago

    The difference is oceans are much bigger than seas.

  5. profile image0
    JThomp42posted 12 years ago

    A sea is part of an ocean that is partially surrounded by land. If it is totally surrounded, then it's called an inland sea. An ocean is a body of salt water with no boundaries and limitless volume. It's limitless because with no boundaries, definitive quantity cannot be deduced. Between the two, the ocean is the larger of the two. Oceans are enormous when compared to any sea. The largest sea in the world is the Mediterranean with a total area of 965,000 square miles which is much smaller than the smallest ocean in the world the Arctic at 5,427,000 square miles. There are only five oceans in the world namely the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, the Southern and the Arctic while there are dozens of seas around the world. Seas being close to land are generally much shallower than oceans and therefore it is possible for plant and animal life to thrive on a sea bed because it is generally lit up by light. Ocean beds are much much deeper, and support only very basic life forms like bacteria and shrimp that feed on them in isolated parts. This is because no light reaches there and the pressure are such that marine life as we popularly conceive cannot survive. Some idea of the depth of an ocean can be had from the fact that the Pacific Ocean has an average depth of 3790 meters or 12,430 feet. The average depth of the Mediterranean Sea on the other hand is 4690 feet.

  6. tussin profile image59
    tussinposted 12 years ago

    size.
    ..............................................................................................................

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)