what is the different between Ocean and Sea?

Answer 1

Today, the world ocean is generally divided into four main oceans
The Atlantic
The Pacific
The Indian
The Arctic

In addition, there are numerous smaller seas and gulfs.


In ancient and pre-Colombian times, the world was believed to have many seas.

The Red Sea
The Mediterranean Sea
The Persian Gulf
The Black Sea
The Adriatic Sea
The Caspian Sea
The Indian Ocean

As another user posted, the terms sea and ocean are virtually interchangeable, yet can convey quite different senses according to context.

However, in one regard they are not interchangeable.

There are four oceans, by standard usage today.

Answer 2

Technically nothing. Ocean and Sea can both be used to define the 3/4 of the Earth covered in salt water. That said, there are 5 commonly defined Oceans, and several dozen defined Seas.
Seas are often smaller, geographically than Oceans.

Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic are the common Oceans

There are several Seas, like the Dead Sea, which are landlocked seas.

As a personal preference, I like to refer to anything I can observe from a coast as a Sea, and anywhere I am on open water, and away from a coast as Ocean. My reasoning is that Ocean comes from the Greek word which described the river that travels around the Earth, and Sea comes from a Gothic word which meant water beyond the shore.

That's at least how I understand the origins.

Answer 3

Oceans (from Ὠκεανός Okeanos in Greek) are saline waters that cover almost three quarters (71%) of the surface of the Earth. The area of the oceans is 361 million sq. km., and nearly half of the world's marine waters are over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep.

Though somewhat arbitrarily divided into several "separate" oceans, these oceans are in fact one global, interconnected body of salt water, often called the World Ocean. The major divisions are defined in part by the continents and a variety of archipelagos, and are labeled the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean. Smaller regions of the oceans are called seas, gulfs, straits and other names.

There are also some smaller bodies of salt water that are not interconnected with the World Ocean (e.g., the Caspian Sea, the Great Salt Lake). These are not considered to be oceans or parts of oceans, though some of them have been given the name, sea.

Geologically, an ocean is an area of oceanic crust covered by water. Oceanic crust is the thin layer of solidified volcanic basalt that covers the Earth's mantle where there are no continents. From this point of view, there are three "oceans" today: the World Ocean, and the Black and Caspian Seas that were formed by the collision of Cimmeria with Laurasia. The Mediterranean Sea is very nearly its own "ocean", being connected to the World Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar, and indeed several times over the last few million years movement of the African Continent has closed the strait off entirely, making the Mediterranean a fourth "ocean". (The Black Sea is connected to the Mediterranean through the Bosporus, but this is in effect a natural canal cut through continental rock some 7,000 years ago, rather than a piece of oceanic sea floor like the Strait of Gibraltar.)

and

A sea is a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, or a large, usually saline, lake that lacks a natural outlet such as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea. The term is used colloquially as synonymous with ocean, as in "the tropical sea" or "down to the sea shore", or even "sea water" to refer to water of the ocean. Large lakes, such as the Great Lakes, are sometimes referred to as inland seas. Many seas are marginal seas, in which currents are caused by ocean winds; others are mediterranean seas, in which currents are caused by differences in salinity and temperature.

The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is the world authority when it comes to defining seas. The current defining document is the Special publication S-23, Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition, 1953. The second edition dated back to 1937, and the first to 1928. 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.

You could get more information from the 2 links below...

Answer 4

A sea is a physique of salt water this is surrounded through land on all or maximum aspects, or this is a factor of one of the oceans. An ocean is a huge expanse of salt water, distinctly any of the Earth's 5 important such aspects, the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic oceans. As a wide-unfold rule, seas in basic terms touch one or 2 continents, yet oceans touch 3 or greater continents.

Answer 5

Oceans are generally bigger than seas and one other difference: Some seas consist of fresh water - none of the oceans do.

Answer 6

An ocean is just must bigger than a sea. There are only four bodies of water on our planet we consider big enough to be called oceans.

Answer 7

Aside from the size, where Ocean is bigger than sea..sea is more of a salt water. And if you are going to trace the sea..it is leading to the ocean.Hope this helps. God bless

Answer 8

Ocean is the one big body of water on earth,. Sea is a smallerbody of water that branches off of the ocean that is enclosed three sides

Answer 9

Oceans are a huge expanse of water that separate continents. Sea is usually a mass of water between countries too big to be a channel or strait etc

Answer 10

I think that Seas are bodies of salt water that are more land locked than oceans like the Mediterranean.