| | Destinations Facts about the oceans and seas
When our friend and solo ocean racer, Tim Kent, began thinking about a second Around Alone and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston renamed it the Five Oceans Race, Tim inspired us to do a little research about just how many oceans and seas there really are. If you think about it, all of them except one are connected and so technically might be considered one ocean. (And I don't know if we'd consider Hudson Bay to be a sea, but who are we to question the powers that be?)
Wow, that Pacific really is amazing, no? More than twice the size of the Atlantic, and significantly deeper than Everest, earth's highest mountain (29,035 feet), is high .
| Name | Area | Average
depth | Greatest known
depth | Place of
greatest known depth | | sq. mi. | sq. km | ft. | m | ft. | m | | Pacific Ocean | 60,060,700 | 155,557,000 | 13,215 | 4,028 | 36,198 | 11,033 | Mariana Trench | | Atlantic Ocean | 29,637,900 | 76,762,000 | 12,880 | 3,926 | 30,246 | 9,219 | Puerto Rico Trench | | Indian Ocean | 26,469,500 | 68,556,000 | 13,002 | 3,963 | 24,460 | 7,455 | Sunda Trench | |
Southern Ocean (1)
| 7,848,300 | 20,327,000 | 13,100–16,400 | 4,000–5,000 | 23,736 | 7,235 | South Sandwich Trench | | Arctic Ocean | 5,427,000 | 14,056,000 | 3,953 | 1,205 | 18,456 | 5,625 | 77°45'N; 175°W | | Mediterranean Sea (2) | 1,144,800 | 2,965,800 | 4,688 | 1,429 | 15,197 | 4,632 | Off Cape Matapan , Greece | | Caribbean Sea | 1,049,500 | 2,718,200 | 8,685 | 2,647 | 22,788 | 6,946 | Off Cayman Islands | | South China Sea | 895,400 | 2,319,000 | 5,419 | 1,652 | 16,456 | 5,016 | West of Luzon | | Bering Sea | 884,900 | 2,291,900 | 5,075 | 1,547 | 15,659 | 4,773 | Off Buldir Island | | Gulf of Mexico | 615,000 | 1,592,800 | 4,874 | 1,486 | 12,425 | 3,787 | Sigsbee Deep | | Okhotsk Sea | 613,800 | 1,589,700 | 2,749 | 838 | 12,001 | 3,658 | 146°10'E; 46°50'N | | East China Sea | 482,300 | 1,249,200 | 617 | 188 | 9,126 | 2,782 | 25°16'N; 125°E | | Hudson Bay | 475,800 | 1,232,300 | 420 | 128 | 600 | 183 | Near entrance | | Japan Sea | 389,100 | 1,007,800 | 4,429 | 1,350 | 12,276 | 3,742 | Central Basin | | Andaman Sea | 308,000 | 797,700 | 2,854 | 870 | 12,392 | 3,777 | Off Car Nicobar Island | | North Sea | 222,100 | 575,200 | 308 | 94 | 2,165 | 660 | Skagerrak | | Red Sea | 169,100 | 438,000 | 1,611 | 491 | 7,254 | 2,211 | Off Port Sudan | | Baltic Sea | 163,000 | 422,200 | 180 | 55 | 1,380 | 421 | Off Gotland | 1. A decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in spring 2000 delimited a fifth world ocean. 2. Includes Black Sea and Sea of Azov . 3. The Caspian Sea is called “sea” because the Romans, finding it salty, named it Mare Caspium. Many geographers, however, consider it a lake because it is land-locked. | |
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