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Sea

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General Geography

   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.

List of seas

Atlantic Ocean

   Central coast of Chile
   Enlarge
   Central coast of Chile
   Mediterranean Sea on the coast of Antalya, Turkey at sunset.
   Enlarge
   Mediterranean Sea on the coast of Antalya, Turkey at sunset.
     * Baffin Bay
     * Gulf of St. Lawrence
     * Bay of Fundy
     * Caribbean Sea
     * Gulf of Mexico
     * Sargasso Sea†
     * North Sea
     * Baltic Sea
          + Central Baltic Sea
          + Gulf of Bothnia
               o Bay of Bothnia
               o Bothnian Sea
          + Gulf of Finland
     * Sea of the Hebrides
     * Irish Sea
     * Celtic Sea
     * English Channel
     * Mediterranean Sea
          + Adriatic Sea
          + Aegean Sea
               o Mirtoon Sea
               o Sea of Crete
               o Thracian Sea
          + Alboran Sea
          + Marmara Sea
          + Black Sea
               o Sea of Azov
          + Catalan Sea
          + Ionian Sea
          + Ligurian Sea
          + Tyrrhenian Sea
          + Gulf of Sidra
          + Sea of Marmara

Arctic Ocean

     * Hudson Bay
          + James Bay
     * Barents Sea
     * Kara Sea
     * Beaufort Sea
     * Amundsen Gulf
     * Greenland Sea
     * Norwegian Sea
     * Chukchi Sea
     * Laptev Sea
     * East Siberian Sea
     * White Sea
     * Lincoln Sea

Indian Ocean

   Tasman Sea on the West Coast of New Zealand
   Enlarge
   Tasman Sea on the West Coast of New Zealand
     * Red Sea
     * Gulf of Aden
     * Persian Gulf
     * Gulf of Oman
     * Arabian Sea
     * Bay of Bengal
     * Andaman Sea
     * Timor Sea

Pacific Ocean

     * Chilean Sea
     * Bering Sea
     * Gulf of Alaska
     * Salish Sea
     * Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California)
     * Sea of Okhotsk
     * Sea of Japan
     * Seto Inland Sea
     * East China Sea
     * South China Sea
     * Sulu Sea
     * Celebes Sea
     * Bohol Sea (Mindanao Sea)
     * Philippine Sea
     * Camotes Sea
     * Flores Sea
     * Banda Sea
     * Arafura Sea
     * Timor Sea
     * Tasman Sea
     * Yellow Sea
     * Bohai Sea
     * Coral Sea
     * Gulf of Carpentaria
     * Bismarck Sea
     * Solomon Sea
     * Ceram Sea
     * Halmahera Sea
     * Molucca Sea
     * Savu Sea
     * Java Sea
     * Gulf of Thailand

Southern Ocean

     * Weddell Sea
     * Ross Sea
     * Great Australian Bight
     * Gulf Saint Vincent
     * Spencer Gulf
     * Scotia Sea
     * Amundsen Sea
     * Bellingshausen Sea
     * Davis Sea

Landlocked seas

     * Aral Sea
     * Caspian Sea
     * Dead Sea
     * Sea of Galilee
     * Salton Sea
     * Great Salt Lake

   † Not listed in IHO S-23 4th ed.

Ambiguous terminology

   Some bodies of water that are called "seas" are not actually seas;
   there are also some seas that are not called "seas". The following is
   an incomplete list of such potentially confusing names.
     * The Sea of Galilee is a small freshwater lake with a natural
       outlet, which is properly called Lake Tiberias or Lake Kinneret on
       modern Israeli maps, but its archaic name remains in use.
     * The Sea of Cortez is more commonly known as the Gulf of California.
     * The Persian Gulf is a sea.

Extraterrestrial seas

   Lunar maria are vast basaltic plains on the Moon that were thought to
   be bodies of water by early astronomers, who referred to them as
   "seas".

   Liquid water may have existed on the surface of Mars in the distant
   past, and several basins on Mars have been proposed as dry sea beds.
   The largest is Vastitas Borealis; others include Hellas Planitia and
   Argyre Planitia.

   Liquid water is thought to be present under the surface of several
   moons, most notably Europa.

   Liquid hydrocarbons are thought to be present on the surface of Titan,
   though it may be more accurate to describe them as "lakes" rather than
   "seas".

Science

   The term "sea" has also been used in quantum physics. Dirac sea is an
   interpretation of the negative energy states that comprises the vacuum.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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