One Earth, there are three major oceans: The Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian.

The rest of the Earth is taken up by those comparatively small islands (aka continents) known as Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

Lauren Cahn is a New York-based writer whose work has appeared regularly on Reader's Digest, The Huffington Post, and a variety of other publications since 2008. (A) 1 (B) 4 (C) 5 (D) all of the above. We break that single ocean into parts because the parts contain specific features and characteristics that are definitive to those regions. We love feedback :-) and want your input on how to make Science Trends even better. John P. Rafferty writes about Earth processes and the environment.

Some 71 percent of Earth’s surface is covered by saltwater oceans, and the continents themselves possess lakes, rivers, and, in some cases, seas. A collection of scientific organizations, including the International Hydrographic Organization, has considered the existence of the Southern Ocean (also called the Antarctic Ocean) in the waters surrounding Antarctica below 60° S latitude. The Pacific is the largest and oldest of the oceans. One of the most different features from all the other oceans is that the arctic ocean is covered in mountains of ice throughout most of the year.

google_ad_slot = "1566441598";  ×  .

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The designation of the world’s oceans has evolved over time. You see, there is only one global ocean on the planet. Today our question is “How many Oceans Are There in the World? Many people combine the two continents Asia and Europe into a single continent and call it Eurasia. However, our oceans are more commonly geographically divided into the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern (Antarctic) Oceans. These plastics affect the ecosystems of numerous species and even make their way back to humans, inside of fishes. Until the year 2000, it was generally accepted that there are four oceans on Earth: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic Oceans. There is one global ocean. 232323Ni/ShutterstockHow many oceans are there in the world, you ask? These oceans are recognized by almost all oceanic organizations around the world. Number Of Oceans In The World (Historically Standard): 4, Number Of Oceans In The World (New IHO Standard): 5, “We are tied to the ocean.

As we continue to explore and learn about the ocean, it becomes important to understand how it is defined by the world and what features it has that are crucial to the stability of the world. However, most countries - including the United States - now recognize the Southern (Antarctic) as the fifth ocean basin. The Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian are the most commonly known. The unique ecology and features of this region are sufficient enough, by IHO standards, to give it its own classification. Today, the historic “four-ocean” mindset is virtually obsolete, but the National Ocean Service (NOAA) still recognizes four oceanic basins within the Earth’s single Global Ocean. google_ad_height = 250; Scientists estimate that 230,000 marine species are currently known, but the total could be up to 10 times that number.

Its in our text book.

That's great to hear! If we contains the ancient oceans there are 19 oceans in the world. We may one day be able to clean up the messes we have caused from plastics to oil spills.

It is estimated that by 2040, the majority of the ice (if not all) will be melted because of global warming. Working Paper No. When I was in undergrad, the Arctic was a “sea” and an “ocean” depending on the professor.

Unfortunately, the Pacific ocean is home to the largest gathering of plastics that humans have released into the environments. Lauren is also an author of crime fiction; her first full-length manuscript, The Trust Game, was short-listed for the 2017 CLUE Award for emerging talent in the genre of suspense fiction.

This results in the release of natural gases, organisms, and nutrients that were all trapped in the ice. Required fields are marked *.

Ocean : An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Just how many oceans does our planet have? Dictionary Developing Vaccines For Fast-Evolving Viruses: We Need The Help Of Computers!

It is … Logan knows he is proven correct; therefore, he is.

By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica.

five This is because tectonic plates below the ocean are colliding with the continental plates along the ridges of the Pacific ocean. Parts of these oceans are defined as gulfs, seas, straits, and other bodies of water within the oceans.

How Many Categories of Nobel Prize Are There? This is because the ocean is comprised of one global and interconnected body of saltwater. Wikipedia Silver-sulfur Supertetrahedral Clusters: Filling A Gap In The Field Of Metal-Chalcogenide Tetrahedral Clusters, Traffic Noise Negatively Affects Developing Birds, Developing The Next Generation High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries, Accessing Ventral Intradural Cysts Via Cord Splitting, Roberto Colasanti and Alessandro Di Rienzo, A Natural Language Processing Technique To Detect Ineffective Or Harmful Medical Devices, Detecting Malicious Traffic With Convolutional Neutron Networks, Forest “Hotspots” Of High Conservation Interest – Using The Past As A Guide For Management, Jake Elliott, Ya-Huei Huang, David Minton & Andrew Freed, 140 million square miles (71% of the Earth’s surface), 36,198 feet (11,033 m); the deepest point is the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific, Mauna Kea in Hawaii rises 33,474 feet (10,203 m) from its base on the ocean floor, Massive mountain ranges that are 40,000 miles (64,000 km) long. •

All Rights Reserved.

Besides, whether major or not, all four belong to that vast, global body of water that represents 97 percent of the Earth’s water supply (a mere 1 percent of the Earth’s water is freshwater). If you look on Google Maps, it’s there. This world ocean covers 71% of the Earth’s surface. Historically, there are four named ocean basins: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Arctic.