What seas are there

From here, the waters split—some of it is pushed back north towards the Indian subcontinent, and the rest of it moves up towards the North Pacific. On this journey north, the waters are warmed by the sun, becoming less dense and rising up in the water column.

Once the water reaches its new, higher position in the water column as a result of surface winds, equatorial heat influx, and salinity reduction, it once again spreads to make room for more rising water parcels, creating the second half of the current of the global ocean conveyor belt.

Learn more about these impacts here. Skip to main content. In the absolute broadest terms, the earth's surface is mostly covered by a continuous body of saltwater known as the global ocean. But, do to variations in climate, weather, and wildlife, and for the sake of being able to describe the locations of things people have found it useful to divide the ocean into many constituent parts.

Most people will be aware of the phrase "the seven seas", which is common in pop culture about sailors and seadogs. The term itself is very old, with variations being found in Ancient Mesopotamia, India, and Rome. The seven seas in each case refer to different bodies of water. Given that definition, there are about 50 seas around the world. But that number includes water bodies not always thought of as seas, such as the Gulf of Mexico and the Hudson Bay. Moreover, in some cases, a sea is completely landlocked.

Other seas surrounded by land include the Aral Sea and the Dead Sea. They contain saltwater and have been called seas for many years, but many oceanographers and geographers are more inclined to call them lakes. Still, that leaves dozens of water bodies that fit the traditional definition of a sea, even though they can be quite different from one another. A sea can be more than 2.

Or, it can be as tiny as the Sea of Marmara, which is less than 12, square kilometers 5, square miles in area. A sea can also be very warm for most of the year. The Red Sea, for instance, has an average temperature of around 30 degrees Celsius 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

It is also the saltiest sea, containing 41 parts of salt per 1, parts of seawater. Seas can be quite cold, too. The Greenland Sea, for instance, has surface water that hovers near the freezing mark most of the year.

It contains a unique mixture of saltwater and freshwater, making it the largest brackish water body on the planet. As a result, the Baltic Sea contains a small, but rare, variety of freshwater and saltwater plants and animals that have been able to adapt to their brackish environment. She was part of the crew aboard the exploration vessel Nautilus , a ship that shared its scientific discoveries in the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, and elsewhere with students around the world in online lessons and chats.

She says the seas—big and small, cold and warm—can teach scientists about the rest of the world. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society. National Geographic Society.