Atlantic Ocean

The Aethiopian Ocean in a 1710 French map of Africa

False color map of ocean depth in the Atlantic basin

As the Gulf Stream meanders across the North Atlantic from the North American east coast to Western Europe its temperature drops by 20 C-change.

Path of the thermohaline circulation. Purple paths represent deep-water currents, while blue paths represent surface currents.

In the subpolar gyre of the North Atlantic warm subtropical waters are transformed into colder subpolar and polar waters. In the Labrador Sea this water flows back to the subtropical gyre.

Waves in the trade winds in the Atlantic Ocean—areas of converging winds that move along the same track as the prevailing wind—create instabilities in the atmosphere that may lead to the formation of hurricanes.

Tropical wet and dry climate in San Andrés Island Caribbean, Colombia

Iceberg A22A in the South Atlantic Ocean

Excavation of the Ertebølle middens in 1880

Based on the medieval Íslendingasögur sagas, including the Grœnlendinga saga, this interpretative map of the "Norse World" shows that Norse knowledge of the Americas and the Atlantic remained limited.

The Atlantic Gyres influenced the Portuguese discoveries and trading port routes, here shown in the India Run ("Carreira da Índia"), which would be developed in subsequent years.

Embarked and disembarked slaves in the Atlantic slave trade 1525–1863 (first and last slave voyages)

Capture of Atlantic north-west cod in million tons

Marine debris strewn over the beaches of the South Atlantic Inaccessible Island

Second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about 106460000 km2.

- Atlantic Ocean

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Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica.

The Antarctic Ocean, as delineated by the draft 4th edition of the International Hydrographic Organization's Limits of Oceans and Seas (2002)

A general delineation of the Antarctic Convergence, sometimes used by scientists as the demarcation of the Southern Ocean

The International Hydrographic Organization's delineation of the "Southern Ocean" has moved steadily southwards since the original 1928 edition of its Limits of Oceans and Seas.

"Southern Ocean" as alternative to the Aethiopian Ocean, 18th century

Area inside the black line indicates the area constituting the Pacific Ocean prior to 2002; darker blue areas are its informal current borders following the recreation of the Southern Ocean and the reinclusion of marginal seas

Continents and islands of the Southern Ocean

A map of Australia's official interpretation of the names and limits of oceans and seas around Australia

1564 Typus Orbis Terrarum, a map by Abraham Ortelius showed the imagined link between the proposed continent of Antarctica and South America.

Portrait of Edmund Halley by Godfrey Kneller (before 1721)

"Terres Australes" (sic) label without any charted landmass

James Weddell's second expedition in 1823, depicting the brig and the cutter Beaufroy

Famous official portrait of Captain James Cook who proved that waters encompassed the southern latitudes of the globe. "He holds his own chart of the Southern Ocean on the table and his right hand points to the east coast of Australia on it."

USS Vincennes at Disappointment Bay, Antarctica in early 1840.

1911 South Polar Regions exploration map

Frank Hurley, As time wore on it became more and more evident that the ship was doomed ( trapped in pack ice), National Library of Australia.

MS Explorer in Antarctica in January 1999. She sank on 23 November 2007 after hitting an iceberg.

Seas that are parts of the Southern Ocean

An iceberg being pushed out of a shipping lane by (L to R) USS Burton Island (AGB-1), USS Atka (AGB-3), and USS Glacier (AGB-4) near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, 1965

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is the strongest current system in the world oceans, linking the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific basins.

Orca (Orcinus orca) hunting a Weddell seal in the Southern Ocean

A wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) on South Georgia

Fish of the Notothenioidei suborder, such as this young icefish, are mostly restricted to the Antarctic and Subantarctic

Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) are the most southerly of Antarctic mammals.

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are a keystone species of the food web.

A female warty squid (Moroteuthis ingens)

An adult and sub-adult Minke whale are dragged aboard the Japanese whaling vessel

Severe cracks in an ice pier in use for four seasons at McMurdo Station slowed cargo operations in 1983 and proved a safety hazard.

As such, it is regarded as the second-smallest of the five principal oceanic divisions: smaller than the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans but larger than the Arctic Ocean.

Indian Ocean

Third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering 70560000 km2 or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface.

The Indian Ocean, according to the CIA The World Factbook (blue area), and as defined by the IHO (black outline - excluding marginal waterbodies).

During summer, warm continental masses draw moist air from the Indian Ocean hence producing heavy rainfall. The process is reversed during winter, resulting in dry conditions.

Air pollution in South Asia spread over the Bay of Bengal and beyond.

Madagascar's Elephant bird, Mauritius's Dodo bird and ostrich (from left to right)

According to the Coastal hypothesis, modern humans spread from Africa along the northern rim of the Indian Ocean.

The Austronesian maritime trade network was the first trade routes in the Indian Ocean.

Greco-Roman trade with ancient India according to the Periplus Maris Erythraei 1st century CE

The economically important Silk Road was blocked from Europe by the Ottoman Empire in c. undefined 1453 with the fall of the Byzantine Empire. This spurred exploration, and a new sea route around Africa was found, triggering the Age of Discovery.

For most of the 16th century, the Portuguese dominated the Indian Ocean trade.

Malé's population has increased from 20,000 people in 1987 to more than 220,000 people in 2020.

An unnamed Chagossian on Diego Garcia in 1971 shortly before the British expelled the islanders when the island became a U.S. military base. The man spoke a French-based creole language and his ancestors were most likely brought to the uninhabited island as slaves in the 19th century.

Major ocean trade routes in the world includes the northern Indian Ocean.

Mombasa Port on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast

It was earlier known as the Eastern Ocean, a term that was still in use during the mid-18th century (see map), as opposed to the Western Ocean (Atlantic) before the Pacific was surmised.

Atlas Mountains

The Atlas Mountains (جِبَال ٱلْأَطْلَس /ʒibaːl al atˤlas/) are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa.

Satellite photograph of the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains. North is at the bottom; the city of Goulmima can be seen at center left.

Panoramic picture of the artificial lake of Lalla Takerkoust near Barrage Cavagnac, with the hydroelectric dam (far right)

Panoramic view of typical Berber village in the Moroccan part of the High Atlas

Snow on Atlas Mountains in Morocco on 9 January 2019

Northern slopes of Djebel Akouker (2184m) in the Djurdjura range (Tell Atlas, Algeria)

A male Barbary lion photographed in Algeria by Alfred Edward Pease in 1893.

Mixed forest (Atlas cedar, oaks, ash trees) in the Blidean Atlas, South of Algiers.

It separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert.

The Strait of Gibraltar (مضيق جبل طارق; Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates the Iberian Peninsula in Europe from Morocco in Africa.

Ocean

Body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water.

The Atlantic, one component of the system, makes up 23% of the "global ocean".

World distribution of mid-oceanic ridges; USGS

Map of large underwater features (1995, NOAA)

Ocean chlorophyll concentration is a proxy for phytoplankton biomass. In this map, blue colors represent lower chlorophyll and reds represent higher chlorophyll. Satellite-measured chlorophyll is estimated based on ocean color by how green the color of the water appears from space.

The major oceanic zones, based on depth and biophysical conditions

A map of the global thermohaline circulation; blue represents deep-water currents, whereas red represents surface currents.

Map of the Gulf Stream, a major ocean current that transports heat from the equator to northern latitudes and moderates the climate of Europe.

High tide and low tide in the Bay of Fundy, Canada.

The ocean is a major driver of Earth's water cycle.

Annual mean sea surface salinity in practical salinity units (psu) from the World Ocean Atlas.

Sea surface oxygen concentration in moles per cubic meter from the World Ocean Atlas.

Diagram of the ocean carbon cycle showing the relative size of stocks (storage) and fluxes.

Residence time of elements in the ocean depends on supply by processes like rock weathering and rivers vs. removal by processes like evaporation and sedimentation.

Separate names are used to identify five different areas of the ocean: Pacific (the largest), Atlantic, Indian, Southern (Antarctic), and Arctic (the smallest).

Atlas (mythology)

Titan condemned to hold up the heavens or sky for eternity after the Titanomachy.

The Farnese Atlas, the oldest known representation of the celestial spheres.

Atlas and the Hesperides by Singer Sargent, John (1925)

Atlas supports the terrestrial globe on a building in Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia.

Nautilus Cup. This drinking vessel, for court feasts, depicts Atlas holding the shell on his back.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The Walters Art Museum|url=http://art.thewalters.org/detail/16751|title=Nautilus Cup}}</ref> The Walters Art Museum

Sculpture of Atlas, Praza do Toural, Santiago de Compostela

Lee Lawrie's colossal bronze Atlas, Rockefeller Center, New York

Greco-Buddhist (c. AD 100) Atlas, supporting a Buddhist monument, Hadda, Afghanistan

The "Atlantic Ocean" is derived from "Sea of Atlas".

Norwegian Sea

The Vestfjorden with the mountains of the Lofoten archipelago seen from Løvøy Island in Steigen. Vågakaillen (942 m) is the taller of the two peaks in the centre of the image.

Vedøya, Skumvær and Røst islands, Lofoten, Norway

Tide ranges and tide times (hours after Bergen) along the Norwegian coast

Thermohaline circulation explains the formation of cold, dense deep water in the Norwegian Sea. The entire circulation pattern takes ~2000 years to complete.

Phytoplankton bloom in the Norwegian Sea.

Capelin is a common fish of the Atlantic-arctic transitional waters

Arctic whaling (18th century). The ships are Dutch and the animals are bowhead whales. Beerenburg on Jan Mayen Land can be seen in the background.

The Carta Marina (1539) by Olaus Magnus is the earliest detailed map of the Nordic countries. Note various sea monsters on the map.

Illustration by Harry Clarke (1889–1931) for Edgar Allan Poe's story "Descent into the Maelstrom," published in 1919.

In the late 19th century, Henrik Mohn developed the first dynamic flow model of the North Atlantic. This map of 1904 shows surface and underwater currents.

during the winter convoy through the Norwegian Sea to Russia in 1941

Soviet nuclear submarine K-278 Komsomolets, 1986

The Norwegian Sea (Norskehavet; Noregshaf) is a marginal sea in the Atlantic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to the northeast.

Mediterranean Sea

Greek (red) and Phoenician (yellow) colonies in antiquity c. the 6th century BC

The Roman Empire at its farthest extent in AD 117

The Battle of Lepanto, 1571, ended in victory for the European Holy League against the Ottoman Turks.

The bombardment of Algiers by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in support of an ultimatum to release European slaves, August 1816

Approximate extent of the Mediterranean drainage basin (dark green). Nile basin only partially shown

Map of the Mediterranean Sea from open Natural Earth data, 2020

Alexandria, the largest city on the Mediterranean

Barcelona, the second largest metropolitan area on the Mediterranean Sea (after Alexandria) and the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean

The Acropolis of Athens with the Mediterranean Sea in the background

The ancient port of Jaffa (now in Tel Aviv-Yafo), from which the biblical Jonah set sail before being swallowed by a whale

Catania, Sicily, Italy, with Mount Etna in the background

İzmir, the third metropolis of Turkey (after Istanbul and Ankara)

Africa (left, on horizon) and Europe (right), as seen from Gibraltar

View of the Saint George Bay, and snow-capped Mount Sannine from a tower in the Beirut Central District

The Port of Marseille seen from L'Estaque

Sarandë, Albania, stands on an open-sea gulf of the Ionian sea in the central Mediterranean.

The two biggest islands of the Mediterranean: Sicily and Sardinia (Italy)

A submarine karst spring, called vrulja, near Omiš; observed through several ripplings of an otherwise calm sea surface.

Messinian salinity crisis before the Zanclean flood

The thermonuclear bomb that fell into the sea recovered off Palomares, Almería, 1966

The reticulate whipray is one of the species that colonised the Eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal as part of the ongoing Lessepsian migration.

A cargo ship cruises towards the Strait of Messina

Kemer Beach in Antalya on the Turkish Riviera (Turquoise Coast). In 2019, Turkey ranked sixth in the world in terms of the number of international tourist arrivals, with 51.2 million foreign tourists visiting the country.

Coast of Alexandria, view From Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt

The beach of la Courtade in the Îles d'Hyères, France

A view of Raouché off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon

Sunset at the Deir al-Balah beach, Gaza Strip

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant.

Black Sea

Black Sea coast of western Georgia, with the skyline of Batumi on the horizon

The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, crosses the Bosporus strait near its entrance to the Black Sea. Connecting Europe and Asia, it is one of the tallest suspension bridges in the world.

This SeaWiFS view reveals the colorful interplay of currents on the sea's surface.

Phytoplankton blooms and plumes of sediment form the bright blue swirls that ring the Black Sea in this 2004 image.

The Bosporus, taken from the International Space Station

A 16th-century map of the Black Sea by Diogo Homem

Greek colonies (8th–3rd century BCE) of the Black Sea (Euxine, or "hospitable" sea)

Ivan Aivazovsky. Black Sea Fleet in the Bay of Theodosia, just before the Crimean War

Amasra, Turkey, is located on a small island in the Black Sea.

Soviet frigate Bezzavetny (right) bumping the USS Yorktown during the 1988 Black Sea bumping incident

Ukrainian Navy artillery boat U170 in the Bay of Sevastopol

Black Sea common dolphins with a kite-surfer off Sochi

The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia.

Greenland Sea

Body of water that borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south.

Eyjafjörður, the longest fjord in Northern Iceland, belongs to the Greenland Sea.

The Greenland Sea is often defined as part of the Arctic Ocean, sometimes as part of the Atlantic Ocean.