Talk:Ocean

Ayo, is nobody going to talk about the tag in Terminology? Wolverine XI ^{(talk to me)} 07:41, 15 May 2024 (UTC)

Do you mean this one: "As a general term, "the ocean" and "the sea" are often interchangeable, although speakers of British English refer to "the sea" in all cases,^{[1][dubious – discuss]} even when the body of water is one of the oceans.". Someone (you?) added as the reason for the dubious tag "The source seems to be specifically referring to use of these terms in the context of the act of swimming, and not in "all cases""

I'd love to resolve this but I don't know how. I am not a native English speaker. Perhaps we should delete "although speakers of British English refer to "the sea" in all cases", unless we can have a better ref for it. EMsmile (talk) 08:58, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

@EMsmile: Add what you think is right. Wolverine XI ^{(talk to me)} 18:12, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

Well, I am not sure. I don't live in the UK. What do you think? Should we delete that half sentence? EMsmile (talk) 18:59, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

Removed. Plus you don't have to live in the UK to edit British-English articles. Wolverine XI ^{(talk to me)} 20:01, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

References

EMsmile (talk) 08:58, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

Max depth 11.034 kilometers? 185.237.102.58 (talk) 22:03, 25 December 2024 (UTC)

"Strictly speaking, a "sea" is a body of water (generally a division of the world ocean) partly or fully enclosed by land." I was unable to find the word in the given link, but perhaps a log-in ID is necessary. But. This claim is Just. Plain. Wrong. For instance, American Heritage Dictionary uses very similar wording for its 3rd definition (That is, generally not the most common usage.) There are plenty of geography and oceanography organizations which *might* define the term and be authoritative. The above claim is probably not from any authority. It should be removed. I'll add that if a body of water is fully enclosed by land, surely no one would claim it is part of the world ocean. (Of course, the issue of whether land surrounds water or water surrounds land is not as clear cut as the coastline increases.) Dead Sea, Sargasso Sea are two examples of 'outliers(... maybe we need a list (here?) of those bodies of water (formally) called seas...). Different subject: I think it would be useful to note that the bathymetry of the ocean floor image extends (by my eye-estimate) from ~72°N to ~72°S latitude (and is also distorted by the projection used: Greenland is not similar in area to the continental USA).40.142.176.185 (talk) 01:42, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

I've removed this recently added content. Seems overly detailed and academic/essay-like. Also the ref style is not matching with the existing ref style. Moved to here in case this needs further discussion:

"According to M. L. West, the etymology of Oceanus is "obscure" and "cannot be explained from Greek".^[1] The use by Pherecydes of Syros of the form Ōgenós (Ὠγενός)^[2] for the name lends support for the name being a loanword.^[3] However, according to West, no "very convincing" foreign models have been found.^[4] A Semitic derivation has been suggested by several scholars,^[5] while R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a loanword from the Aegean Pre-Greek non-Indo-European substrate.^[6] Nevertheless, Michael Janda sees possible Indo-European connections.^[7]" EMsmile (talk) 19:06, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

EMsmile (talk) 19:06, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

Seems to me that to ignore recent findings suggesting that most water of the Earth is found in the mantle as hydroxyl ions, and claim that the oceans contain 97% (why not 96.5?) of the Earth's water is highly inaccurate. Why not qualify the claim? The oceans contain an estimated 96.5% of all the water in and above the Earth's crust. Also, it is estimated that without greenhouse warming, the surface of the Earth would average -18C. That is, "the reason" we have liquid water (and life) on Earth is NOT because Earth is in the Sun's "habitable zone" per se, but because of carbon dioxide (among the other greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere. And the habitable zone concept is, by the way, in declining use and has been shown to be a poor predictor of the existence of liquid water. I suggest WP articles using it need to be updated. What I'm saying is: it is discredited, in large measure.~2025-31506-44 (talk) 10:04, 29 November 2025 (UTC)

There's no such thing as "hydroxyl ions" as "hydroxyl" refers to the electrically neutral OH radical. Neither hydroxyl radicals nor hydroxide ions (OH−), if that's what you meant, are water. Can you supply sources for your other claims? Largoplazo (talk) 14:22, 29 November 2025 (UTC)