8 A TEXTBOOK OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE OCEANS AND SEAS. 



1. Position. 



2. Size. 



3. Form. 



4. Water salinity. 



5. Tides and currents. 



6. Origin. 



i. Position, or Situation. 



The nomenclature of the oceans and seas is quite unscien- 

 tific, but the names are so well known and so firmly fixed there 

 is no object in changing them. 



To give one example. Seas of a mediterranean type have 

 the following names Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf, 

 Hudson Bay, Gulf of Mexico, and Arctic Ocean. In this type 

 the sea penetrates deeply into the land, and access to the ocean 

 is by a narrow strait or straits. Seas of this kind have a marked 

 individuality, as will be seen later. A second type of sea is 

 one with access to the ocean by means of a fairly wide connec- 

 tion. For instance, the North Sea, English Channel, Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, Sea of Okhotsk, Gulf of California, and Bass 



Straits. 



Several attempts have been made to classify seas according 

 to their situation. The Germans have excelled at this, and we 

 get Randmeere, Nebenmeere, Vormeere, Durchgangsmeere, 

 and so on. 



2. Classification according to Size. 



This is the chief difference between oceans and seas. The 

 so-called Arctic Ocean has an area of 14 million square kilo- 

 metres, whereas the Indian Ocean's area is 73, the Atlantic 82, 

 and the Pacific 166 million square kilometres. (A square kilo- 

 meter = 0*386 of a square mile.) 



For comparison : The area of the Mediterranean is 3 million 

 square kilometres, Bering Sea 2j, Sea of Okhotsk i J, and the 

 North Sea J million square kilometres. 



