Talk:Ocean

Bold text--2402:8100:3126:6B88:B15F:AC69:B25D:5CB6 (talk) 07:22, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

File:AUSAF

Ga is unclear

“By 3.5 Ga”, something something ocean started cooling. This is the only instance of Ga being used on page instead of billions of years. No nearby billions of years includes (Ga) for reference. Detspek (talk) 15:31, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

Agree with you. I've deleted that sentence now. I think we don't need it here. EMsmile (talk) 09:43, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

Added more content about pH, temperature and stratification

I've just added some more content to explain how the whole pH and temperature issues is connected, how it varies over the depth, what "surface" means in this context, how it's related to stratification and so forth. I am not an expert though and have no professional background in this. I've been discussing this article with Tim Jickells and he's been helpful with suggesting suitable text and sentences (with reference to his textbook and other textbooks and publications). If you have additional ideas or suggestions for making this clearer and more succinct or for adding more accessible sources (not behind a paywall), I am all ears. I think pH is important to explain here (because of ocean acidification) but I am also mindful of not making the pH section too long in this kind of overview article. Perhaps what I have added could be condensed a bit. EMsmile (talk) 09:47, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

Infobox

Quite suprising I only realized now that the lesser oceans have infoboxes, but not the Ocean it self. So here I will put together based on the Atlantic Ocean infobox the appropriate data.

World Ocean
Coordinates	Center: 47°24′42″S 177°22′45″E (see also Water Hemisphere), in the South Pacific Ocean Pole of inaccessibility: "Point Nemo", in a region known as spacecraft cemetery of the South Pacific Ocean, at 48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W, approximately 2,688 km (1,670 mi) from the nearest land
Basin countries	List of countries by length of coastline
Surface area	361,000,000 km2 (139,382,879 sq mi) (71% of Earth's surface area)
Average depth	3.688 km (2 mi)
Max. depth	Deepest point: Challenger Deep, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 11.034 km (7 mi) below sea level; Lowest point: Litke Deep, in the Arctic Ocean, at 6,351.704 km (3,947 mi) from Earth's centre, 5.449 km (3 mi) below sea level, 14.726 km (9 mi) closer to Earth's centre than the Challenger Deep
Water volume	1,370,000,000 km3 (328,680,479 cu mi) (99% of Earth's water)
Shore length1	Low interval calculation: 356,000 km (221,208 mi) High interval calculation: 1,634,701 km (1,015,756 mi)
Islands	List of islands
Trenches	List of oceanic trenches
Settlements	List of ports
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Nsae Comp (talk) 20:34, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

References

Improving readability

Hello, I am currently editing this article to improve its readability. My work is part of a project focusing on improving the readability of climate change articles on Wikipedia. To learn more about the project, visit: Wikipedia:Meetup/SDGs/Communication of environment SDGs. Bradextw (talk) 12:13, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

Unclear term in introduction

I just edited a little in the second half of the second paragraph of the introduction, which I felt read unevenly. One additional thing I would like to rephrase is the "1% of the surface light depth" thing. However, I am not exactly sure what it means, which is why I think it should be clarified or rewritten.

Just reading what is says, my best guess is 1% of the total depth that light reaches. However, it continues to state that "1% of the surface light depth" is about 200m in the ocean. Now by my guess, that would mean that light reaches (200 * 100)m = 20000m, and there simply is not that much ocean. What seems more likely is that it is the depth at which only one 1% of light remains, which really is not obvious from the statement itself. So yeah.. could someone who knows clarify what it's supposed to mean? Ribidag (talk) 12:25, 2 June 2023 (UTC)

I agree with you that this is unclear. I'll check with Tim Jickells who has been helpful with this article in the past. EMsmile (talk) 06:57, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

I got the following answer from Tim: "Sorry for any ambiguity over the 1% light thing. I quote below a sentence from Grant Bigg's book which I hope is unambiguous. "The euphotic zone is defined to be the depth at which light intensity is only 1% of the surface value" p36 The Oceans and Climate Grant R Bigg Cambridge University Press. I don't know if you want to actually use this reference or simply edit the existing text to be unambiguous, I'll leave that up to you. The basic concept is that with that little light photosynthesis is unlikely to achieve any net growth over respiration. The actual optics of light reflecting and penetrating at the ocean surface are complex, but I think this approach to the euphotic zone is pretty universal. " I'll try to improve the wording accordingly. EMsmile (talk) 07:56, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

I've made the edits to this statement now accordingly in two places: in the lead and also in the main text where the photic zone is explained. Is it OK like this now? Thanks Ribidag for pointing out this problematic sentence. EMsmile (talk) 20:02, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

Yep, clear like water now. Ribidag (talk) 15:46, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Photic zone ends at the depth at which the light intensity drops to 1% of surface intensity, which can vary a lot as the clarity of water can vary enormously. · · · Peter Southwood ^(talk): 17:51, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

Hi Peter Southwood, I am a little bit unsure of this edit of yours: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ocean&diff=prev&oldid=1160773618 . As I had included the sentence in quotation marks, it's a direct quote from the book so we cannot change it in the way you have changed it. Maybe we leave the quoted sentence as is but we rather add your additional explanation after the quote (but maybe not in the lead but in the main text). The quoted sentence was: The [[photic zone]] starts at the surface and is defined to be "the depth at which light intensity is only 1% of the surface value". Your wording was ... is defined to be "the depth at which light intensity is at least 1% of the surface value". Or we drop the quotation marks and write it in a way that is not copyright violation, i.e. paraphrase (?). For it me would sound clearer as ... the depth at which light intensity is still at least 1% of the surface value". EMsmile (talk) 08:09, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

EMsmile, ... the depth at which light intensity is still at least 1% of the surface value" is not actually correct. It is the depth range (i.e. a continuous region of all depths from the surface down to the bottom limit) at which light intensity is still at least 1% of the surface value, The depth at which light intensity is 1% of the surface value is the bottom limit of the photic zone, and is a dynamic 3-dimensionally curved surface. When I edited I didn't notice it was a quote, as it was not very well expressed and needed clarification, and why would we want to use a quote that does not make things clear? The important points are that the natural light level continuously decreases with increase of depth, depends on several variables, and it can fluctuate quite rapidly at times. Cheers · · · Peter Southwood ^(talk): 17:37, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

We could say: The euphotic zone is the layer of water in which the natural light intensity is at least 1% of the surface value. (correct, but maybe not sufficiently clear to all readers) It extends continuously from the surface to the depth at which intensity has dropped to 1%, typically at about 200 m in the open ocean, and light intensity decreases continuously with increasing depth. · · · Peter Southwood ^(talk): 17:57, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Yes, I think that sounds OK. So we leave off the quotation marks but keep the reference and page number? (some people would put the quote into the ref so that it appears in the ref list at the end) Perhaps it would also be good to state that photic zone and euphotic zone are the same thing (they are, aren't they?). - The reason why I had originally used quotation marks is because I was scared of either being hit with WP:close paraphrasing or that I would change the exact meaning by mistake... But I agree that quotation marks look inelegant here. - Make sure to change it not just in the lead but also in the main text. Thanks. EMsmile (talk) 10:59, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

More content on ocean density or even a separate article?

I'd like to bring to your attention a proposal by Peter Southwood to have a separate article on density of seawater, see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ocean_stratification#Density_of_seawater . This makes me wonder if we need a bit more content on the density of ocean water also here. Density is mentioned 10 times but perhaps it needs its own dedicated section, like we have a section for pH? Or one could argue that it's only a sub-topic at seawater. I am not sure but am leaning towards a new (short) section about density which could then link out to another article where more detail is provided. EMsmile (talk) 11:28, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

I've asked Tim Jickells about that and here's his input: "Hi Elizabeth, I'm not quite sure what to say about the density questions. It's really an issue for physical oceanographers. Density is really fundamental to ocean circulation, it ultimately drives the whole thermohaline circulation. The section in "seawater" wiki is nice and short but doesn't really tell you much about how the density changes (with temperature and freshwater/salt mixing) which is really important. The section in the Ocean stratification wiki starts well in explaining density, why it matters and what drives changes in it. There are then that rather daunting set of equations. I assume these are correct but I'm not the person to ask that. However, I suspect they may frighten off many wiki readers. I think this is an editorial issue for you and your colleagues but personally I'd leave the "ocean circulation" section much as it is but perhaps just add a bit of text that says for those interested in the mathematical representation of this, here's the relevant equations but make clear that they don't need these to go on to the next section. Here speaks a chemist not a physicist or mathematician!" EMsmile (talk) 11:01, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

Overly detailed info box?

Hi User:Nsae Comp, I think you made the info box overly detailed in the end. It was flagged up to me by the Ref 5 that you used which is flagged as unreliable (this one). I believe you have added it? I think we should remove these two sections from the info box as they are not that important and just clutter of this info box (if you think they are very important, they could be included in the main text maybe): ++++++++++++ Pole of inaccessibility:

• "Point Nemo", in a region known as spacecraft cemetery of the South Pacific Ocean, at 48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W, approximately 2,688 km (1,670 mi) from the nearest land

Lowest point:

• Litke Deep, in the Arctic Ocean, at 6,351.704 km (3,947 mi) from Earth's centre, 5.449 km (3 mi) below sea level, 14.726 km (9 mi) closer to Earth's centre than the Challenger Deep

EMsmile (talk) 09:58, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

Hi. Well I do see the lengthyness of the infobox, but even more I have quite streched the understanding of the sections since e.g. one section of the infobox in question says "Max depth", so I concede that only "deepest point" and not also "lowest point" fits. Same with "coordinates" section.

Though since I find the information and differentation important Ill find a spot in the main body. Nsae Comp (talk) 20:38, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for moving it out of the infobox. However, if you want to use this content in the main text, can you please find a more reliable source for it? This one has been flagged as unreliable and I also find it odd that the link goes directly to a pdf file, not a journal location with a DOI: The deepest point of the Ocean though is not the lowest point of the ocean, or of Earth's crust. This would be the Litke Deep in the Arctic Ocean at 6,351.704 km (3,947 mi) from Earth's centre, 5.449 km (3 mi) below sea level, which makes it 14.726 km (9 mi) closer to Earth's centre than the Challenger Deep. The "unreliable" flagging is from this script by Headbomb.

I've removed that content for now as the source is rather poor and also it seems overly detailed to me - might be better suited for another Wikipedia article. EMsmile (talk) 10:57, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

Well you might be right that it is a bit trivial, but it might be still worthwhile to somehow mention that there is a deepest and lowest point and just refer to the article Extremes on Earth. Nsae Comp (talk) 21:11, 7 July 2023 (UTC)

References

Content about Earth's outer core not needed here

I've removed this recently added content because it's outside of the scope of this article. Perhaps add it to another article. The scope of the article is clearly explained in the very first sentence. Already that section on "extraterrestrial oceans" doesn't really fit but serves to point readers to other interesting content (I wouldn't be opposed to removing the entire "extraterrestrial oceans" and rather put it under See also or in a hatnote.

+++++ Earth's outer core: The Earth's outer core is an ocean inside the planet Earth, composed mostly of liquid iron and nickel. Its depth is about 2,260 km (1,400 mi). It lies above the Earth's solid inner core and below the Earth's semisolid mantle. The outer core ocean begins approximately 2,889 km (1,795 mi) beneath the Earth's surface at the outer core-mantle boundary and ends 5,150 km (3,200 mi) beneath the Earth's surface at the outer core-inner core boundary. EMsmile (talk) 08:20, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

Then, the name of this article should be "Ocean on Earth", if you would like to delete the section "Extraterrestrial oceans". Your arguments for deleting the sections I wrote ("Magma ocean" and "Earth's outer core") contradict to this very article because of the very existence of the "Extraterrestrial oceans" section in this very article, and that section you refused to delete, and thus discriminating me as an editor from editors who wrote the "Extraterrestrial oceans" section in this article, and discrimination on Wikipedia is unacceptable. If the "Extraterrestrial oceans" is in this article, then readers need to know about the existence of other oceans too, not only "the salty water on Earth", why geocentrism here?Bernardirfan (talk) 17:32, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

References

EMsmile (talk) 08:20, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

Copied another, very similar comment by User:Bernardirfan from my talk page (this belongs on the article talk page not on the editor's talk page): "Hello! You deleted, pardon, removed two new sections I wrote ("Magma ocean" and "Earth's outer core") because you are "not convinced this content is needed here. We don't need to mention any kind of term that has the word "ocean" in it, when the core topic of this article is clearly spelled out in the first sentence: salty water on Earth.". Then, what the section "Extraterrestrial oceans", which are obviously not on Earth, is doing in this article? Will you delete that section as well? Your argument contradicts to this very article. "Extraterrestrial ocean" means "ocean that is not on Earth". And "two types of oceans" is not equal to "any kind of term that has the word "ocean" in it". You are not convinced, well, sorry, but I am convinced. There is a whole article about the magma ocean, and it needs to be mentioned here for readers, as a link to the "Magma ocean" article, so readers can get more info about the magma oceans by clicking the link in the "Magma ocean" section. And yes, a magma ocean is an ocean, read the "Magma ocean" article, readers must be informed that other types of oceans exist, not only those of "salty water on Earth", no matter of your personal opinion." EMsmile (talk) 19:29, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

The hatnote and the first sentence of the article makes it very clear that his article is about water oceans on Earth. I agree the section "Extraterrestrial oceans" doesn't actually fit either. I suggest it's moved to a sub-article. That sub-article (depending on its scope) could then also contain your new content about magma ocean, or a link to that article as a sub-article. Same with the content about Earth's outer core. This is has nothing to do with "geo-centrism" but it has to do with WP:COMMONNAME, please review this policy and you'll see why this article is called ocean and not water ocean on Earth's surface. Note we already have Ocean (disambiguation). You could use that as a starting point to figure out where your proposed content would fit best. It doesn't fit at ocean and neither does the section on "Extraterrestrial oceans". Those kinds of things could be mentioned under "See also" if needed. - Let's see what other page watchers think about this? EMsmile (talk) 19:36, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

The relevant article for extraterrestrial oceans is most likely Planetary oceanography. I think we simply move the section to there, and just leave a link behind. EMsmile (talk) 19:53, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

Then remove all sections about non-Earth oceans, and eventually rename the article to "Oceans on Earth" or similar.

OR

Do not delete my sections about non-water and non-earth oceans and the other editor's section named "Extraterrestrial oceans" in the article, and leave the title of this article as "Ocean", because the term "ocean" refers not only to the salty water oceans on Earth, but to magma oceans either on Earth or on another planets and natural satellites, water ocean on Europa, liquid hydrogen ocean on Jupiter, possible liquid carbon ocean on Uranus and Neptune, hydrocarbon oceans on the Saturn's moon Titan, etcetera. In the "Extraterrestrial oceans" section, I added a link to the main article "Magma ocean", for readers to click on it if they want to know more about magma oceans, and the editor EMsmile added the magma oceans paragraph at the end of the "Extraterrestrial oceans" section, so, thanks to that editor. Bernardirfan (talk) 20:44, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

Your first option is likely the way forward but we are for sure NOT going to rename this article. Please read WP:Commonname. It explains very clearly why "ocean" is exactly the right title for this article. If anyone gets to this page and is still confused because they wanted to read about oceans that are not water on Earth, they can easily click through to ocean (disambiguation) from the hatnote! EMsmile (talk) 21:37, 3 July 2023 (UTC)

So as there has been no further objections, my plan is to move the section that is called "Extraterrestrial oceans" to Planetary oceanography in the next few days. I'll also move the section "Earth's outer core", probably to Earth's outer core if the content isn't there already. None of the 3 refs provided in that section use the phrase "an ocean of molten iron and nickel inside Earth" by the way. EMsmile (talk) 17:19, 4 July 2023 (UTC)

I've moved the content now. I don't know where to move this content to, should it go to Earth's outer core? But like I said: None of the 3 refs provided in that section use the phrase "an ocean of molten iron and nickel inside Earth". Earth's outer core is a liquid layer about 2,260 km (1,400 mi) thick, composed mostly of molten iron and molten nickel that lies above Earth's solid inner core and below its mantle. This layer may be considered as an ocean of molten iron and nickel inside Earth. EMsmile (talk) 07:50, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

I moved it to magma ocean. Nsae Comp (talk) 21:33, 7 July 2023 (UTC)

Thank you.Bernardirfan (talk) 16:43, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

References

Edit request

World Ocean redirects here. Please add a confusion hatnote:

{{redirect-distinguish|World Ocean|Ocean World (disambiguation){{!}}Ocean World}}

"World Ocean" redirects here. Not to be confused with Ocean World.

-- 67.70.25.175 (talk) 19:50, 29 September 2023 (UTC)

 Done Anon126 (notify me of responses! / talk / contribs) 14:17, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

Surface area of continents and Oceans

I made a calculation a few years back that the Continental surface area was close to 0.2904 ( 29.04 % ), so the Ocean surface area would be 0.7096 ( 70.96 % ). I suppose it all depends on how deep down the continental slope you go to reference your cut off between Ocean and Land. 70.8 % and 29.2 % is fairly close. 98.245.219.152 (talk) 01:41, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 November 2023

i want to fix some spelling mistakes and things that dont make any sence Anneqanq80 (talk) 13:21, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Liu1126 (talk) 15:06, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 7 February 2024

The ocean is a big part of many maren lifes food. We have to try to not destroy i. Davidhockey34 (talk) 16:05, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Sincerely, Guessitsavis (she/they) (Talk) 16:57, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

"Internal ocean" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Internal ocean has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 February 8 § Internal ocean until a consensus is reached. Jean-de-Nivelle (talk) 10:37, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

"Extraterrestrial oceans" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Extraterrestrial oceans has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 February 8 § Extraterrestrial oceans until a consensus is reached. Jean-de-Nivelle (talk) 13:33, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: English 102 Section 6

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 9 January 2024 and 3 May 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: Myraslopez03.

— Assignment last updated by Myraslopez03 (talk) 19:22, 8 March 2024 (UTC)