# Only one ocean. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657 "2011-03-06T03:49:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aesop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aesop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aesop)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/21 "2011-03-06T08:38:47Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Not really; Rock maybe, but not Ocean. The oceans are just a slight dampness on the surface of the huge ball of rock and metal that is Earth. Fair enough, but then “Rock 3” to distinguish ourselves from Rocks 1 and 2, closer to Sol. Unless we’re counting from the Kuiper Belt inward. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/22 "2011-03-06T09:05:51Z")
This map shows the whole thing a little better, methinks. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Dymaxion_map_ocean2.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Dymaxion_map_ocean2.png) ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/23 "2011-03-06T09:31:06Z")
> [@Silophant](#): > > Really? How would you get over the Bering Strait? Is there a period in the year when it’s pack ice all the way from northern Canada and northern Russia to the Pole? There’s your window of opportunity, if so. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/24 "2011-03-06T13:59:31Z")
You can go over it all with a hovercraft… or one of them new-fangled aeroplanes. Why worry about land vs. sea-based vessels at this point? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/25 "2011-03-06T15:28:16Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Did you argue with the nuns about grammar too? No. As you can tell, I simply ignored them. What can I say, I’m a hopeless apostrophile. One of the beauties of the english language is that I can go ahead and spell a three-letter word wrong and everyone knows _exactly_ what I’m saying. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/26 "2011-03-06T15:37:15Z")
> [@Silophant](#): > > Really? How would you get over the Bering Strait? I wouldn’t try _that_. Not with the ever Sarah and her ever vigilant Tea Party on the job. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/27 "2011-03-06T15:38:28Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Is there a period in the year when it’s pack ice all the way from northern Canada and northern Russia to the Pole? There’s your window of opportunity, if so. Perhaps in theory. The reality is a different story. But why stop at oceans? Why not eliminate the seas of the world, also? After all, the Med is just an extension of the Atlantic, and the Aegean and Adriatic just extensions of that. While we’re at it, somebody needs to do something about the Dead Sea and the Aral Sea, as it seems rather pretentious to call them “seas” instead of lakes. Damned geographic elitists pushing their watery agenda on us all. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/28 "2011-03-06T16:21:41Z")
You are losing ground in the ocean fight. In fact, [the Southern Ocean](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Ocean) is picking up some serious steam to become a real ocean itself. It was only a fringe ocean through some of the world until the last few years. Now, the Southern Ocean has campaigned successfully to become included in some U.S. elementary school textbooks which target the influential people of tomorrow. I don’t know if we will see another serious ocean contender in my lifetime but I won’t say it is impossible. If you asked me what the odds were that there would only be 8 planets in our solar system when I was 30, I would have bet anything that it wouldn’t happen. Look out, Pluto pissed the wrong kind of people off and got disqualified as a planet just like that. Crushed like an overripe grape. I wouldn’t bet the farm that any of the rest of them, including earth, won’t gets get kicked out of the hallowed halls of Plantetdom at some point. The number of oceans might drop to one big one or they could double or triple depending on the way the political winds shift. That is what makes meta-geography such an exciting and unpredictable spectator sport. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/29 "2011-03-06T16:42:37Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Is there a period in the year when it’s pack ice all the way from northern Canada and northern Russia to the Pole? There’s your window of opportunity, if so. You could cross the pack ice to Nome, but there aren’t any roads linking Nome to the rest of the road system. Once you get to Fairbanks you can drive on roads all the way to Panama. But then you hit the Darien Gap, and there aren’t any roads connecting through to Columbia. You’d need a specially modified vehicle capable of driving over pack ice, swamp, tundra, rivers, jungle, and hills. I might suggest this: [http://www.joe-ks.com/archives\_aug2006/RedneckAirplane.jpg](http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_aug2006/RedneckAirplane.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/30 "2011-03-06T16:56:27Z")
FWIW, I agree with the OP. The only problem arises when we start to discuss what to name it. The Paclantic? The Indialantcific? Wait, it’s not really a problem at all. We’ll simply call it The Ocean. mmm ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/31 "2011-03-06T17:09:04Z")
If you don’t agree now, just wait a while and you will. How long is yet to be determined. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/32 "2011-03-06T17:48:15Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > It could be argued that the Americas are now two, since somebody had the bright idea to whack it in two at it’s skinny point. A good idea, as it turns out. Don’t forget man did the same thing to Afro-Eurasia too, but that’s man-made and shouldn’t count. > [@Silophant](#): > > Really? How would you get over the Bering Strait? Ask [Karl Bushby](http://www.odysseyxxi.com/), who is walking from Tierra del Fuego to his home in England. He’s already walked across the Bering Strait (to Russia’s chagrin, as that’s not an authorized border crossing point). He’s currently stymied by the Russian government, as they aren’t letting him walk further. (My biggest wonder in his route isn’t how he would cross from N. America to Asia (living in the frozen north, it was obvious to me how), but how he will cross from the European mainland to England. The maps show the Chunnel, but you can’t walk in the Chunnel, can you? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/33 "2011-03-06T18:39:33Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > Don’t forget man did the same thing to Afro-Eurasia too, but that’s man-made and shouldn’t count. > > Ask [Karl Bushby](http://www.odysseyxxi.com/), who is walking from Tierra del Fuego to his home in England. He’s already walked across the Bering Strait (to Russia’s chagrin, as that’s not an authorized border crossing point). He’s currently stymied by the Russian government, as they aren’t letting him walk further. > > (My biggest wonder in his route isn’t how he would cross from N. America to Asia (living in the frozen north, it was obvious to me how), but how he will cross from the European mainland to England. The maps show the Chunnel, but you can’t walk in the Chunnel, can you? England, an island, don’t count. What he _meant_ was Europe. Right? 😉 And, boo Russia! ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/34 "2011-03-06T18:41:48Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > Don’t forget man did the same thing to Afro-Eurasia too, but that’s man-made and shouldn’t count. > > Ask [Karl Bushby](http://www.odysseyxxi.com/), who is walking from Tierra del Fuego to his home in England. He’s already walked across the Bering Strait (to Russia’s chagrin, as that’s not an authorized border crossing point). He’s currently stymied by the Russian government, as they aren’t letting him walk further. > > (My biggest wonder in his route isn’t how he would cross from N. America to Asia (living in the frozen north, it was obvious to me how), but how he will cross from the European mainland to England. The maps show the Chunnel, but you can’t walk in the Chunnel, can you? Maybe he’ll just pace a lot on the train. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/35 "2011-03-06T18:47:24Z")
I recall hearing from a sailor that the North Atlantic and South Atlantic should be counted as distinct oceans, so different are they in character. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/36 "2011-03-06T19:13:11Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Perhaps in theory. The reality is a different story. > > But why stop at oceans? Why not eliminate the seas of the world, also? After all, the Med is just an extension of the Atlantic, and the Aegean and Adriatic just extensions of that. While we’re at it, somebody needs to do something about the Dead Sea and the Aral Sea, as it seems rather pretentious to call them “seas” instead of lakes. Damned geographic elitists pushing their watery agenda on us all. :mad: No, no, a sea is just a small or branch ocean. Furthermore, if a permanent body of water has no outlet, and thus gains salt, it’s a sea. Thus, the Salton Sea, the Dead Sa, and… the [del]Great Salt Lake[/del] Utah Sea. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/37 "2011-03-06T19:29:24Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > I recall hearing from a sailor that the North Atlantic and South Atlantic should be counted as distinct oceans, so different are they in character. I think that would depend on how far south you go. I’ve been to both ends (Navy), and they were both pretty energetic. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/38 "2011-03-06T20:42:10Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > You could cross the pack ice to Nome, but there aren’t any roads linking Nome to the rest of the road system. Once you get to Fairbanks you can drive on roads all the way to Panama. But then you hit the Darien Gap, and there aren’t any roads connecting through to Columbia. > > You’d need a specially modified vehicle capable of driving over pack ice, swamp, tundra, rivers, jungle, and hills. I might suggest this: [http://www.joe-ks.com/archives\_aug2006/RedneckAirplane.jpg](http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_aug2006/RedneckAirplane.jpg) You can snowmachine from Nome to Fairbanks fairly easily, or from Nome to Anchorage via the Iditarod Trail. You could also ski it, if you’re a true masochist. ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/39 "2011-03-07T02:43:01Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > You are losing ground in the ocean fight. In fact, [the Southern Ocean](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Ocean) is picking up some serious steam to become a real ocean itself. It was only a fringe ocean through some of the world until the last few years. Now, the Southern Ocean has campaigned successfully to become included in some U.S. elementary school textbooks which target the influential people of tomorrow. My physical oceanography professor (somewhat jokingly) claimed there should really only be 3 oceans; the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans south of the equator were really just “offshoots” of the Southern Ocean, and the North Atlantic and North Pacific Gyres should be oceans in their own right. It makes some sense if you’re just looking at surface currents. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657/40 "2011-03-08T14:48:23Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > This map shows the whole thing a little better, methinks. > > [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Dymaxion\_map\_ocean2.png](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Dymaxion_map_ocean2.png) Please tell me I’m not the only one who got the urge to print this out, cut it up and tape it together into a mini-globe? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-one-ocean/573657.md?page=3)