The 15 largest seas in the world (and their facts)

With an area of ​​361 million km² and a volume of water of about 1,300 million km³, the sea covers 71% of the earth's surface and is home to about 97% of the Earth's water. This body of salt water that is born from the union of all the seas and oceans of the world is so immense that it is simply impossible to imagine.

The sea began to form between 80 and 130 million years after the birth of the planet, when the Earth (which is now 4,543 million years old) was hit by countless ice-covered meteoroids from the asteroid belt.

Still, we tend to pay full attention to the five oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic, and Arctic. But what about the seas? These regions where the land and the ocean meet do not receive as much attention, but they are key to marine biodiversity and to the balance of salt water on the planet.

The International Hydrographic Organization has recognized the existence of a total of 67 seas. In today's article we will embark on a journey across the world to discover the largest and most extensive seas on planet Earth, discovering amazing facts and fascinating curiosities about them. All aboard.

What are the largest seas on Earth?

A sea is a body of salty water that is part of an ocean but that, compared to these, has a smaller depth and extension. The seas, then, are parts of the oceans close to the mainland and which are partially surrounded by the continental surface.

They have warmer waters than the oceans, host a greater biodiversity of species and there are more seas (67) than oceans (5). Okay, they are much smaller than the oceans, but what are the largest seas in the world? Here we offer a TOP until we reach the largest sea on Earth. Next to the name we will indicate its extension in square kilometers.

15. Norwegian Sea: 1.38 million km²

We started our trip with the Norwegian Sea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the northwest of the Nordic country of Norway, being located between the Greenland Sea and the North Sea. It has an area of ​​1.38 million km² and its waters are extremely cold, it is common to find icebergs in them. Under the seabed, oil and natural gas are abundant resources that have traditionally been exploited.

14. Barents Sea: 1.4 million km²

The Barents Sea, named after the Dutch navigator Willem Barents, is part of the Arctic Ocean and is bordered to the north by the Arctic Circle. It has a shallow continental shelf, with an average depth of 230 meters and a maximum of 600 meters. Their temperatures are generally between 3 ° C and 0 ° C.

13. Gulf of Alaska: 1.53 million km²

The Gulf of Alaska forms a kind of curved arm within the Pacific Ocean, off the southern coast of, obviously, Alaska. It has an area of ​​1.53 million km² and its coastline is an astonishing combination of forest, mountain and glaciers. Storms are very frequent in this area and, in fact, Lituya Bay suffered, in 1958, the highest tsunami in history (registered, of course). A wave of 525 meters high generated by the collapse of a glacier.

12. Gulf of Mexico: 1.55 million km²

The Gulf of Mexico is part of the Atlantic Ocean and consists of an ocean basin contained between the coasts of the United States, Cuba and Mexico. It has an area of ​​1.55 million km² and this sea it is one of the main oil extraction regions in the world, representing up to one sixth of total fuel production in the United States.

11. Sea of ​​Okhotsk: 1.58 million km²

The Sea of ​​Okhotsk is part of the Pacific Ocean that is bordered to the east by the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia), to the southeast by the Kuril Islands (Russia), to the south by the island of Hokkaidō (Japan) and to the west by the island of Sakhalin. (Russia). It has an area of ​​1.58 million km² and its name comes from Okhotsk, the first Russian settlement in the Far East.

10. Bering Sea: 2 million km²

The Bering Sea is part of the Pacific Ocean and borders the United States, Russia, and Alaska. During the last ice age, the sea level in this region was low enough to allow migration to North America on foot from Asia, which is believed to be It was the first point of entry (through the Bering Strait) of people to the American continent. The cold and the waves make this sea very raw.

9. Bay of Bengal: 2.17 million km²

The Bay of Bengal is a sea that is part of the Indian Ocean and is shaped similar to that of a triangle. It borders Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Burma and has an enormous area of ​​2.17 million km². Most of the major rivers of the Indian subcontinent (including the Ganges) flow into this sea.

8. Tasman Sea: 2.3 million km²

The Tasman Sea is part of the Pacific Ocean and borders Australia and New Zealand. Its name comes from the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who also discovered the island of Tasmania, one of the states of Australia. It houses about 500 different species of fish and more than 1,300 of invertebrates. What's more, a megalodon tooth, an extinct species of shark, was found in it.

7. Gulf of Guinea: 2.35 million km²

The Gulf of Guinea is a basin located in the Atlantic Ocean, on the west-central coast of the African continent. It bathes the coasts of Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe. It has an area of ​​2.35 million km² and houses the intersection between the equator and the Greenwich meridian.

6. Mediterranean Sea: 2.5 million km²

The Mediterranean Sea is the one that connects with the Atlantic Ocean through the Strait of Gibraltar. After the Caribbean, which we will now see, it is the second largest inland sea in the world. It is relatively deep (its average depth is 1,370 meters), warm and witnessed the evolution of several of the most important ancient civilizations: Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans ... Unfortunately, it is the most polluted sea on the planet.

5. Caribbean Sea: 2.75 million km²

The Caribbean Sea or Sea of ​​the Antilles is part of the Atlantic Ocean (and communicates with the Pacific through the Panama Canal) and is located east of Central America and north of South America. Its deepest point, 7,686 meters, is located in the Cayman Islands trench. Due to its climate and landscapes, it is one of the meccas of international tourism.

4. Weddell Sea: 2.8 million km²

The Weddell Sea is part of the Antarctic Ocean and has an enormous area of ​​2.8 million km². In its southern sector is the second largest ice shelf in the world: the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf. The sea is contained in the two Antarctic territories claimed by Argentina, the United Kingdom and Chile. It was discovered in 1823 by the Scottish navigator James Weddell.

3. South China Sea: 3.5 million km²

We are approaching the top positions, so things are starting to get really big. The South China Sea, the South China Sea or simply the China Sea, is part of the Pacific Ocean. It bathes the coasts of China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam and Brunei. The sea contains about 200 small islands and has a huge area of ​​3.5 million km².

2. Sargasso Sea: 3.5 million km²

The Sargasso Sea is part of the Atlantic Ocean and is limited by three continents (America, Europe and Africa), forming what is known as the oceanic gyre. It was one of the discoveries of Christopher Columbus. It is the only sea that does not bathe the coasts of any country, but that must be defined as such within the ocean due to its physical characteristics. It is characterized by the frequent absence of winds and by the abundance of plankton and algae.

1. Arabian Sea: 3.86 million km²

The king. The largest sea in the world. The Arabian Sea is part of the Indian Ocean and bathes the coasts of Yemen, Oman, Pakistan, India, Somalia and the Maldives. It has an area of ​​3.86 million km², is located in southwestern Asia and is believed to have been an important trade route since the third millennium BC Its maximum depth is 4,652 meters and the Indus is the largest river that flows into it.

It is interesting to discover, however, that this sea, the largest in the world, is smaller than the smallest ocean on Earth. And it is that although the Arabian Sea has a huge extension of 3.86 million km², the Arctic Ocean, the smallest, has an area of ​​14 million km².