You’re right that the naming of the oceans doesn’t always make a lot of sense from a scientific perspective. Like borders on land, the names of the oceans represent geopolitical zones, not natural divisions. That doesn’t mean that the oceans are all uniform, however. Sometimes it is useful to scientists to classify parts of the oceans that are similar to each other. There are different ways that we classify parts of the ocean. Some examples:
1) We define a water mass as a part of the ocean with a distinctive combination of temperature and salinity and that comes from a particular formation region. Water masses are present in three dimensions and are often layered on top of each other. For example, the North Atlantic Deep Water (which forms in the North Atlantic Ocean and flows southward) is shallower than the Antarctic Bottom Water (which forms in the Southern Ocean and flows northward).
2) The ocean can also be classified into ecological provinces based on regions of the surface ocean that have similar conditions for growth of marine life (like temperature, light, and currents), similar levels of productivity, and similar types of marine life.
3) Wind patterns and the land boundaries create ocean gyres, which are circular patterns of ocean surface currents. For example, in the North Atlantic Ocean there is the North Atlantic subtropical gyre and the North Atlantic subpolar gyre.
The connections between different regions in the oceans affect everything from biology to climate so it’s important that we have tools to study the ocean and ways of communicating that account for this interconnectedness.
You’re right that the naming of the oceans doesn’t always make a lot of sense from a scientific perspective. Like borders on land, the names of the oceans represent geopolitical zones, not natural divisions. That doesn’t mean that the oceans are all uniform, however. Sometimes it is useful to scientists to classify parts of the oceans that are similar to each other. There are different ways that we classify parts of the ocean. Some examples:
1) We define a water mass as a part of the ocean with a distinctive combination of temperature and salinity and that comes from a particular formation region. Water masses are present in three dimensions and are often layered on top of each other. For example, the North Atlantic Deep Water (which forms in the North Atlantic Ocean and flows southward) is shallower than the Antarctic Bottom Water (which forms in the Southern Ocean and flows northward).
2) The ocean can also be classified into ecological provinces based on regions of the surface ocean that have similar conditions for growth of marine life (like temperature, light, and currents), similar levels of productivity, and similar types of marine life.
3) Wind patterns and the land boundaries create ocean gyres, which are circular patterns of ocean surface currents. For example, in the North Atlantic Ocean there is the North Atlantic subtropical gyre and the North Atlantic subpolar gyre.
The connections between different regions in the oceans affect everything from biology to climate so it’s important that we have tools to study the ocean and ways of communicating that account for this interconnectedness.