Sea

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For other uses, see Sea (disambiguation) and The Sea (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Ocean or World Ocean.

Coastal sea waves at Paracas National Reserve, Ica, Peru

Seas have always been essential for human development and trade, as at Singapore with its
harbour (the world's busiest transshipment port) and the important shipping lanes through the Singapore
Strait and the Strait of Malacca.

The sea, the world ocean or simply the ocean is the connected body of salty water that
covers over 70% of Earth's surface (361,132,000 square kilometres (139,434,000 sq mi), with
a total volume of roughly 1,332,000,000 cubic kilometres (320,000,000 cu mi)).[1] It moderates
Earth's climate and has important roles in the water cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle. It
has been travelled and explored since ancient times, while the scientific study of the sea—
oceanography—dates broadly from the voyages of Captain James Cook to explore the Pacific
Ocean between 1768 and 1779. The word sea is also used to denote smaller, partly
landlocked sections of the ocean and certain large, entirely landlocked, saltwater lakes, such
as the Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea.
The most abundant solid dissolved in sea water is sodium chloride. The water also
contains salts of magnesium, calcium, and potassium, amongst many other elements, some in
minute concentrations. Salinity varies widely, being lower near the surface and the mouths of
large rivers and higher in the depths of the ocean; however, the relative proportions of
dissolved salts varies little across the oceans. Winds blowing over the surface of the sea
 produce waves, which break when they enter shallow water. Winds also create surface
currents through friction, setting up slow but stable circulations of water throughout the oceans.
The directions of the circulation are governed by factors including the shapes of the continents
and Earth's rotation (the Coriolis effect). Deep-sea currents, known as the global conveyor belt,
carry cold water from near the poles to every ocean. Tides, the generally twice-daily rise and
fall of sea levels, are caused by Earth's rotation and the gravitational effects of the
orbiting Moon and, to a lesser extent, of the Sun. Tides may have a very high range in bays
or estuaries. Submarine earthquakes arising from tectonic plate movements under the oceans
can lead to destructive tsunamis, as can volcanoes, huge landslides or the impact of
large meteorites.
A wide variety of organisms, including bacteria, protists, algae, plants, fungi, and animals, live
in the sea, which offers a wide range of marine habitats and ecosystems, ranging vertically
from the sunlit surface and shoreline to the great depths and pressures of the cold,
dark abyssal zone, and in latitude from the cold waters under polar ice caps to the colourful
diversity of coral reefs in tropical regions. Many of the major groups of organisms evolved in
the sea and life may have started there.
The sea provides substantial supplies of food for humans, mainly fish, but
also shellfish, mammals and seaweed, whether caught by fishermen or farmed underwater.
Other human uses of the sea include trade, travel, mineral extraction, power
generation, warfare, and leisure activities such as swimming, sailing, and scuba diving. Many
of these activities create marine pollution. The sea is important in human culture, with major
appearances in literature at least since Homer's Odyssey, in marine art, in cinema, in theatre
and in classical music. Symbolically, the sea appears as monsters such
as Scylla in mythology and represents the unconscious mind in dream interpretation.

Contents

 1Definition
 2Physical science
o 2.1Seawater
o 2.2Waves
o 2.3Tsunami
o 2.4Currents
o 2.5Tides
o 2.6Ocean basins
o 2.7Coasts
o 2.8Sea level
o 2.9Water cycle
o 2.10Carbon cycle
o 2.11Acidification
 3Life in the sea
o 3.1Marine habitats
o 3.2Algae and plants
o 3.3Animals and other marine life
 4Humans and the sea
o 4.1History of navigation and exploration
o 4.2History of oceanography and deep sea exploration
o 4.3Law
o 4.4War
 o 4.5Travel
o 4.6Trade
o 4.7Food
o 4.8Leisure
o 4.9Power generation
o 4.10Extractive industries
o 4.11Marine pollution
o 4.12Indigenous sea peoples
o 4.13In culture
 5See also
 6Notes
 7References
 8Cited texts
 9External links

Definition[edit]
Further information: List of seas

Animated map exhibiting the world's oceanicwaters. A continuous body of water encircling Earth, the
World Ocean is divided into a number of principal areas with relatively uninhibited interchange among
them. Five oceanic divisions are usually defined: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern; the last
two listed are sometimes consolidated into the first three.

The sea is the interconnected system of all the Earth's oceanic waters, including
the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern and Arctic Oceans.[2] However, the word "sea" can also
be used for many specific, much smaller bodies of seawater, such as the North Sea or the Red
Sea. There is no sharp distinction between seas and oceans, though generally seas are
smaller, and are often partly (as marginal seas) or wholly (as inland seas) bordered by
land.[3] However, the Sargasso Sea has no coastline and lies within a circular current, the North
Atlantic Gyre.[4](p90) Seas are generally larger than lakes and contain salt water, but the Sea of
Galilee is a freshwater lake.[5][a] The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states
that all of the ocean is "sea".[9][10][b]
Physical science[edit]

Composite images of the Earth created by NASAin 2001

Main articles: Oceanography and Physical oceanography

Earth is the only known planet with seas of liquid water on its
surface,[4](p22) although Mars possesses ice caps and similar planets in other solar systems may
have oceans.[12] It is still unclear where Earth's water came from, but, seen from space, our
planet appears as a "blue marble" of its various forms: oceans, ice caps, clouds.[13] Earth's
1,335,000,000 cubic kilometers (320,000,000 cu mi) of sea contain about 97.2 percent of its
known water[14][c] and cover more than 70 percent of its surface.[4](p7) Another 2.15% of Earth's
water is frozen, found in the sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean, the ice cap
covering Antarctica and its adjacent seas, and various glaciers and surface deposits around
the world. The remainder (about 0.65% of the whole) form underground reservoirs or various
stages of the water cycle, containing the freshwater encountered and used by most terrestrial
life: vapor in the air, the clouds it slowly forms, the rain falling from them, and
the lakes and rivers spontaneously formed as its waters flow again and again to the sea.[14] The
sea's dominance of the planet is such that the British author Arthur C. Clarke once noted that
"Earth" would have been better named "Ocean".[4](p7)
The scientific study of water and Earth's water cycle is hydrology; hydrodynamics studies
the physics of water in motion. The more recent study of the sea in particular is oceanography.
This began as the study of the shape of the ocean's currents[19] but has since expanded into a
large and multidisciplinary field:[20] it examines the properties of seawater; studies waves, tides,
and currents; charts coastlines and maps the seabeds; and studies marine life.[21] The subfield
dealing with the sea's motion, its forces, and the forces acting upon it is known as physical
oceanography.[22] Marine biology (biological oceanography) studies the plants, animals, and
other organisms inhabiting marine ecosystems. Both are informed by chemical oceanography,
which studies the behavior of elements and molecules within the oceans: particularly, at the
moment, the ocean's role in the carbon cycle and carbon dioxide's role in the increasing
acidification of seawater. Marine and maritime geography charts the shape and shaping of the
sea, while marine geology (geological oceanography) has provided evidence of continental
drift and the compositionand structure of the Earth, clarified the process of sedimentation, and
assisted the study of volcanism and earthquakes.[20]
Seawater[edit]
Main article: Seawater
Salinity map taken from the Aquarius Spacecraft. The rainbow colours represent salinity levels: red =
40 ‰, purple = 30 ‰

The water in the sea was thought to come from the Earth's volcanoes, starting 4 billion years
ago, released by degassing from molten rock.[4](pp24–25) More recent work suggests much of the
Earth's water may come from comets.[23] A characteristic of seawater is that it is salty. Salinity is
usually measured in parts per thousand (‰ or per mil), and the open ocean has about 35
grams (1.2 oz) solids per litre, a salinity of 35 ‰. The Mediterranean Sea is slightly higher at
38 ‰,[24] while the salinity of the northern Red Sea can reach 41‰.[25] The constituents of table
salt, sodium and chloride, make up about 85 percent of the solids in solution, there are also
other metal ions such as magnesium and calcium and negative ions including sulphate,
carbonate, and bromide. Despite variations in the levels of salinity in different seas, the relative
composition of the dissolved salts is stable throughout the world's oceans.[26][27] Seawater is too
saline for humans to drink safely, as the kidneys cannot excrete urine as salty as
seawater.[28] In contrast, some landlocked hypersaline lakes have a much higher salinity, for
example the Dead Sea has 300 grams (11 oz) dissolved solids per litre (300 ‰).

Major solutes in seawater (3.5% salinity)[27]

Solute Concentration (‰) % of total salts

Chloride 19.3 55

Sodium 10.8 30.6

Sulphate 2.7 7.7

Magnesium 1.3 3.7

Calcium 0.41 1.2

Potassium 0.40 1.1

 Bicarbonate 0.10 0.4

Bromide 0.07 0.2

Carbonate 0.01 0.05

Strontium 0.01 0.04

Borate 0.01 0.01

Fluoride 0.001 <0.01

All other solutes <0.001 <0.01

Although the amount of salt in the ocean remains relatively constant within the scale of millions
of years, various factors affect the salinity of a body of water.[29] Evaporation and by-product of
ice formation (known as "brine rejection") increase salinity, whereas precipitation, sea ice melt,
and runoff from land reduce it.[29] The Baltic Sea, for example, has many rivers flowing into it,
and thus the sea could be considered as brackish.[30] Meanwhile, the Red Sea is very salty due
to its high evaporation rate.[31]
Sea temperature depends on the amount of solar radiation falling on its surface. In the tropics,
with the sun nearly overhead, the temperature of the surface layers can rise to over 30 °C
(86 °F) while near the poles the temperature in equilibrium with the sea ice is about −2 °C
(28 °F). There is a continuous circulation of water in the oceans. Warm surface currents cool
as they move away from the tropics, and the water becomes denser and sinks. The cold water
moves back towards the equator as a deep sea current, driven by changes in the temperature
and density of the water, before eventually welling up again towards the surface. Deep
seawater has a temperature between −2 °C (28 °F) and 5 °C (41 °F) in all parts of the globe.[32]
Seawater with a typical salinity of 35‰ has a freezing point of about −1.8 °C (28.8 °F).[33] When
its temperature becomes low enough, ice crystals form on the surface. These break into small
pieces and coalesce into flat discs that form a thick suspension known as frazil. In calm
conditions this freezes into a thin flat sheet known as nilas, which thickens as new ice forms on
its underside. In more turbulent seas, frazil crystals join together into flat discs known as
pancakes. These slide under each other and coalesce to form floes. In the process of freezing,
salt water and air are trapped between the ice crystals. Nilas may have a salinity of 12–15 ‰,
but by the time the sea ice is one year old, this falls to 4–6 ‰.[34]
The amount of oxygen found in seawater depends primarily on the plants growing in it. These
are mainly algae, including phytoplankton, with some vascular plants such as seagrasses. In
daylight the photosynthetic activity of these plants produces oxygen, which dissolves in the
seawater and is used by marine animals. At night, photosynthesis stops, and the amount of
dissolved oxygen declines. In the deep sea, where insufficient light penetrates for plants to
grow, there is very little dissolved oxygen. In its absence, organic material is broken down
by anaerobic bacteria producing hydrogen sulphide.[35] Global warming is likely to reduce levels
of oxygen in surface waters, since the solubility of oxygen in water falls at higher
temperatures.[36] The amount of light that penetrates the sea depends on the angle of the sun,
the weather conditions and the turbidity of the water. Much light gets reflected at the surface,
and red light gets absorbed in the top few metres. Yellow and green light reach greater depths,
and blue and violet light may penetrate as deep as 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). There is insufficient
light for photosynthesis and plant growth beyond a depth of about 200 metres (660 ft).[37]
Waves[edit]

Movement of molecules as waves pass

When the wave enters shallow water, it slows down and its amplitude (height) increases.

Main article: Wind wave

Wind blowing over the surface of a body of water forms waves that are perpendicular to the
direction of the wind. The friction between air and water caused by a gentle breeze on a pond
causes ripples to form. A strong blow over the ocean causes larger waves as the moving air
pushes against the raised ridges of water. The waves reach their maximum height when the
rate at which they are travelling nearly matches the speed of the wind. In open water, when the
wind blows continuously as happens in the Southern Hemisphere in the Roaring Forties, long,
organised masses of water called swell roll across the ocean.[4](pp83–84)[38][39][d] If the wind dies
down, the wave formation is reduced, but already-formed waves continue to travel in their
original direction until they meet land. The size of the waves depends on the fetch, the distance
that the wind has blown over the water and the strength and duration of that wind. When waves
meet others coming from different directions, interference between the two can produce
broken, irregular seas.[38] Constructive interference can cause individual (unexpected) rogue
waves much higher than normal.[40] Most waves are less than 3 m (10 ft) high[40] and it is not
unusual for strong storms to double or triple that height;[41] offshore construction such as wind
farms and oil platforms use metocean statistics from measurements in computing the wave
forces (due to for instance the hundred-year wave) they are designed against.[42] Rogue waves,
however, have been documented at heights above 25 meters (82 ft).[43][44]
The top of a wave is known as the crest, the lowest point between waves is the trough and the
distance between the crests is the wavelength. The wave is pushed across the surface of the
sea by the wind, but this represents a transfer of energy and not a horizontal movement of
water. As waves approach land and move into shallow water, they change their behavior. If
approaching at an angle, waves may bend (refraction) or wrap rocks and headlands
(diffraction). When the wave reaches a point where its deepest oscillations of the water contact
the seabed, they begin to slow down. This pulls the crests closer together and increases
the waves' height, which is called wave shoaling. When the ratio of the wave's height to the
water depth increases above a certain limit, it "breaks", toppling over in a mass of foaming
water.[40] This rushes in a sheet up the beach before retreating into the sea under the influence
of gravity.[38]
Tsunami[edit]
Main article: Tsunami
A tsunami is an unusual form of wave caused by an infrequent powerful event such as an
underwater earthquake or landslide, a meteorite impact, a volcanic eruption or a collapse of
land into the sea. These events can temporarily lift or lower the surface of the sea in the
affected area, usually by a few feet. The potential energy of the displaced seawater is turned
into kinetic energy, creating a shallow wave, a tsunami, radiating outwards at a velocity
proportional to the square root of the depth of the water and which therefore travels much
faster in the open ocean than on a continental shelf.[45] In the deep open sea, tsunamis have
wavelengths of around 80 to 300 miles (130 to 480 km), travel at speeds of over 600 miles per
hour (970 km/hr)[46] and usually have a height of less than three feet, so they often pass
unnoticed at this stage.[47] In contrast, ocean surface waves caused by winds have wavelengths
of a few hundred feet, travel at up to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h) and are up to 45 feet (14
metres) high.[47]
A trigger event on the continental shelf may cause a local tsunami on the land side and a
distant tsunami that travels out across the ocean. The energy of the wave is dissipated only
gradually, but is spread out over the wave front, so as the wave radiates away from the source,
the front gets longer and the average energy reduces, so distant shores will, on average, be hit
by weaker waves. However, as the speed of the wave is controlled by the water depth, it does
not travel at the same speed in all directions, and this affects the direction of the wave front –
an effect known as refraction – which can focus the strength of the advancing tsunami on some
areas and weaken it in others according to undersea topography.[48][49]

The 2004 tsunami in Thailand

As a tsunami moves into shallower water its speed decreases, its wavelength shortens and its
amplitude increases enormously,[47] behaving in the same way as a wind-generated wave in
shallow water, but on a vastly greater scale. Either the trough or the crest of a tsunami can
arrive at the coast first.[45] In the former case, the sea draws back and leaves subtidal areas
close to the shore exposed which provides a useful warning for people on land.[50] When the
crest arrives, it does not usually break but rushes inland, flooding all in its path. Much of the
destruction may be caused by the flood water draining back into the sea after the tsunami has
struck, dragging debris and people with it. Often several tsunami are caused by a single
geological event and arrive at intervals of between eight minutes and two hours. The first wave
to arrive on shore may not be the biggest or most destructive.[45] Occasionally, a tsunami may
transform into a bore, typically in a shallow bay or an estuary.[46]
Currents[edit]

Surface currents: red–warm, blue–cold

Main article: Ocean current

Wind blowing over the surface of the sea causes friction at the interface between air and sea.
Not only does this cause waves to form but it also makes the surface seawater move in the
same direction as the wind. Although winds are variable, in any one place they predominantly
blow from a single direction and thus a surface current can be formed. Westerly winds are
most frequent in the mid-latitudes while easterlies dominate the tropics.[51] When water moves
in this way, other water flows in to fill the gap and a circular movement of surface currents
known as a gyre is formed. There are five main gyres in the world's oceans: two in the Pacific,
two in the Atlantic and one in the Indian Ocean. Other smaller gyres are found in lesser seas
and a single gyre flows around Antarctica. These gyres have followed the same routes for
millennia, guided by the topography of the land, the wind direction and the Coriolis effect. The
surface currents flow in a clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and anticlockwise in
the Southern Hemisphere. The water moving away from the equator is warm, and that flowing
in the reverse direction has lost most of its heat. These currents tend to moderate the Earth's
climate, cooling the equatorial region and warming regions at higher latitudes.[52] Global climate
and weather forecasts are powerfully affected by the world ocean, so global climate
modelling makes use of ocean circulation models as well as models of other major
components such as the atmosphere, land surfaces, aerosols and sea ice.[53] Ocean models
make use of a branch of physics, geophysical fluid dynamics, that describes the large-scale
flow of fluids such as seawater.[54]

The global conveyor belt shown in blue with warmer surface currents in red

Surface currents only affect the top few hundred metres (yards) of the sea, but there are also
large-scale flows in the ocean depths caused by the movement of deep water masses. A main
deep ocean current flows through all the world's oceans and is known as the thermohaline
circulation or global conveyor belt. This movement is slow and is driven by differences in
density of the water caused by variations in salinity and temperature.[55] At high latitudes the
water is chilled by the low atmospheric temperature and becomes saltier as sea ice crystallizes
out. Both these factors make it denser, and the water sinks. From the deep sea near
Greenland, such water flows southwards between the continental landmasses on either side of
the Atlantic. When it reaches the Antarctic, it is joined by further masses of cold, sinking water
and flows eastwards. It then splits into two streams that move northwards into the Indian and
Pacific Oceans. Here it is gradually warmed, becomes less dense, rises towards the surface
and loops back on itself. Some flows back into the Atlantic. It takes a thousand years for this
circulation pattern to be completed.[52]
Besides gyres, there are temporary surface currents that occur under specific conditions.
When waves meet a shore at an angle, a longshore current is created as water is pushed
along parallel to the coastline. The water swirls up onto the beach at right angles to the
approaching waves but drains away straight down the slope under the effect of gravity. The
larger the breaking waves, the longer the beach and the more oblique the wave approach, the
stronger is the longshore current.[56]These currents can shift great volumes of sand or pebbles,
create spits and make beaches disappear and water channels silt up.[52] A rip current can occur
when water piles up near the shore from advancing waves and is funnelled out to sea through
a channel in the seabed. It may occur at a gap in a sandbar or near a man-made structure
such as a groyne. These strong currents can have a velocity of 3 ft (0.9 m) per second, can
form at different places at different stages of the tide and can carry away unwary
bathers.[57] Temporary upwelling currents occur when the wind pushes water away from the
land and deeper water rises to replace it. This cold water is often rich in nutrients and creates
blooms of phytoplankton and a great increase in the productivity of the sea.[52]
Tides[edit]
Main article: Tide

High tides (blue) at the nearest and furthest points of the Earth from the Moon

Tides are the regular rise and fall in water level experienced by seas and oceans in response
to the gravitational influences of the Moon and the Sun, and the effects of the Earth's rotation.
During each tidal cycle, at any given place the water rises to a maximum height known as "high
tide" before ebbing away again to the minimum "low tide" level. As the water recedes, it
uncovers more and more of the foreshore, also known as the intertidal zone. The difference in
height between the high tide and low tide is known as the tidal range or tidal amplitude.[58][59]
Most places experience two high tides each day, occurring at intervals of about 12 hours and
25 minutes. This is half the 24 hours and 50 minute period that it takes for the Earth to make a
complete revolution and return the Moon to its previous position relative to an observer. The
Moon's mass is some 27 million times smaller than the Sun, but it is 400 times closer to the
Earth.[60] Tidal force or tide-raising force decreases rapidly with distance, so the moon has more
than twice as great an effect on tides as the Sun.[60] A bulge is formed in the ocean at the place
where the Earth is closest to the Moon, because it is also where the effect of the Moon's
gravity is stronger. On the opposite side of the Earth, the lunar force is at its weakest and this
causes another bulge to form. As the Moon rotates around the Earth, so do these ocean
bulges move around the Earth. The gravitational attraction of the Sun is also working on the
seas, but its effect on tides is less powerful than that of the Moon, and when the Sun, Moon
and Earth are all aligned (full moon and new moon), the combined effect results in the high
"spring tides". In contrast, when the Sun is at 90° from the Moon as viewed from Earth, the
combined gravitational effect on tides is less causing the lower "neap tides".[58]
Tidal flows of seawater are resisted by the water's inertia and can be affected by land masses.
In places like the Gulf of Mexico where land constrains the movement of the bulges, only one
set of tides may occur each day. Inshore from an island there may be a complex daily cycle
with four high tides. The island straits at Chalkis on Euboea experience strong currents which
abruptly switch direction, generally four times per day but up to 12 times per day when the
moon and the sun are 90 degrees apart.[61] Where there is a funnel-shaped bay or estuary, the
tidal range can be magnified. The Bay of Fundy is the classic example of this and can
experience spring tides of 15 m (49 ft). Although tides are regular and predictable, the height of
high tides can be lowered by offshore winds and raised by onshore winds. The high pressure
at the centre of an anticyclones pushes down on the water and is associated with abnormally
low tides while low-pressure areas may cause extremely high tides.[58] A storm surge can occur
when high winds pile water up against the coast in a shallow area and this, coupled with a low
pressure system, can raise the surface of the sea at high tide dramatically. In 1900, Galveston,
Texas experienced a 15 ft (5 m) surge during a hurricane that overwhelmed the city, killing
over 3,500 people and destroying 3,636 homes.[62]
Ocean basins[edit]

Three types of plate boundary

The Earth is composed of a magnetic central core, a mostly liquid mantle and a hard rigid outer
shell (or lithosphere), which is composed of the Earth's rocky crustand the deeper mostly solid
outer layer of the mantle. On land the crust is known as the continental crust while under the
sea it is known as the oceanic crust. The latter is composed of relatively dense basalt and is
some five to ten kilometres (three to six miles) thick. The relatively thin lithosphere floats on the
weaker and hotter mantle below and is fractured into a number of tectonic plates.[63] In mid-
ocean, magma is constantly being thrust through the seabed between adjoining plates to
form mid-oceanic ridges and here convection currents within the mantle tend to drive the two
plates apart. Parallel to these ridges and nearer the coasts, one oceanic plate may slide
beneath another oceanic plate in a process known as subduction. Deep trenches are formed
here and the process is accompanied by friction as the plates grind together. The movement
proceeds in jerks which cause earthquakes, heat is produced and magma is forced up creating
underwater mountains, some of which may form chains of volcanic islands near to deep
trenches. Near some of the boundaries between the land and sea, the slightly denser oceanic
plates slide beneath the continental plates and more subduction trenches are formed. As they
grate together, the continental plates are deformed and buckle causing mountain building and
seismic activity.[64][65]
The Earth's deepest trench is the Mariana Trench which extends for about 2,500 kilometres
(1,600 mi) across the seabed. It is near the Mariana Islands, a volcanic archipelago in the West
Pacific, and though it averages just 68 kilometres (42 mi) wide, its deepest point is 10.994
kilometres (nearly 7 miles) below the surface of the sea.[66] An even longer trench runs
alongside the coast of Peru and Chile, reaching a depth of 8,065 metres (26,460 ft) and
extending for approximately 5,900 kilometres (3,700 mi). It occurs where the oceanic Nazca
Plate slides under the continental South American Plate and is associated with the upthrust
and volcanic activity of the Andes.[67]
Coasts[edit]

Praia da Marinha in Algarve, Portugal

The zone where land meets sea is known as the coast and the part between the lowest spring
tides and the upper limit reached by splashing waves is the shore. A beach is the accumulation
of sand or shingle on the shore.[68] A headland is a point of land jutting out into the sea and a
larger promontory is known as a cape. The indentation of a coastline, especially between two
headlands, is a bay, a small bay with a narrow inlet is a cove and a large bay may be referred
to as a gulf.[69] Coastlines are influenced by a number of factors including the strength of the
waves arriving on the shore, the gradient of the land margin, the composition and hardness of
the coastal rock, the inclination of the off-shore slope and the changes of the level of the land
due to local uplift or submergence. Normally, waves roll towards the shore at the rate of six to
eight per minute and these are known as constructive waves as they tend to move material up
the beach and have little erosive effect. Storm waves arrive on shore in rapid succession and
are known as destructive waves as the swash moves beach material seawards. Under their
influence, the sand and shingle on the beach is ground together and abraded. Around high
tide, the power of a storm wave impacting on the foot of a cliff has a shattering effect as air in
cracks and crevices is compressed and then expands rapidly with release of pressure. At the
same time, sand and pebbles have an erosive effect as they are thrown against the rocks. This
tends to undercut the cliff, and normal weathering processes such as the action of frost follows,
causing further destruction. Gradually, a wave-cut platform develops at the foot of the cliff and
this has a protective effect, reducing further wave-erosion.[68]
Material worn from the margins of the land eventually ends up in the sea. Here it is subject
to attrition as currents flowing parallel to the coast scour out channels and transport sand and
pebbles away from their place of origin. Sediment carried to the sea by rivers settles on the
seabed causing deltas to form in estuaries. All these materials move back and forth under the
influence of waves, tides and currents.[68] Dredging removes material and deepens channels
but may have unexpected effects elsewhere on the coastline. Governments make efforts to
prevent flooding of the land by the building of breakwaters, seawalls, dykes and levees and
other sea defences. For instance, the Thames Barrier is designed to protect London from a
storm surge,[70] while the failure of the dykes and levees around New Orleans during Hurricane
Katrina created a humanitarian crisis in the United States. Land reclamation in Hong Kong also
permitted the construction of Hong Kong International Airport through the leveling and
expansion of two smaller islands.[71]
Sea level[edit]
Main article: Sea level
Over most of geologic time, the sea level has been higher than it is today.[4](p74) The main factor
affecting sea level over time is the result of changes in the oceanic crust, with a downward
trend expected to continue in the very long term.[72] At the last glacial maximum, some 20,000
years ago, the sea level was 120 metres (390 ft) below its present-day level. For at least the
last 100 years, sea level has been rising at an average rate of about 1.8 millimetres (0.071 in)
per year.[73] Most of this rise can be attributed to an increase in the temperature of the sea and
the resulting slight thermal expansion of the upper 500 metres (1,600 ft) of water. Additional
contributions, as much as one quarter of the total, come from water sources on land, such as
melting snow and glaciers and extraction of groundwater for irrigation and other agricultural
and human needs.[74] The rising trend from global warming is expected to continue until at least
the end of the 21st century.[75]
Water cycle[edit]
Main article: Water cycle
The sea plays a part in the water or hydrological cycle, in which water evaporates from the
ocean, travels through the atmosphere as vapour, condenses, falls as rain or snow, thereby
sustaining life on land, and largely returns to the sea.[76] Even in the Atacama Desert, where
little rain ever falls, dense clouds of fog known as the camanchaca blow in from the sea and
support plant life.[77]
In central Asia and other large land masses, there are endorheic basins which have no outlet
to the sea, separated from the ocean by mountains or other natural geologic features that
prevent the water draining away. The Caspian Sea is the largest one of these. Its main inflow is
from the River Volga, there is no outflow and the evaporation of water makes it saline as
dissolved minerals accumulate. The Aral Sea and Pyramid Lake in the western United States
are further examples of large, inland saline water-bodies without drainage. Some endorheic
lakes are l