Earth Data: Geographic

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay

---

Oceans and Seas

Water Body	Area 1000 sq. km	Volume 1000 km3	Average Depth	Maximum Depth
World Total	362,000	1,337,000	3.7	11.0
Pacific Ocean	181,300	700,000	4.0	11.0
Coral Sea	4,791	11470	2.39	9.17
South China Sea	3,685
Bering Sea	2,304	3796	1.64	4.19
Sea of Okhotsk	1,590
Gulf of Alaska	1,327
Arafura Sea	1,037
Philippine Sea	1,036
Sea of Japan	978	1630	1.54	3.67
East China Sea	664
Java Sea	480	22	0.05	0.09
Yellow Sea	417	17	0.04	0.11
Celebes Sea	280
Gulf of California	59,100 sq mi		2375 ft
Atlantic Ocean	82,217	335,000	3.6	9.2
Mediterranean	2,516	3754	1.50	5.12
Caribbean	2,516	6680	2.49	5.85
Gulf of Mexico	1,543	2331	2.50	4.52
Gulf of Guinea	1,533
Norwegian Sea	1,383
Hudson Bay	1,232
North Sea	520	52	0.10	0.81
Black Sea	508.9
Baltic Sea	414
Indian Ocean	73,426	285,000	3.7	7.5
Arabian Sea	3,863	10,070	2.73	5.88
Bay of Bengal	2,172
Andaman Sea	565	660	1.10	4.20
Red Sea	453	251	0.56	2.64
Persian Gulf	88,800 sq mi		0.10
Arctic Ocean	13,986	17,000	1.1	5.2
Barents Sea	1,405	268	0.19	0.60
East Siberian Sea	901
Kara Sea	883
Greenland Sea	1,205	1740	1.44	4.85
Beaufort Sea	476	478	1.00	3.73
Laptev Sea
Antarctic (Southern) Ocean	18,700
Ross Sea
Weddell Sea

Notes:

• Figures given by different sources vary
• There is no point in trying for extreme precision in this table. The world's oceans are a continuous body of water and boundaries are arbitrary and conventional. The boundary between say, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic is likewise arbitrary and conventional. The Arctic Ocean is really just an enclosed extension of the Atlantic.
• The Southern Ocean is the most arbitrary of all. It is here defined as the ocean south of 60 south and is also included in the areas of the other oceans.

Land Masses

Name	Continent	Area 1000 km2
World Total Land		148,000
Eurasia		54,738
Asia		44,493
Africa		30,970
North America		24,454
South America		17,838
Antarctica		15,500
Europe		10,245
Australia		7,692
Greenland	NA	2,175
New Guinea		790
Borneo	Asia	737
Madagascar	Africa	587
Baffin	NA	507
Sumatra	Asia	425
Honshu	Asia	228
Great Britain	Europe	219
Victoria	NA	217.3
Ellesmere	NA	196
Sulawesi (Celebes)	Asia	174
New Zealand (South)		151
Java	Asia	129
New Zealand (North)		114
Newfoundland	NA	109
Cuba	NA	110.86
Luzon	Asia	105
Iceland	Europe	103
Mindanao	Asia	94.6
Novaya Zemlya	Europe	90.6
Ireland	Europe	70.28
Hokkaido	Asia	78.5
Hispaniola	NA	77.2
Sakhalin	Asia	75.1
Tierra del Fuego	SA	73.7
Tasmania	Australia	67.8
Sri Lanka	Asia	65.6
Svalbard	Europe	62.05
Devon	NA	55.24
Axel Heiberg	NA	43.17
Melville	NA	42.14
Southampton	NA	41.21
Marajo	SA	40
New Britain		36.49
Taiwan	Asia	36.18
Timor	Asia	33.90
Hainan	Asia	33.67
Prince of Wales	NA	33.33
Vancouver	NA	31.29
Sicily	Europe	25.72
Sardinia	Europe	24.09
New Caledonia		16.91
Jamaica	NA	10.99
Hawaii		10.43
Cyprus	Europe	9.25
Corsica	Europe	8.73
Puerto Rico	NA	8.65
Crete	Europe	8.26

Notes:

• Figures given by different sources vary
• Europe and Asia are listed both separately and also combined as Eurasia. The distinction between Europe and Asia is purely cultural and artificial
• Islands smaller than 25,000 square kilometers are incomplete. Those listed are included because of particular interest.

---

Return to Professor Dutch's Home Page
Created 12 August 2003, Last Update 24 May 2020