Delimiting oceans and seas

[groovey]

Hi all! I need a bit of input to check I'm on the right track.

So with this very basic political map of my world.

I've had some easy fun trying to delimitate my oceans and seas, having in mind such process is 100% artificial even in our world, based on political or practical reasons. I got this:

OCEANS (25CT15).jpg OCEANS

SEAS (25CT15).jpg With SEAS

I think I got a pretty logical divide of the oceans, but with the seas (on black lines and numbers) I'm not so sure on some. In some cases I used oceanic current circuits to make some seas (you can check the very polished version of my currents done by Pixie, one of our local experts about geological and climate development), since I figured coastal people would naturally stick them for easier navigation.


Would you agree that the following would easily be considered seas?

1 and 11- do they even need to exist?

12, since naturally (with currents), doesn't have a way back other than by the coast, would you considered it a sea?

23 and 24 - are they just big gulfs?

7 and 8 - would you considered them semi closed seas or gulfs?

4 & 5, 13 & 14 follow current circuits, so I added them even though there isn't much to explore or exploit on the pole.

Should Arint Ilar (an Ocean), be part of Hem Ilar, as a sea instead of being an ocean of its own?


Thanks for stopping by!

[Azélor]

It sounds pretty subjective to me. It's just water. Unless your making a map for one of the Paradoxe game
How many continents do we have on Earth?

1- maybe a bay, but it's pretty wide
2- bay, but just the western part
3- maybe
4,5, 13,14 : same thing as Asion Ilar
6- pretty large for a bay
7,8 yes
9,10 probably
11- do people even know it exist?
12. no
15. no
16 yes
17 maybe
18, 19 probably
20,21 yes
22 yes
23 I guess
24 bay
25 no
26, 28 not sure why there should be a separation
27 no
29 yes

[Durakken]

Simply put, after I looked up how to distinguish lakes and seas, there are 2 components to what's what...

1. If it is enclosed to larger than 50% it isn't an ocean.

2. Sea/bay/gulf/lake is based on the culture it seems... Based heavily on what is more important to know... Salinity or relation to other bodies of water. I'd say a bay/gulf should in theory be a sea or lake whose current is locally isolated from some larger body that acts somewhat like a driveway/parking lot to the larger body.

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[Ilanthar]

That's indeed very subjective (beside the question of the salinity). A good point, according to me, is whether if the water body is somehow shared by one or more countries (in other words, if its a boundary and then, a place for exchanges). I think that people are more inclined to call a water area between differents cultures and nations a "sea", and to call it "bay" or "gulf" otherwise.
Theorically, a bay is smaller than a gulf, but sometimes, it's just a matter of perception... It could help to think about the cultures sailing on this area. Do they have great and efficient ships, being great navigators, or not at all. Accordingly, they will find the area "small" or "gigantic" and consider it differently. A sea or an ocean is far more mysterious than a bay.

Just my two cents!

[groovey]

It is very subjective indeed, but I figured, even tough, artificial as it is, there must be some patterns we have used in our world to define them.

In any case, I got great input from you three, I got some physical and social guidelines to make decision on when a bay/gulf/sea is most "logical", so many thanks.

[Azélor]

This queston was already asked before if I remember correctly. I've found this a while back, but honestly, all my research effort indicate that it's still subjective. It falls more on common usage that on a strict definition. http://www.differencebetween.net/sci...-gulf-and-bay/

[groovey]

I tried different keywords on the search function, but I'm afraid I didn't use the right ones because I couldn't find a post relevant to this issue. But in any case, is fine, I got some guidelines to work with then, and I think for most areas I need to wait until I develope the political map a bit more.

Thank you all

[Chick]

I tried different keywords on the search function, but I'm afraid I didn't use the right ones because I couldn't find a post relevant to this issue. But in any case, is fine, I got some guidelines to work with then, and I think for most areas I need to wait until I develope the political map a bit more.

Thank you all

The search function on CG is kinda messed up, so the best thing to do is go looking through the most relevant threads.