This is a dedicated page in user space to progress the discussion that was started here. It is modelled on the Climate Change renaming discussion that was first developed here.
The two articles on Ocean and Sea overlap a lot with regards to content. Taken on their own, they are both missing some sections, although "Ocean" is missing more content than "Sea" which is fairly complete. The pageviews for Ocean have been going up over the years; those for Sea have been declining slightly. So if more people are now looking up the "Ocean" page compared to before then we need to make what they find at "Ocean" is comprehensive and good quality.
The Sea article currently has FA status although it is likely due for a review soon, as the FA status was achieved 8 years ago in 2013. Due to the FA status there is an understandable reluctance by some editors to see it changed.
The table below compares the tables of content for the two Wikipedia articles
| Current heading in Sea | Current heading in Ocean | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Terminology
|
Same/similar content in both articles |
| (No equivalent heading) | Geography
|
More content at Ocean |
Physical science
|
Physical properties
|
Similar content for some of the sub-headings.
Some content was copied from Sea to Ocean and then copy edited / updated (in July 2021, see edit summaries), mainly for waves, currents, tides. The information on ocean currents and global climate is far more detailed at Ocean now.
|
| (No equivalent heading) | Chemical composition of seawater
|
More content available at Ocean |
Life in the sea
|
Marine life
(Further information: Marine life, Marine habitat, and Marine biology) |
Currently more info at Sea but not necessary to build this up as there are good sub-articles for it. |
Humans and the sea
|
Human uses of the oceans
(a link is provided from here to the sea article) |
More details currently in Sea (by far); no need to build this up further for Ocean, just refer across |
Environmental issues
|
Threats
|
More details currently in Ocean, mostly used excerpts from other articles |
| (No equivalent heading) | Extraterrestrial oceans | This content does not exist at Sea. |
Moving content that is better at Ocean to Sea and merging it into existing content there.
There is only one article in the end. It might retain FA status more easily.
The fact that the word Ocean seems to be growing in importance (evidenced also by many books on the topic) would be ignored.
Move most or all of the content of Sea to Ocean, and reducing any overlapping content.
The Ocean article would become better, and be the only article on this topic.
The Sea article would be "destroyed", loosing its FA status.
Take some content out of "Sea" (move it to "Ocean"), refocus the Sea article on geographic/culture/history aspects (perhaps rename to "Sea and humans" or alike). Update on 2 August 2021: The Ocean article was improved and expanded considerably in July 2021.
Comments by Arno: I see ocean as the larger all encompassing term. Sea is a sub topic and for some users it deserves a separate article. This is justified since there are so many seas around the globe and sea refers to geography and history. Seas are close to people like the terms sea-level, seaworthy, seamanship, high seas, the seven seas, etc. If we propose at this stage to move much of the science and technical details to oceans and keep sea as a sub article narrowing its focus to how the word sea is used (ie not merging articles yet) this might be agreeable to all. Then proposing revised ToCs based on the science/tech vs geographic/culture/history division will seem more logical. Merging may not be necessary if the new sea article can live its own life as a sub article.
The Sea article would be "shrunk down", loosing (at least temporarily) its FA status.
Increase the content that is available at "Ocean", possibly by copying (not moving) some content from Sea. Update on 2 August 2021: The Ocean article was improved and expanded considerably in July 2021.
The Sea article could stay as it is. The Ocean article would become better.
The same or similar content (section headings) would be shown at two articles. Future editors might start to build up and update content in the "Sea" article which is actually already covered and updated in the "Ocean" article, thereby creating extra work and more overlap.
My (EMsmile) recommendation is Option 3: Build up the article "Ocean", making it the main article and making "Sea" a sub-article to "Ocean" - for the reasons described above. At this stage (2 August 2021) Option 4 has been implemented.
Comparisons with tables of contents of books are shown below. Note, there are plenty of books on oceans, ocean science and oceanography. I did not find a single textbook with the broad topic "Sea" but only more specific textbooks, such as a book on "Law of the sea".
Introduction to Ocean Sciences
| Chapter 1 The Ocean Planet | Chapter 2 History and Importance of Ocean Studies |
| Chapter 3 Studying the Oceans | Chapter 4 Plate Tectonics: Evolution of the Ocean Floor |
| Chapter 5 Water and Seawater | Chapter 6 Ocean Sediments |
| Chapter 7 Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions | Chapter 8 Ocean Circulation |
| Chapter 9 Waves | Chapter 10 Tides |
| Chapter 11 Coasts | Chapter 12 Foundations of Life in the Oceans |
| Chapter 13 Coastal Oceans and Estuaries | Chapter 14 Marine Ecology |
| Chapter 15 Ocean Ecosystems | Chapter 16 Impacts of Humans on the Oceans |
Earth science (a segment of this book)
· The Ocean
o Introduction to the Oceans
o Composition of Ocean Water
o The Seafloor
o Ocean Currents
o Oceans and Coastal Environments
o Tides
o Currents
· Coastal Processes
o Waves and Coastal Features
· Ocean Water and Life
o Thermohaline circulation
o Thermocline
o Tsunamis
o Ocean Organisms
An introduction to the world's oceans