User:EMsmile/Ocean and sea articles discussion

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.

Problem statement

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.

Links to previous discussions

Analysis of current content of both articles

The table below compares the tables of content for the two Wikipedia articles
Edit this table

Table 1: Comparison of table of content for both Wikipedia articles
Current heading in Sea	Current heading in Ocean	Comments
Definition	Terminology World Ocean Etymology	Same/similar content in both articles
(No equivalent heading)	Geography Oceanic divisions Ocean Ocean ridges and ocean basins Formation	More content at Ocean
Physical science Seawater Sea level Waves Tsunami Currents Tides Ocean basins Coasts Water cycle Carbon cycle	Physical properties Volumes Depth Color Oceanic zones Temperature Ocean currents and global climate Waves and swell Tides Water cycle, weather and rainfall	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. The information on seawater is in a separate section for Ocean (see row below)
(No equivalent heading)	Chemical composition of seawater Salinity General characteristics of ocean surface waters Oxygen, carbon dioxide, other gases and the carbon cycle Residence times of chemical elements and ions	More content available at Ocean
Life in the sea Marine habitats Algae and plants Animals and other marine life	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 History of navigation and exploration History of oceanography and deep sea exploration Law War Travel Trade Food Leisure Industry Fresh water production Indigenous sea peoples In culture	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 Acidification Marine pollution	Threats Marine pollution Overfishing Climate change	More details currently in Ocean, mostly used excerpts from other articles
(No equivalent heading)	Extraterrestrial oceans	This content does not exist at Sea.

Option 1: Merge both articles into one, under the new title of "Sea"

Work involved

Moving content that is better at Ocean to Sea and merging it into existing content there.

Advantages

There is only one article in the end. It might retain FA status more easily.

Disadvantages

The fact that the word Ocean seems to be growing in importance (evidenced also by many books on the topic) would be ignored.

Option 2: Merge both articles into one, under the new title of "Ocean"

Work involved

Move most or all of the content of Sea to Ocean, and reducing any overlapping content.

Advantages

The Ocean article would become better, and be the only article on this topic.

Disadvantages

The Sea article would be "destroyed", loosing its FA status.

Option 3: Build up the article "Ocean" and refocusing the "Sea" more on human aspects

Work involved

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.

Advantages

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.

Disadvantages

The Sea article would be "shrunk down", loosing (at least temporarily) its FA status.

Option 4: Build up the article "Ocean" and not modifying the Sea article at all

Work involved

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.

Advantages

The Sea article could stay as it is. The Ocean article would become better.

Disadvantages

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.

Conclusion (to be put forward on talk page)

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.

Tables of contents of other books

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".

The New Ocean Book

1. Introduction to the Oceans
2. Research and the Deep Oceans
3. Physical Characteristics of the Ocean
4. Composition of the Oceans' Waters
5. Tides, Waves, and Currents
6. Weather
7. Harvesting the Ocean
8. Marine Life
9. Exploring the Coral Reef
10. Ocean Vessels & Exploration
11. The Genesis Flood

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

Chapter 1 The History of Oceanography 1
Chapter 2 The Water Planet 26
Chapter 3 Plate Tectonics 51
Chapter 4 The Sea Floor and Its Sediments 94
Chapter 5 The Physical Properties of Water 129
Chapter 6 The Chemistry of Seawater 153
Chapter 7 The Structure and Motion of the Atmosphere 172
Chapter 8 Circulation and Ocean Structure 207
Chapter 9 The Surface Currents 226
Chapter 10 The Waves 247
Chapter 11 The Tides 279
Chapter 12 Coasts, Beaches, and Estuaries 299
Chapter 13 Environmental Issues and Concerns 331
Chapter 14 The Living Ocean 355
Chapter 15 Production and Life 371
Chapter 16 The Plankton: Drifters of the Open Ocean 389
Chapter 17 The Nekton: Free Swimmers of the Sea 414
Chapter 18 The Benthos: Dwellers of the Sea Floor 446

Introduction to oceanography

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Oceans
Chapter 2: Getting our Bearings
Chapter 3: The Origin and Structure of Earth
Chapter 4: Plate Tectonics and Marine Geology
Chapter 5: Chemical Oceanography
Chapter 6: Physical Oceanography
Chapter 7: Primary Production
Chapter 8: Oceans and Climate
Chapter 9: Ocean Circulation
Chapter 10: Waves
Chapter 11: Tides
Chapter 12: Ocean Sediments
Chapter 13: Coastal Oceanography
Chapter 14: Ice