I never actually realised that it's not ocean, I always thought all bodies of water connected together outside of land were oceans. Never even thought about it! What even is the definition of ocean vs sea? Is it just arbitrarily named that way?
Is it close enough to / surrounded by enough land to develop currents, temperatures, and thermohaline circulation patterns that are distinct from the closest ocean? Then it's a sea.
The Mediterranean Sea isn’t exactly an ocean, but yeah, the point stands.
I never actually realised that it's not ocean, I always thought all bodies of water connected together outside of land were oceans. Never even thought about it! What even is the definition of ocean vs sea? Is it just arbitrarily named that way?
Is it close enough to / surrounded by enough land to develop currents, temperatures, and thermohaline circulation patterns that are distinct from the closest ocean? Then it's a sea.
More or less.