A marginal sea is a part of ocean partially enclosed by land such as islands, archipelagos, or peninsulas. Unlike mediterranean seas, marginal seas have ocean currents caused by ocean winds.

Marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean:

• The Bering Sea (separated by the Aleutian Islands)
• The Chukchi Sea (separated by Wrangel Island and the Bering Strait)
• The Sea of Japan (by the Japanese Archipelago)
• The Sea of Okhotsk (by the Kurile Islands)
• The South China Sea (by the Philippines)
• The East China Sea (by the Ryukyu Islands)
• The Yellow Sea (by the Korean Peninsula)

Marginal seas of the Atlantic Ocean:

• The North Sea (separated by Great Britain)
• The Irish Sea (by Ireland)

A marginal sea of the Indian Ocean:

• The Andaman Sea (separated by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands)

Seas barely marginal include the Tasman Sea.

Note that although the Caribbean Sea is enclosed by most of the Antilles and the mainland of the Americas, it is not a marginal sea because (together with the Gulf of Mexico) it forms the American mediterranean sea and its currents are mainly caused by salinity and temperature differences rather than by ocean winds.

See also

• Mediterranean sea
• Sea
• Ocean

Oceanography | Seas

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