877 articles
Shelikhov Gulf
Shelikhov Gulf (залив Шелихова), largest gulf of the Sea of Okhotsk between mainland Asia and Kamchatka; 650 km long, up to 350 m deep, tides to 12.9 m, ice-covered December to May, named for explorer Grigory Shelikhov.
Sherman Basin
Sherman Basin names two features: a bay in the Kitikmeot Sea, Nunavut, Canada (67°49'N 97°35'W), an ecologically rich Arctic bay studied by DFO and Kristina Brown, and a small Paleozoic foreland basin in northeast Texas.
Shikoku Basin
Shikoku Basin (四国海盆), an inactive back-arc basin on the northern Philippine Sea Plate south of southwest Japan; formed by seafloor spreading about 30–15 Ma, bounded by the Kyushu-Palau Ridge, and now subducting at the Nankai Trough.
Shtokman field (Штокмановское месторождение)
Shtokman field (Штокмановское месторождение), a giant Barents Sea gas condensate field 600 km from Murmansk with 3.9 tcm of gas; Gazprom-Total-Statoil consortium suspended development in 2012 over $30 billion costs and US shale gas.
Siberia Abyssal Plain
Siberia Abyssal Plain, also called Fletcher Abyssal Plain or Makarov Basin, is a GEBCO-named deep Arctic Ocean seafloor plain in the Makarov Basin off East Siberia, about 3,940 m deep, joined to the Wrangel Plain by the Arlis Gap.
Siberian Shelf
The Siberian Shelf comprises the Kara, Laptev, and East Siberian seas, the world's widest, shallowest continental shelf (20–30 m average depth), dominated by Siberian river freshwater, relic subsea permafrost, and rapid sea-ice retreat.
Sibuyan Sea
The Sibuyan Sea is an inland sea of the central Philippine archipelago between Tablas, Panay, Masbate, and Luzon's Bicol region, linking the Pacific to the South China and Sulu Seas.
Singapore Strait
Singapore Strait (Selat Singapura), eastern continuation of the Strait of Malacca south of Singapore; shortest Indian Ocean–Pacific shipping route, over 300 vessels daily, narrowest point 530 m, managed by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore under STRAITREP.
Sir Creek
Sir Creek: 96-km tidal estuary in the Rann of Kutch disputed between India and Pakistan; Pakistan claims the eastern bank under the 1914 Resolution Maps, India claims mid-channel (thalweg), blocking maritime boundary delimitation in the Arabian Sea.
Skagerrak
Skagerrak: deep arm of the North Sea between Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, bounded by Hanstholm–Lindesnes and Skagen–Pater Noster; about 32,000 km², up to 700 m deep in the Norwegian Trench, with cyclonic circulation and Baltic outflow.
Skookumchuck Narrows
Skookumchuck Narrows (stl'ikwu), a tidal narrows near Egmont, BC, joins Sechelt Inlet to Jervis Inlet; its Sechelt Rapids run up to 16–17 knots over a 5 m sill, moving 200 billion gallons per three-metre tide.
Smith Inlet (inlet)
Smith Inlet: ice-filled inlet, 15 mi long, between Cape Boggs and Cape Collier on the east coast of Palmer Land, Antarctica; discovered by USAS in 1940, once mislabeled Stefansson Inlet, named for Rear Admiral Edward H. Smith, USCG.
Smith Sound
Smith Sound: channel at the northern end of Baffin Bay between Ellesmere Island and Greenland, southernmost part of Nares Strait leading to Kane Basin; explored by Kane, Hayes, Hall, and Nares; site of gap winds and the North Water polynya.
Socotra
Socotra (سقطرى), Yemeni archipelago in the northwest Indian Ocean near the Gulf of Aden; UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site 2008 with 37% endemic plants, 90% endemic reptiles, 95% endemic land snails, dragon's blood trees, and threats from goats, cyclones, and Yemen's civil war.
Sognefjord
Sognefjord (Sognefjorden), Norway's longest and deepest fjord at 205 km and about 1,308 m, runs from Solund to Skjolden; second longest worldwide after Scoresby Sound, with the UNESCO-listed Nærøyfjord arm.
Solberg Inlet
Solberg Inlet (索爾伯格灣), Antarctic Peninsula inlet, ice-filled, 5-10 nmi wide, receding west 14 nmi between Rock Pile Peaks and Joerg Peninsula on the east coast of Graham Land, near 68.3°S 65.2°W.
Solomon Archipelago
Solomon Archipelago: marine ecoregion (MEOW, Eastern Coral Triangle province) spanning a 1,500 km arc from Bougainville to San Cristobal, with 516 coral species, Ontong Java atolls, Marovo Lagoon, and East Rennell World Heritage site.
Solomon Sea
Solomon Sea: marginal sea of the southwest Pacific between eastern Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, part of the Coral Sea, about 720,000 sq km; main pathway carrying roughly 20 Sv of South Pacific water to the equator.
Solway Firth
Solway Firth: mega-tidal estuary of the Irish Sea between Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, and Cumbria, England; carries the Anglo-Scottish border via the River Sark, has the UK's second largest tidal range, and holds the 436 km² Upper Solway Ramsar site and Solway Firth SAC.
Somali Current
Somali Current: seasonally reversing western boundary current of the Indian Ocean off East Africa, flowing northeast in the southwest monsoon at up to 3 m/s, reversing in winter, and driving the world's strongest seasonal coastal upwelling with the Great Whirl eddy.
Sound (geography)
In geography, a sound is a long, broad ocean inlet running along a coast or a passage connecting two larger bodies of water, wider than a strait.
Sound of Mull
The Sound of Mull is a narrow sea channel on Scotland's west coast, separating the Isle of Mull from the Morvern peninsula on the mainland.
South Bay (bay)
South Bay: name of several Antarctic bays, chiefly a large inlet between Hannah Point and Miers Bluff on the south coast of Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands (62°39′S 60°29′W), known to sealers from 1820, hosting Bulgarian and Spanish bases and a leopard seal aggregation; also a bay at Cape Evans, Ross Island.
South China Sea (南海)
The South China Sea (南海, Nanhai; Vietnamese: Biên Dông) is a large marginal sea of the northwest Pacific, a vital trade corridor and the center of major territorial disputes.
South New Zealand
South New Zealand (MEOW ecoregion 200) is a marine ecoregion of the Temperate Australasia realm covering southern South Island coastal waters; 0.4 percent protected, boundaries debated, new Te Au Roa o Te Rakihouia reserves from 2026.
South Sandwich Trench
The South Sandwich Trench is a 965 km oceanic subduction trench east of the South Sandwich Islands, containing the deepest points of the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean.
South Scotia Ridge
South Scotia Ridge (also South Orkney Ridge): submerged continental-fragment ridge forming the Scotia–Antarctic left-lateral transform plate boundary, southern margin of the Scotia Arc, with two branches, four deeps, and Late Cretaceous–Paleogene pre-translation arc magmatism.
Southeast Indian Ridge
Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR), the divergent boundary between the Australian and Antarctic plates in the southeastern Indian Ocean; intermediate spreading 58-76 mm/yr, active since 95 Ma, includes the anomalous Australia-Antarctica Discordance.
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, the ocean encircling Antarctica to 60°S, is defined by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and takes up roughly 43% of oceanic anthropogenic CO2 and 75% of ocean heat uptake.
Southwest Pacific Basin
Southwest Pacific Basin (also Southwestern Pacific Basin): large deep-ocean basin of the South Pacific east of New Zealand, bounded by the Kermadec Trench and Albatross Cordillera; carries the Antarctic-fed deep western boundary current and hosts the sediment-starved South Pacific Bare Zone.