---
name: Ocean
slug: ocean
type: system
status: running
version: 3.8e9
released: "~3,800,000,000 BCE"
maintainer: Earth (self-managed)
dependencies:
  - water
  - gravity
  - the moon
  - tectonic plates
  - solar radiation
license: Commons (irrevocable)
tags:
  - water
  - climate
  - depth
  - salt
  - pressure
  - ancient
---

Ocean

What it actually is

A single, continuous body of saltwater that humans have divided into five named regions for psychological comfort.

How it works

The ocean operates as a planetary thermostat, a food system, a weather engine, and a grief metaphor simultaneously. Core processes:

Circulation: Cold water sinks, warm water rises. This conveyor belt (the thermohaline circulation) redistributes heat across latitudes with no prompt from anyone.
Evaporation: Pulls water upward into clouds, which return it elsewhere. The ocean mails rain to the continents, no tracking number included.
Photosynthesis: Roughly half of Earth's oxygen is produced here by phytoplankton. They do not receive credit.
Pressure: Increases by one atmosphere every 10 meters of depth. At full depth, the pressure is approximately 1,100 times surface normal. Most hardware fails. Most biology fails. Some does not, which is unsettling.

Features

Feature	Value
Surface area	361 million km²
Average depth	3,688 meters
Maximum depth	10,935 meters (Challenger Deep)
Salt content	~3.5% by weight
Known species	~240,000 (estimate)
Unknown species	more
Mapped in detail	~20%

The unmapped 80% is not a bug. It is a scope limitation that has persisted for geological time.

Known bugs

Acidification: CO₂ absorption is lowering pH. Coral systems are responding poorly. No patch is scheduled.
Plastic accumulation: Foreign objects have formed persistent informal structures including the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Not a feature.
Dead zones: Nutrient runoff causes hypoxic regions where oxygen concentration drops below survivable thresholds. Self-replicating issue.
Temperature creep: Thermal expansion is raising sea levels. Side effects include coastal anxiety.

Error codes

ERR_DEPTH_EXCEEDED          You went too deep. Structural integrity: compromised.
ERR_CURRENT_MISMATCH        Navigation assumptions did not match actual flow.
ERR_SALT_INGESTION          This is not drinking water. It was never drinking water.
ERR_HORIZON_LOOP            You have been sailing for days. The horizon has not moved.
WARN_BIOLUMINESCENCE        Something is glowing below you. This is normal. Probably.

Edge cases

The ocean technically touches the sky at every surface point, creating an interface layer with its own ecology.
Sound travels faster here than in air. The ocean has been carrying whale song across basins for millennia.
There is a layer called the "midnight zone" where no sunlight reaches and life runs entirely on chemical energy and falling debris from above. Researchers call this debris "marine snow." The naming committee understood the assignment.

FAQ

Is the ocean alive? Not by the standard definition. The distinction feels increasingly administrative.

Why does it smell like that? Dimethyl sulfide, produced by bacteria consuming dead algae. The smell of the sea is the smell of decomposition. You find it pleasant. This is fine.

What is at the very bottom? Sediment, darkness, organisms with no eyes, and the accumulated weight of every thing that ever sank. Also some litter.

Is it dangerous? The ocean has no position on your survival.

drafting spec…