Which ocean is closest to me?
Find the nearest stretch of coast from where you are standing, how far it is in a straight line, and which sea or ocean it looks out on.
Find your nearest ocean
One tap finds your location (on a phone, by GPS) and measures to the nearest coast from exactly that spot.
The five oceans
- Pacific Ocean
- The largest and deepest, between Asia and Australia on one side and the Americas on the other.
- Atlantic Ocean
- Between the Americas and Europe and Africa. The Mediterranean, North Sea and Baltic are counted as parts of it.
- Indian Ocean
- Between Africa, southern Asia and Australia, including the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
- Southern Ocean
- The water that surrounds Antarctica.
- Arctic Ocean
- The smallest, around the North Pole, bordered by northern Europe, Asia and North America.
Many coasts face a sea rather than the open ocean: Lisbon looks out on the North Atlantic, but New Orleans is near the Gulf of Mexico and Mumbai is on the Arabian Sea. The calculator names the sea and, where it is known, the ocean that sea belongs to.
Questions
Which ocean is closest to me?
Press "Use my location" on this page. It finds where you are (on a phone, by GPS) and opens the distance to coastline calculator, which measures the straight line to the nearest coast and names the sea or ocean there.
What is the difference between a sea and an ocean?
A sea is a smaller part of an ocean, usually partly enclosed by land, such as the Mediterranean Sea or the Bay of Bengal. MapGO names the sea at the nearest point of the coast and, where it is known, the ocean that sea belongs to.
Is the closest ocean the one I can drive to fastest?
Not always. The calculator measures a straight line to the nearest shore. Roads, mountains and borders can make a different coast quicker to reach.
How many oceans are there?
Five are usually named: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic Oceans. They are all connected, so the lines between them are agreed conventions rather than natural edges.
Where do the sea names come from?
From Marine Regions, run by the Flanders Marine Institute, which maps the sea areas defined by the International Hydrographic Organization.
Sea names follow the International Hydrographic Organization's limits of oceans and seas. Sea and ocean names: Flanders Marine Institute, Marine Regions (CC BY 4.0). Distances are straight lines over the Earth's surface, measured with the same coastline data as the distance to coastline calculator.