Ocean, Sea and Undersea Feature Names:

Background

International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) Oceans and Seas

The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) publishes the official boundaries of the world's oceans and seas in Limits of Oceans & Seas, Special Publication No. 23. IHO is an intergovernmental organization of a consultative and technical nature comprising over 70 Member States represented by their respective national Hydrographic Offices. IHO objectives include the coordination of national hydrographic offices activities, standardization of nautical charts and publications, and the adoption of reliable and efficient methods to conduct hydrographic surveys. To that end, Special Publication 23 was published for the convenience of national Hydrographic Offices when compiling their charts and preparing their nautical publications. It was not intended to have any legal or political significance. The 3rd edition of S-23 published in 1953 is the last approved edition. The maps below show the boundaries and names recognized in 1953; click on any map to see a larger version.

Map 1: Global View

Map 2: Mediterranean

Map 3: Indo-China to Australia

Gazetteers

• GEBCO Gazetteer - The undersea feature names shown on sheets and products of GEBCO and Regional International Bathymetric Charts (IBC) projects, and on international (INT) nautical charts are selected by the GEBCO Sub-Committee on Undersea Feature Names (SCUFN). SCUFN maintains and makes available the names information in the form of a digital gazetteer. The January 2009 version of the gazetteer is available at the reference below.

• Standardization - The IHO leads an international effort to standardize feature names (see resource link below), as well as individual governments.