What do you see when you go to the beach? What is it called? Do you call it the sea, or just the water. Most people don't refer to the term "the ocean" because some places don't have an ocean, it's a "sound" or a "sea". However, ocean takes up 99% habitable space on Earth, so that means we should probably start giving it some respect. There are 4 oceans, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, and the Arctic. The ocean contains 97 percent of Earth's supply of water, and most of the remaining 3 percent is frozen in glaciers and ice caps. That, with only a bucket full left over for rivers, streams, rain, and trickling groundwater.