The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referred to as the World, the Blue Planet,[note 6] or by its Latin name, Terra.[note 7]'s oceanic An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (~3.61 X 1014 m2) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas divisions. It extends from the Arctic The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean (which overlies the North Pole) and parts of Canada, Greenland (a territory of Denmark), Russia, the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland in the north to the Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the South Polar Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions. This ocean zone is where cold, in the south, bounded by Asia Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population. During the 20th century Asia's population nearly quadrupled and Australia Australia is the smallest of the geographic continents, though not of geological continents. There is no universally accepted definition of the word "continent"; the lay definition is "One of the main continuous bodies of land on the earth's surface." . By that definition, the continent of Australia includes only the Australian in the west, and the Americas The Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America. The Americas cover 8.3% of the Earth's total in the east.

At 169.2 million square kilometres (65.3 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean The World Ocean, world ocean, or global ocean is the interconnected system of the earth's oceanic waters, and comprises the bulk of the hydrosphere – and, in turn, the hydrosphere A hydrosphere in physical geography describes the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet – covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about 30% of its total surface.[1] The equator An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass. The capitalized term Equator refers to the Earth's equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, 972 km (525 nmi) west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site: wildlife is its most notable feature and Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands are a chain of 16 atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of the Republic of Kiribati ("Kiribati" is the rendition of "Gilberts" in Gilbertese) and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific.[2] The Mariana Trench The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the world's oceans, and the lowest elevation of the surface of the Earth's crust. It is located in the western Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Mariana Islands. The trench is about 2,550 kilometres long but has a mean width of only 69 kilometres (43 mi). It reaches a maximum-known depth of about 11,034 in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the Pacific and in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,797 ft).[3]

The Pacific Ocean was sighted by Europeans early in the 16th century, first by the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa who crossed the Isthmus of Panama The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It was formed some 3 million years ago during the Pliocene epoch. It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal. Like many isthmuses, it is a in 1513 and named it Mar del Sur (South Sea). Its current name is however derived from the Luso 1st row: Afonso I • St. Anthony • Álvares Pereira • Vasco da Gama -Latin Latin or sometimes Roman is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Although often considered a dead language, in view of the fact that it has no native, fluent speakers, Latin continues to be taught in schools and has been, and currently is, used in the process of new word production in modern languages from many macaronic Macaronic refers to text spoken or written using a mixture of languages, sometimes including bilingual puns, particularly when the languages are used in the same context . The term is occasionally used of hybrid words, which are in effect internally macaronic. A rough equivalent in spoken language is code-switching, a term in linguistics referring Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese Portugal /ˈpɔɹtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, Mirandese: Pertual), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa; Mirandese: República Pertuesa), is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and explorer Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born at Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, but later obtained Spanish nationality in order to serve king Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" (modern Maluku Islands in Indonesia)[4].

The Pacific Ocean.

Contents

Overview

Sunset over the Pacific Ocean as seen from the International Space Station The International Space Station is an internationally developed research facility that is being assembled in low Earth orbit. On-orbit construction of the station began in 1998 and is scheduled for completion by late 2011. The station is expected to remain in operation until at least 2015, and likely 2020. With a greater mass than that of any. Anvil tops of thunderclouds Cumulonimbus is a type of cloud that is tall, dense, and involved in thunderstorms and other intense weather. It is a result of atmospheric instability. These clouds can form alone, in clusters, or along a cold front in a squall line. They create lightning through the heart of the cloud. Cumulonimbus clouds form from cumulus clouds (namely from are also visible.

The 'Pacific Ocean' encompasses approximately a third of the Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referred to as the World, the Blue Planet,[note 6] or by its Latin name, Terra.[note 7]'s surface, having an area of 179.7 million square kilometres (69.4 million sq mi and 161 million cubic mi) —significantly larger than Earth's entire landmass, with room for another Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people (as of 2009, see table) in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.72% of the world's human population to spare.

Extending approximately 15,500 kilometres (9,600 mi) from the Bering Sea The Bering Sea is a body of water in the Pacific Ocean that comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves in the Arctic The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean (which overlies the North Pole) and parts of Canada, Greenland (a territory of Denmark), Russia, the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland to the northern extent of the circumpolar Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the South Polar Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions. This ocean zone is where cold, at 60° S The 60th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 60 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. No land lies on the parallel - it crosses nothing but ocean (older definitions extend it to Antarctica Antarctica (pronounced /ænˈtɑrktɪkə/ ) is Earth's southernmost continent, underlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.0 million km2 (5.4 million sq mi), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after's Ross Sea The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land. It was discovered by James Ross in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island with the Mt. Erebus volcano, in the east Roosevelt Island. The southern part is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf. Roald Amundsen started his South Pole expedition), the Pacific reaches its greatest east-west width at about 5°N latitude The 5th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 5 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean and South America, where it stretches approximately 19,800 kilometres (12,300 mi) from Indonesia Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia), is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With a population of around 230 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, and has the world's largest population of Muslims. Indonesia is a republic, with an to the coast of Colombia Colombia (pronounced /kəˈlʌmbiə/ ), officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: República de Colombia, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðe koˈlombja] ( listen)), is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; and Peru Peru (pronounced /pəˈru/ ; Spanish: Perú, Quechua: Piruw, Aymara: Piruw), officially the Republic of Peru (Spanish: República del Perú, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðel peˈɾu] ( listen)), is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south – halfway across the world, and more than five times the diameter of the Moon. The lowest known point on earth—the Mariana Trench The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the world's oceans, and the lowest elevation of the surface of the Earth's crust. It is located in the western Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Mariana Islands. The trench is about 2,550 kilometres long but has a mean width of only 69 kilometres (43 mi). It reaches a maximum-known depth of about 11,034—lies 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) below sea level. Its average depth is 4028~4188metres (14,000 ft)[5].

The Pacific contains about 25,000 islands The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Those islands lying south of the tropic of Cancer are traditionally grouped into three divisions: Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia (more than the total number in the rest of the world's oceans combined), the majority of which are found south of the equator An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass. The capitalized term Equator refers to the Earth's equator. Including partially submerged islands, the figure is substantially higher.

The Pacific Ocean is currently shrinking from plate tectonics Plate tectonics is a scientific theory which describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere. The theory builds on the older concepts of continental drift, developed during the first decades of the 20th century by Alfred Wegener, and seafloor spreading, developed in the 1960s, while the Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106,400,000 square kilometres , it covers approximately twenty percent of the Earth's surface and about twenty-six percent of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek mythology, making the Atlantic the " is increasing in size, by roughly an inch per year (2–3 cm/yr) on 3 sides, roughly averaging 0.2 square miles (0.5 km2) a year.

Storm in Pacifica Pacifica is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay, California California's geography ranges from the Pacific coast to the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the east, to Mojave desert areas in the southeast and the Redwood–Douglas fir forests of the northwest. The center of the state is dominated by the Central Valley, one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world. California is the most

Along the Pacific Ocean's irregular western margins lie many seas, the largest of which are the Celebes Sea The Celebes Sea ) of the western Pacific Ocean is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east by the Sangihe Islands chain, on the south by Sulawesi, and on the west by Kalimantan in Indonesia . The Sea is in the form of a huge basin, and plunges as deep as 20,300 feet (6,200 m), Coral Sea The Coral Sea is a marginal sea off the north-east coast of Australia. It is bounded in the west by the east coast of Queensland, thereby including the Great Barrier Reef, in the east by Vanuatu and by New Caledonia, and in the north approximately by the southern extremity of the Solomon Islands. South of it is the Tasman Sea, East China Sea The East China Sea is bounded on the East by the Kyūshū and Ryukyu Islands, on the South by Taiwan, and on the West by mainland China. It is connected with the South China Sea by the Taiwan Strait and with the Sea of Japan by the Korea Strait; it opens in the North to the Yellow Sea, Philippine Sea The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea east and north of the Philippines occupying an estimated surface area of 2 Million mi² on the western part of the North Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by the Philippine archipelago (Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao) on the southwest; Palau, Yap, and Ulithi (of the Carolines) on the southeast; the Marianas,, Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, bordered by Japan, South Korea, North Korea and Russia. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure. There was a dispute at the United Nations over its official name. Although the issue is still open to discussion, the United Nations, South China Sea It is a part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from Singapore to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 km². It is one of the largest sea bodies after the five oceans. The minute South China Sea Islands, collectively an archipelago, number in the hundreds. The sea and its mostly uninhabited islands are subject to competing claims of, Sulu Sea The Sulu Sea is a large sea in the southwestern area of the Philippines. It is separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan, and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipelago. Borneo is found to the southwest and Visayas to the northeast, Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately 2000 kilometres across. It extends 2800 km (approx.) from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European to encounter New Zealand and, and Yellow Sea The innermost bay of the Yellow Sea is called the Bohai Sea . Into it flow both the Yellow River (through Shandong province and its capital Jinan) and Hai He (through Beijing and Tianjin). The Strait of Malacca Coordinates: 1°26′N 102°53′E / 1.43°N 102.89°E) The Strait of Malacca is a narrow, 805 km stretch of water between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is named after the Empire of Melaka that ruled over the archipelago between 1414 to 1511 joins the Pacific and the Indian Oceans on the west, and Drake Passage and the Straits of Magellan link the Pacific with the Atlantic Ocean on the east. To the north, the Bering Strait connects the Pacific with the Arctic Ocean.

As the Pacific straddles the 180th meridian, the West Pacific (or western Pacific, near Asia) is in the Eastern Hemisphere, while the East Pacific (or eastern Pacific, near the Americas) is in the Western Hemisphere.

For most of Magellan's voyage from the Strait of Magellan to the Philippines, the explorer indeed found the ocean peaceful. However, the Pacific is not always peaceful. Many tropical storms batter the islands of the Pacific. The lands around the Pacific rim are full of volcanoes and often affected by earthquakes. Tsunamis, caused by underwater earthquakes, have devastated many islands and destroyed entire towns.

Extent

The 3rd edition of the International Hydrographic Organization's (IHO) Limits of Oceans and Seas defines the limits of the North Pacific Ocean as follows:[6]

And the South Pacific Ocean is defined as:

Note that these definitions exclude any marginal waterbodies that are separately defined by the International Hydrographic Organization (such as the Gulf of Alaska and Coral Sea), though these are usually considered to be part of the Pacific Ocean.

In 2000 the IHO redefined the Pacific Ocean, moving its southern limit to 60°S, with the waters south of that line identified as the Southern Ocean. This new definition has not yet been ratified (a reservation has been lodged by Australia[7]) though it is in use by the IHO and others. If and when adopted, the 2000 definition will be published in the 4th edition of Limits of Oceans and Seas, restoring the Southern Ocean as originally outlined in the 2nd edition and subsequently omitted from the 3rd edition.

Water characteristics

Sunset in Monterey County, California, U.S..

Water temperatures in the Pacific vary from freezing in the poleward areas to about 30 °C (86 °F) near the equator. Salinity also varies latitudinally. The water near the equator is less salty than that found in the mid-latitudes because of abundant equatorial precipitation throughout the year. Poleward of the temperate latitudes salinity is also low, because little evaporation of seawater takes place in these frigid areas.

The motion of Pacific waters is generally clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere (the North Pacific gyre) and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The North Equatorial Current, driven westward along latitude 15°N by the trade winds, turns north near the Philippines to become the warm Japan or Kuroshio Current.

Turning eastward at about 45°N, the Kuroshio forks and some waters move northward as the Aleutian Current, while the rest turn southward to rejoin the North Equatorial Current. The Aleutian Current branches as it approaches North America and forms the base of a counter-clockwise circulation in the Bering Sea. Its southern arm becomes the chilled slow, south-flowing California Current.

The South Equatorial Current, flowing west along the equator, swings southward east of New Guinea, turns east at about 50°S, and joins the main westerly circulation of the Southern Pacific, which includes the Earth-circling Antarctic Circumpolar Current. As it approaches the Chilean coast, the South Equatorial Current divides; one branch flows around Cape Horn and the other turns north to form the Peru or Humboldt Current.

Geology

Main article: Pacific Plate
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (September 2009)
The Pacific is ringed by many volcanoes and oceanic trenches

The andesite line is the most significant regional distinction in the Pacific. It separates the deeper, mafic igneous rock of the Central Pacific Basin from the partially submerged continental areas of felsic igneous rock on its margins. The andesite line follows the western edge of the islands off California and passes south of the Aleutian arc, along the eastern edge of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, Japan, the Mariana Islands, the Solomon Islands, and New Zealand's North Island.

The dissimilarity continues northeastward along the western edge of the Andes Cordillera along South America to Mexico, returning then to the islands off California. Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, New Guinea, and New Zealand—all eastward extensions of the continental blocks of Asia, Australia and Zealandia—lie outside the Andesite Line.

The Pacific Ocean takes up roughly one third of the Earth's surface, having an area of 179.7 million square kilometres. It contains about 25,000 islands (more than the total number in the rest of the world's oceans combined), the majority of which are found south of the equator, Including partially submerged islands. The ocean was mapped by a man named Abraham Ortelius, he called it Maris Pacifici because of Ferdinand Magellan, who sailed the Pacific during his circumnavigation from 1519 to 1522 and said that it was much more calm than the Atlantic.

The Pacific Ocean has several long seamount chains (which are chains of mountains submerging from the ocean seafloor) formed by hotspot volcanism. "The Ring of Fire" is the world's largest belt of explosive volcanism. It is named after the several hundred active volcanoes that sit above the various subduction zones(which is a geological process in which one edge of a crustal plate is forced sideways and downward into the mantle below another plate).

Within the closed loop of the Andesite Line are most of the deep troughs, submerged volcanic mountains, and oceanic volcanic islands that characterize the Pacific basin. Here basaltic lavas gently flow out of rifts to build huge dome-shaped volcanic mountains whose eroded summits form island arcs, chains, and clusters. Outside the Andesite Line, volcanism is of the explosive type, and the Pacific Ring of Fire is the world's foremost belt of explosive volcanism. The Ring of Fire is named after the several hundred active volcanoes that sit above the various subduction zones.

The Pacific Ocean is the only ocean which is almost totally bounded by subduction zones. Only the Antarctic and Australian coasts have no nearby subduction zones.

Seamount chains

The Pacific Ocean contains several long seamount chains, formed by hotspot volcanism. These include the Emperor Seamounts chain, the Louisville seamount chain, and the Hawaiian Islands.

Landmasses

Pacific Ocean viewed from the Southern California coast near Aliso Creek mouth. The shore of the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco, California.

The largest landmass entirely within the Pacific Ocean is the island of New Guinea— the second largest island in the world. Almost all of the smaller islands of the Pacific lie between 30°N and 30°S, extending from Southeast Asia to Easter Island; the rest of the Pacific Basin is almost entirely submerged. During the Last glacial period, New Guinea was part of Australia so the largest landmass would have been Borneo–Palawan.

The great triangle of Polynesia, connecting Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand, encompasses the island arcs and clusters of the Cook Islands, Marquesas Islands, Samoa, Society, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuamotu, Tuvalu and the Wallis and Futuna islands.

North of the equator and west of the International Date Line are the numerous small islands of Micronesia, including the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands and the Mariana Islands.

The shoreline at Palm Beach, New South Wales

In the southwestern corner of the Pacific lie the islands of Melanesia, dominated by New Guinea. Other important island groups of Melanesia include the Bismarck Archipelago, Fiji, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Islands in the Pacific Ocean are of four basic types: continental islands, high islands, coral reefs, and uplifted coral platforms. Continental islands lie outside the Andesite line and include New Guinea, the islands of New Zealand, and the Philippines. These islands are structurally associated with nearby continents. High islands are of volcanic origin, and many contain active volcanoes. Among these are Bougainville, Hawaii, and the Solomon Islands.

The third and fourth types of islands are both the result of coralline island building. Coral reefs are low-lying structures that have built up on basaltic lava flows under the ocean's surface. One of the most dramatic is the Great Barrier Reef off northeastern Australia. A second island type formed of coral is the uplifted coral platform, which is usually slightly larger than the low coral islands. Examples include Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and Makatea in the Tuamotu group of French Polynesia.

History and economy

Further information: Oceania Maris Pacifici by Ortelius (1589). One of the first printed maps to show the Pacific Ocean; see also Waldseemüller map (1507)[8]

Important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times, most notably those of the Polynesians from the Asian edge of the ocean to Tahiti and then to Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island.

The ocean was sighted by Europeans early in the 16th century, first by the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa who crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and named it as Mar del Sur (South Sea), and then by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who sailed the Pacific during his circumnavigation from 1519 to 1522.

In 1564, conquistadors crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi who sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. For the remainder of the 16th century, Spanish influence was paramount, with ships sailing from Spain to the Philippines, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.

During the 17th century, the Dutch, sailing around southern Africa, dominated discovery and trade; Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered Tasmania and New Zealand in 1642. The 18th century marked a burst of exploration by the Russians in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, the French in Polynesia, and the British in the three voyages of James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest.

Bathyscaphe Trieste, before her record dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 23 January 1960.

Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by European powers, and later, the United States and Japan. Significant contributions to oceanographic knowledge were made by the voyages of HMS Beagle in the 1830s, with Charles Darwin aboard; HMS Challenger during the 1870s; the USS Tuscarora (1873–76); and the German Gazelle (1874–76).

Although the United States gained control of the Philippines from Spain in 1898, Japan controlled most of the western Pacific by 1914 and occupied many other islands during World War II. However, by the end of that war, Japan was defeated and the U.S. Pacific Fleet was the virtual master of the ocean. Since the end of World War II, many former colonies in the Pacific have become independent states.

The exploitation of the Pacific's mineral wealth is hampered by the ocean's great depths. In shallow waters of the continental shelves off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, petroleum and natural gas are extracted, and pearls are harvested along the coasts of Australia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Philippines, although in sharply declining volume in some cases.

The Pacific's greatest asset is its fish. The shoreline waters of the continents and the more temperate islands yield herring, salmon, sardines, snapper, swordfish, and tuna, as well as shellfish.

Environmental issues

Marine debris on a Hawaiian coast Main article: Marine pollution

Marine pollution is a generic term for the harmful entry into the ocean of chemicals or particles. The biggest culprits are people who use the rivers for disposing of their waste. The rivers then empty into the Ocean, and with it the many chemicals used as fertilizers in agriculture. The excess of oxygen depleting chemicals in the water leads to hypoxia and the creation of a dead zone.[9]

Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is a term used to describe human-created waste that has found itself floating in a lake, sea, ocean or waterway. Oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the centre of gyres and coastlines, frequently washing aground where it is known as beach litter.

See also: Great Pacific Garbage Patch See also: Ship pollution

Bordering countries and territories

Major ports and harbours

See also

Environment portal
Ecology portal
Geography portal
Weather portal

References

  1. ^ Pacific Ocean". Britannica Concise. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  2. ^ International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) Special Publication 23, Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition (1953)
  3. ^ "Japan Atlas: Japan Marine Science and Technology Center". http://web-japan.org/atlas/technology/tec03.html. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  4. ^ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09526b.htm
  5. ^ "Pacific Ocean". Britannica Concise. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  6. ^ "Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition". International Hydrographic Organization. 1953. http://www.iho-ohi.net/iho_pubs/standard/S-23/S23_1953.pdf. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  7. ^ Darby, Andrew (22 December 2003). "Canberra all at sea over position of Southern Ocean". The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/21/1071941610556.html. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  8. ^ LOC.gov
  9. ^ Gerlach: Marine Pollution, Springer, Berlin (1975)

Further reading

Based on public domain text from US Naval Oceanographer

External links

Look up pacific ocean in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pacific Ocean

Coordinates: 0°N 160°W / 0°N 160°W

Earth's seas
Arctic Ocean Amundsen Gulf · Baffin Bay · Barents Sea · Beaufort Sea · Bering Sea · Chukchi Sea · East Siberian Sea · Greenland Sea · Hudson Bay · James Bay · Kara Sea · Kara Strait · Laptev Sea · Lincoln Sea · Prince Gustav Adolf Sea · Pechora Sea · White Sea
Atlantic Ocean Adriatic Sea · Aegean Sea · Alboran Sea · Argentine Sea · Balearic Sea · Baltic Sea · Bay of Biscay · Bay of Bothnia · Bay of Campeche · Bay of Fundy · Black Sea · Bothnian Sea · Caribbean Sea · Celtic Sea · Central Baltic Sea · Chesapeake Bay · Davis Strait · Denmark Strait · English Channel · Gulf of Bothnia · Gulf of Finland · Gulf of Guinea · Gulf of Mexico · Gulf of Sidra · Gulf of St. Lawrence · Gulf of Venezuela · Ionian Sea · Irish Sea · Labrador Sea · Ligurian Sea · Marmara Sea · Mediterranean Sea · Myrtoan Sea · North Sea · Norwegian Sea · Sargasso Sea · Sea of Azov · Sea of Crete · Sea of the Hebrides · Thracian Sea · Tyrrhenian Sea
Indian Ocean Andaman Sea · Arabian Sea · Bay of Bengal · Gulf of Aden · Gulf of Aqaba · Gulf of Khambhat · Gulf of Kutch · Gulf of Oman · Gulf of Suez · Laccadive Sea · Mozambique Channel · Palk Strait · Persian Gulf · Red Sea · Strait of Malacca · Timor Sea
Pacific Ocean Arafura Sea · Banda Sea · Bering Sea · Bismarck Sea · Bohai Sea · Bohol Sea · Camotes Sea · Celebes Sea · Ceram Sea · Chilean Sea · Coral Sea · East China Sea · Flores Sea · Gulf of Alaska · Gulf of California · Gulf of Carpentaria · Gulf of Thailand · Halmahera Sea · Java Sea · Koro Sea · Molucca Sea · Philippine Sea · Savu Sea · Sea of Japan · Sea of Okhotsk · Seto Inland Sea · Sibuyan Sea · Solomon Sea · South China Sea · Sulu Sea · Tasman Sea · Visayan Sea · Yellow Sea
Southern Ocean Amundsen Sea · Bass Strait · Bellingshausen Sea · Davis Sea · Great Australian Bight · Gulf Saint Vincent · Ross Sea · Scotia Sea · Spencer Gulf · Weddell Sea
Landlocked seas Aral Sea · Caspian Sea · Chott Melrhir · Dead Sea · Great Lakes · Great Salt Lake · Issyk Kul · Lake Balkhash · Lake Chad · Lake Chilwa · Lake Sevan · Lake Turkana · Lake Urmia · Lake Van · Namtso · Pyramid Lake · Qinghai Lake · Salton Sea · Tonlé Sap
Regions of the world
Africa Northern (Maghreb) · Sub-Sahara (Central · Southern · Western · Eastern (Horn)) Oceania Australasia · Melanesia · Micronesia · Polynesia
Americas North (Northern • Middle • Central • Caribbean) · South (Southern Cone) · Anglo · Latin Polar Arctic · Antarctic
Asia Central · Eastern (Northeastern) · Northern · Southeastern · Southern · Western Oceans World · Arctic · Atlantic · Indian · Pacific · Southern
Europe Central · Eastern · Northern · Southeastern · Southern · Western
See also

Categories: Oceans | Bodies of water | Pacific Ocean

 

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