Can you find the Pacific Ocean on a map? You
should have no trouble. It covers more than one-third of Earth’s surface!
That’s more area than all of the world’s land put together.
The Pacific is the world’s biggest and deepest
body of water. In fact, it is about twice the size of the Atlantic Ocean, the
world’s second largest ocean.
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The World’s Oceans
|
||
|
Ocean
|
square miles
|
square kilometers
|
|
Pacific
Ocean
|
63,980,000
|
165,700,000
|
|
Atlantic
Ocean
|
31,810,000
|
82,400,000
|
|
Indian
Ocean
|
28,360,000
|
73,440,000
|
|
Arctic
Ocean
|
5,430,000
|
14,060,000
|
WHERE IS THE PACIFIC OCEAN?
The Pacific Ocean stretches west of the continents
of North and South America all the way to Australia and Asia. At the western
end of the Pacific are many islands. Some of them, such as the islands of
Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and New Zealand, make up countries.
Geographers often divide the Pacific into two parts at
the equator, the imaginary line that circles Earth at its middle. These parts
are the North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean.
HOW BIG IS THE PACIFIC OCEAN?
At its greatest width, from Panama in the east to
Asia’s Malay Peninsula in the west, the Pacific extends about 11,000 miles
(17,700 kilometers). North to south, from the Bering Sea to Antarctica, the
Pacific measures 9,600 miles (15,500 kilometers).
LOTS OF ISLANDS
The Pacific Ocean has more than 30,000 islands.
There are more islands in the Pacific than in all other oceans combined. The
largest islands are in the western part of the Pacific. But many islands lie in
the middle of the ocean. Most of these are small. The Hawaiian Islands are
probably the biggest and best known of these.
WHAT’S THE OCEAN BOTTOM LIKE?
If you could drain the Pacific Ocean, you
would find a rugged landscape. The Mariana Trench is located in the northwestern
Pacific. It is the world’s deepest canyon. One part is 36,198 feet (11,033
meters) deep. There are also underwater mountain ranges. Some of the mountains
rise above the surface to form islands.
Shallow, underwater plateaus, called continental shelves,
extend along the coastlines of the continents bordering the Pacific. Off North
and South America, the shelves are narrow. The shelves are wider along
Australia and Asia.
RING OF FIRE
The Pacific Ocean sits on a huge slab of rock
called the Pacific plate. This plate grinds and rubs against other plates
surrounding it. The plate movements cause earthquakes and volcanoes in a zone
that circles the whole Pacific Ocean. That’s why this zone is called the Ring
of Fire.
Sometimes, underwater earthquakes or volcanic explosions
cause great waves, called tsunamis. Tsunamis are often called tidal waves, but
they have nothing to do with tides. They can cross the Pacific Ocean at speeds
up to 500 miles per hour (800 kilometers per hour)! Tsunamis can cause terrible
destruction when they reach land.
OCEAN CURRENTS
The waters of the Pacific flow in currents
that form great circles. These currents are caused by constant winds and by the
spinning motion of Earth itself.
The currents include a cold stream called the California
Current. This current flows south along the United States. They also include
the warm Japan Current that flows north along the Asian coast.
WHY IS IT CALLED THE PACIFIC OCEAN?
The name Pacific means “peaceful.” Is this
ocean calm? Hardly. The Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan named the ocean
in 1520. He had just sailed around the tip of South America through violent
storms. Magellan was grateful to find mild weather when he entered the ocean,
so he named it Pacific.
