Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.

Geography

At 165,250,000 square kilometers (63,800,000 square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean—and, in turn, the hydrosphere—covers about 46% of Earth's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area, making it larger than all of Earth's land area combined. The centers of both the Water hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean.

Oceanic divisions

The Pacific Ocean is divided into two major parts, the North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. The equator subdivides it into the North(+) Pacific Ocean and South(-) Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific.

History

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 in 1513 and named it Mar del Sur (South Sea). Its current name was given by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish expedition of world circumnavigation in 1521, who encountered calm seas during his journey and therefore called it Pacific, meaning "peaceful" in his native Portuguese.

Marine life

The Pacific Ocean is home to the largest species of marine life in the world. This includes the blue whale, the largest animal on earth, and the great white shark. The Pacific also contains the deepest point in the world, the Mariana Trench, which reaches a depth of over 36,000 feet.

See also

• Atlantic Ocean
• Indian Ocean
• Southern Ocean
• Arctic Ocean