Interesting Facts About The Pacific Ocean

A significant part of the Earth's surface is occupied by water surfaces - rivers, lakes, seas and oceans. Let's read interesting facts about the Pacific Ocean.

The largest ocean of the Earth is the Pacific Ocean. It occupies the third part of the surface of the planet - 180 million square meters. Km, and twice as large as the Atlantic. The distance between the peninsula of Malacca and Panama is more than 24 thousand kilometers, which is more than half the length of the circumference of the Earth.

The name of the Pacific Ocean was given by the Portuguese navigator of the 16th century Magellan, who managed to overcome it without storms and even with a favorable wind.

In the Pacific Ocean are thousands of islands. Some of them are coral reefs grown on the peaks of seamounts. Others were formed on the site of underwater volcanoes. The highest tides on the planet are recorded in the Pacific Ocean. The tides off the coast of Korea reach 9 meters. The smallest tide of 0.3 meters is observed near the island of Midway, located in the middle of the ocean.

Interesting facts about the Pacific Ocean will be incomplete without mentioning its average depth of 4.2 kilometers. In the periphery of the ocean there are depressions. The deepest of them is the Mariana Trench.

The underwater ridge stretching from Antarctica to the coast of Mexico is called the East Pacific Rise. The rate of divergence of the bottom of the Pacific Ocean along the East Pacific uplift is 12-16 cm per year. In the water area of the Pacific Ocean there are more seamounts than in any other ocean. The vast expanses of the Pacific generate huge waves, which is a paradise for surfers.