Pacific
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has classified the Pacific Ocean as the largest body of water on the surface of the globe, with an area of about 155 million square kilometers, and the Pacific Ocean occupies almost a third of the Earth’s surface. As it extends between the Southern Ocean and the continents of Asia, Australia and the Americas, the Pacific Ocean also contains nearly half of the world's supply of water; As it is twice the size of the world's second largest ocean, the Atlantic Ocean.
reason of calling
The Pacific Ocean was given this name in November of 1520 by the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, in relation to the calmness of its waters compared to the rest of the seas and oceans that he crossed through what is known as the Strait of Magellan and the wreck of his fleet ships at that time during his search for a western route to the Spice Islands through South America, though Magellan and his crew had ventured into Earth's largest ocean and their destination to the Spice Islands still thousands of miles away.
Pacific Geography
We can talk about the geography of the Pacific Ocean as follows:
- Terrain: The Pacific Ocean is dominated by two large eddies, one in the north and the second in the south, and the Pacific Ocean also includes a variety of hot and cold surface currents distributed over its northern and southern parts, in addition to that, in the winter it forms ice.
- Altitude: The highest point in the Pacific Ocean is 0 meters high; That is, at sea level, while the average depth is 3970 meters below sea level.
- Natural resources: The Pacific Ocean contains oil and gas fields, complexes of sand and gravel, and many mineral nodes, in addition to deposits that include precious metals, and it also contains fish.
- Surrounding risks: The Pacific Ocean is surrounded by a region with violent volcanic activity and earthquakes, and this region is called the “Pacific Ring of Fire.” The ocean is also exposed to a group of hurricanes distributed over several parts of the year, and ships in it are subject to freezing and fog during the period. Between June to December.
