Incredible 13 Facts About Pacific Ocean - You Must Know

Pacific Ocean Facts

In this article, we will be exploring the interesting facts about Pacific Ocean, the world's largest Ocean. So let's dive into the world's largest ocean and collect lots of interesting and incredible information about this ocean.

pacific_ocean
The Pacific Ocean Beach Coast

1➤ Who Named the Pacific Ocean?

The word “Pacific” means peaceful. In 1521, the Pacific Ocean was named  by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. He called the ocean “mar pacific”, which means Peaceful Sea.

2➤ Do You Know Which Ocean is the Largest and Deepest ?

There are FIVE oceans in the world. The name of these oceans are as below:-

  1. Pacific Ocean
  2. Atlantic Ocean
  3. Indian Ocean
  4. Arctic Ocean
  5. Southern Ocean

Out of these five oceans, the Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean and deepest. The total area of the Pacific Ocean is 168,723,000 sq km. (Wiki). The Pacific Ocean covers about 30% of the Earth’s surface area and represents 46% of the water’s surface area. Even the Pacific Ocean is larger than the total area of all seven continents.

3➤ Pacific Ocean Map

pacific_ocean
Map of Pacific Ocean [pic source:mapsof.net]

4➤ Where is the Pacific Ocean Located?

The Pacific Ocean extends from the Americas to the East of the Pacific Ocean basin and the Asian and Australian continents to the West. There are more than 40 countries bordering the Pacific Ocean including Canada, the United States, China, Australia, Japan, and Mexico.

5➤ How Deep is the Pacific Ocean?

The Pacific Ocean is the world’s deepest ocean. As per wikipedia, the average ocean depth of Pacific Ocean is 3,970 meters. The Marina Trench is the deepest known spot on the planet which is located to the West of the Philippines and north of New Guinea.

Challenger Deep is the deepest point (36,000 feet down)in the Mariana Trench . In 1875,this trench was researched by the HMS Challenger in 1875. Because of this reason, it is called “Challenger Deep”

6➤ What is Ring of Fire?

pacific_ocean
Ring of Fire, Pacific Ocean [pic source:wikipedia]

The ring of fire (also known as the Rim of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is located in the Pacific Ocean basin. A number of volcanoes form a structure of a ring around the basin which is where the name comes from.

This area is home to many earthquakes due to volcanic activity and the movement of tectonic plates. About 90%[2] of the world’s earthquakes and about 81%[3] of the world’s largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.

7➤ How Warm is the Pacific Ocean?

Temperatures vary across the Pacific Ocean and depend on the location of the equator. The part of the Pactic ocean that is near the Equator, the water is warm there.

Due to this in some regions the water is up to 30degC/86F, while near to the poles, the temperature of water reaches a freezing point. The lowest temperature measured was -2degC.

8➤ Islands in Pacific Ocean

pacific_ocean
Islands in Pacific Ocean - Micronesia, Polynesia, Melanesia [PicSource: Wikipedia via google]

9➤ Do you know what defines an Island?

Actually any area of land smaller than a continent and entirely surrounded by water is called an Island.

New Guinea is known as the second largest island , and it is located in the Pacific Ocean. Greenland is the largest island in the world.There are around more than 25000 islands in the Pacific Ocean including Hawaii and most of them are found south of the Equator in the Southern Pacific.

These islands of the Pacific Ocean can be divided into three main groups known as Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia.

Micronesia – Micronesia is composed of thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean and it is a subregion of Oceania. Micronesia is divided politically among several sovereign countries.

Melanesia – Melanesia is a region of islands in Oceania. It stretches from the Western Side of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, to the Arafura Sea, northeast of Australia. Its name means “black islands”.

Polynesia – Polynesia is made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean, is a subregion of Oceania. The largest country in Polynesia is New Zealand.

10➤Atoll in Pacific Ocean

pacific_ocean
An aerial view of Atafu atoll in Tokelau [Image via Google]

An atoll is a ring island. This is a ring of land surrounding a pool of water called a lagoon. To know about atoll and reef in detail – click here. Atolls are only found in warm ocean waters and due to this fact Pacific Ocean is also home to many Atolls.

11➤ Great Barrier Reef

The Pacific Ocean is also home to the Great Barrier Reef. Great Barrier Reef is the largest reef in the world and it stretches more than 1,429 miles. From 1981, Great Barrier Reef is now protected as a World Heritage Site. This is located in Australia.

pacific_ocean
Great Barrier Reef [Pic via Google]

12➤ Is Pacific Ocean Shrinking ?

Yes. Because of plate tectonics effects , the Pacific Ocean is shrinking by 2.5 cm (1 in) per year on three sides, roughly averaging 0.52 km2 (0.20 sq mi) a year, whereas the Atlantic Ocean is increasing in size.

13➤ Great Pacific Garbage Patch

pacific_ocean
Great Pacific Garbage Patch [Pic via Google]

This is an area in the North Pacific Ocean, roughly between San Francisco and Hawaii, where currents converge and collect debris, mainly various types of plastics.

The Garbage Patch is created by the North Pacific Gyre. A Gyre is a system of circulating currents in an ocean, caused by the Coriolis Effect. There are actually two “garbage patches” in the North Pacific Ocean – a western garbage patch, located southeast of Japan, and the eastern garbage patch, located between San Francisco and Hawaii. Reference site – 1

Read Also – Ocean Facts

Scroll to Top