pacific

     

The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowe upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan) is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia on the west and the Americas on the east. At 169.2 million square kilometers (65.3 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean – and, in turn, the hydrosphere – covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about 32% of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined. The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the Pacific and the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,798 ft).

Trivia about pacific

  • The name of this ocean means "peaceful"
  • Totem poles were once raised as a part of the potlatch feast of tribes living on the coast of this ocean
  • The flag of the federated states of Micronesia has 4 stars on a blue background, the blue standing for this ocean
  • Its greatest known depth, 36,201 feet in the Mariana Trench, is the greatest depth found in any ocean
  • Vancouver, British Columbia
  • This ocean has several trenches deeper than 30,000 feet, including Kuril, Tonga & Kamchatka
  • Portland, Oregon
  • A blue triangle on the Solomon Islands' flag represents this surrounding body of water
  • In 1931 Pangborn & Herndon landed a Bellanca CH-200 at Wenatchee, Wash., ending the first nonstop flight across this
  • The new charter Virginia got in 1609 amazingly extended its land northwest to this ocean
  • Of the world's active volcanoes, about 60% are along the perimeter of this ocean
  • British Columbia's flag shows the sun setting over wavy stripes, which symbolize this ocean
  • It covers 70 million square miles
  • The Kuril Islands separate the Sea of Okhotsk from this ocean
  • Near the equator this ocean stretches about 12,000 miles from Colombia to the Malay Peninsula
  • Gilbertese, a Micronesian language, is widely spoken in Kiribati, an island country in this ocean
  • The "El Nino" ' phenomenon of this ocean causes unusual weather patterns about every 3 to 7 years
  • Reno, Nevada
  • It's the geographic "P" in the name of San Francisco-based power company PG&E
  • Las Vegas, Nevada