The vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean are amazing. It is amazing that the once fearless navigators dared to cross them on sailing ships, not knowing whether they would ever see the land again, or they were destined to disappear on this endless water surface. And even now, despite the rapid development of science, the Pacific depths are still practically not studied.
Interesting facts about the Pacific Ocean
- Its area is approximately 10 times larger than the area of Russia.
- The first person to cross the Pacific was Ferdinand Magellan. During the entire voyage, which lasted almost 4 months, he never observed destructive storms, so he called the Pacific Ocean. As it turned out, in vain – storms rage here much more often than in the Indian or Atlantic oceans (interesting facts about Magellan).
- The average depth of the Pacific Ocean is almost 4 kilometers.
- One of its obsolete names, now officially not used, is Great.
- The waters of the Pacific Ocean wash the shores of 43 states.
- It is here that the deepest place on Earth is located – the Mariana Trench, the bottom of which lies 10,994 meters below sea level. A person has visited it only three times, and one of the brave explorers who went down there alone was director James Cameron, creator of «Avatar», «Titanic» and the first two «Terminators».
- Pacific waters make up more than 50% of the world’s oceans.
- The Pacific Ocean covers a third of the entire surface of the Earth (interesting facts about Earth).
- It has about 25,000 islands, more than any other ocean or sea. This is even more than the total number of islands in the rest of the oceans.
- The speed of tsunami waves in the Pacific Ocean can reach 700-800 km/h (interesting facts about tsunami).
- Because of the circular currents, entire floating islands of garbage gather in its center. The largest garbage patch consists of approximately 100 million tons of garbage, and its area is from 0.4 to 0.8% of the area of the Pacific Ocean.
- The largest mollusks in the world are found here, reaching a weight of 300 kg.
- More than 100 thousand species of living creatures live in the Pacific waters.
- Tides on the shores of the Pacific Ocean in some places, for example , off the coast of Korea, reach a height of 9 meters. These are the highest tides in the world.
- At its bottom are the Imperial Mountains – a huge mountain range stretching for 1500 kilometers (interesting facts about mountains).
- The Pacific Ocean is the warmest of all.
- About 95% of all salmon fish in The world is found precisely in its waters.
- In its widest part, the distance between the coasts exceeds 19,800 kilometers.
- About a third of all explored underwater oil and natural gas deposits are located in the Pacific Ocean.
- It accounts for 46% of the total water surface of our planet.
- There are more than a thousand species of crayfish.
- The total area of the Pacific Ocean is about 30 million kilometers more than the total area of the entire land.
- More than 10 thousand mountain peaks rise from its bottom, mostly extinct volcanoes.
- Some Pacific algae grow 180-200 meters in length.
- In the Pacific Ocean is the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s longest ridge of coral islands, 900 kilometers long.