Coordinates: 0°N 160°W

Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five
Pacific Ocean
oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the
north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to
Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continents of
Asia and Oceania in the west and the Americas in the east.

At 165,250,000 square kilometers (63,800,000 square miles)

in area (as defined with a southern Antarctic border), this
largest division of the World Ocean and the hydrosphere
covers about 46 percent of Earth's water surface and about
32 percent of its total surface area, larger than Earth's entire
land area combined 148,000,000 km2 (57,000,000 sq mi).[1]
The centers of both the Water Hemisphere and the Western
Hemisphere, as well as the oceanic pole of inaccessibility are
in the Pacific Ocean. Ocean circulation (caused by the
Coriolis effect) subdivides it[2] into two largely independent
volumes of water, which meet at the equator: the North Coordinates 0°N 160°W
Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean (or more
loosely the South Seas). The Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, Surface 165,250,000 km2
while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the area (63,800,000 sq mi)
South Pacific Ocean.[3] These oceans may be divided to Average 4,280 m (14,040 ft)
describe the Northeast Pacific Ocean with its coasts along depth
North America, the Southeast Pacific (South America),
Max. depth 10,911 m (35,797 ft)
Northwest Pacific (East Asia), and the Southwest Pacific
(Oceania including Australia and New Zealand). Water 710,000,000 km3
volume (170,000,000 cu mi)
The Pacific Ocean's mean depth is 4,000 meters (13,000
feet).[4] Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, located in Islands List of islands
the western north Pacific, is the deepest known point in the Settlements Acapulco, Anadyr,
world, reaching a depth of 10,928 meters (35,853 feet).[5] Anchorage, Apia,
The Pacific also contains the deepest point in the Southern Auckland, Brisbane,
Hemisphere, the Horizon Deep in the Tonga Trench, at Buenaventura, Callao,
10,823 meters (35,509 feet).[6] The third deepest point on Christchurch, Concepción,
Earth, the Sirena Deep, is also located in the Mariana Trench. Corinto, Dunedin,
The western Pacific has many major marginal seas, including Esmeraldas, Guayaquil,
but not limited to the South China Sea, the East China Sea, Honolulu, Hualien City,
the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Philippine Sea, the Keelung, Jayapura, Lima,
Coral Sea, Java Sea and the Tasman Sea. Los Angeles, Machala,
Magadan, Makassar,
Etymology Manta, Mazatlán,
Melbourne, New Taipei
In the early 16th century, Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de City, Nouméa, Osaka,
Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and sighted Panama City, Papeete,
the great "Southern Sea" which he named Mar del Sur (in Puerto San José, San
Spanish). Afterwards, the ocean's current name was coined Francisco Bay Area, San
by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Diego, Seattle, Sendai,
Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he Shizuoka City, Sorsogon
encountered favorable winds on reaching the ocean. He City, Suva, Sydney,
called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Tandag City, Tijuana,
Spanish means 'peaceful sea'. [7] Alternative name by
Tokyo, Valparaíso,
indigenous Islanders is Te moana-nui a Kiwa.
Vancouver, Victoria,
Vladivostok, Wellington,
Largest seas in the Pacific Ocean Whangarei, Yokohama,
Yokosuka
Top large seas:[8]

Australasian Mediterranean Sea – 9.080 million km2

Philippine Sea – 5.695 million km2
Coral Sea – 4.791 million km2
Chilean Sea – 3.6 million km2
South China Sea – 3.5 million km2
Tasman Sea – 2.3 million km2
Bering Sea – 2 million km2
Sea of Okhotsk – 1.583 million km2
Gulf of Alaska – 1.533 million km2
East China Sea – 1.249 million km2
Picture of the Pacific Ocean, taken from
Mar de Grau – 1.14 million km2 space by the Apollo 11 crew in July
Sea of Japan – 978,000 km2 1969

Solomon Sea – 720,000 km2

Banda Sea – 695,000 km2
Arafura Sea – 650,000 km2
Timor Sea – 610,000 km2
Yellow Sea – 380,000 km2
Java Sea – 320,000 km2
Gulf of Thailand – 320,000 km2
Gulf of Carpentaria – 300,000 km2
Celebes Sea – 280,000 km2
Sulu Sea – 260,000 km2
Bismarck Sea – 250,400 km2
Gulf of Anadyr – 200,000 km2
Molucca Sea – 200,000 km2
Gulf of California – 160,000 km2
Gulf of Tonkin – 126,250 km2
Halmahera Sea – 95,000 km2
Bohai Sea – 78,000 km2
Gulf of Papua – 70,400 km2
Koro Sea – 58,000 km2
 Bali Sea – 45,000 km2
Savu Sea – 35,000 km2
Seto Inland Sea – 23,203 km2
Salish Sea - 18,000 km2
Seram Sea – 12,000 km2

History

Prehistory

Across the continents of Asia, Australia and the Americas, more than 25,000 islands, large and small, rise
above the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Multiple islands were the shells of erstwhile active volcanoes, that
have lain dormant for thousands of years. Close to the equator through vast areas of blue ocean are a dot of
atolls that have over intervals of time been formed by seamounts as a result of tiny coral islands strung in a
ring within surroundings of a central lagoon.

Early migrations

Important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric

times. Modern humans first reached the western Pacific in the
Paleolithic, at around 60,000 to 70,000 years ago. Originating from
a southern coastal human migration out of Africa, they reached East
Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, the Philippines, New Guinea, and
then Australia by making the sea crossing of at least 80 kilometres
(50  mi) between Sundaland and Sahul. It is not known with any
certainty what level of maritime technology was used by these
groups  – the presumption is that they used large bamboo rafts
which may have been equipped with some sort of sail. The
reduction in favourable winds for a crossing to Sahull after 58,000
B.P. fits with the dating of the settlement of Australia, with no later
migrations in the prehistoric period. The seafaring abilities of pre- Model of a Fijian drua, an example of
an Austronesian vessel with a
Austronesian residents of Island South-east Asia are confirmed by
double-canoe (catamaran) hull and a
the settlement of Buka by 32,000 B.P. and Manus by 25,000 B.P.
crab claw sail
Journeys of 180 kilometres (110  mi) and 230 kilometres (140  mi)
are involved, respectively.[9]

The descendants of these migrations today are the Negritos, Melanesians, and Indigenous Australians. Their
populations in maritime Southeast Asia, coastal New Guinea, and Island Melanesia later intermarried with
the incoming Austronesian settlers from Taiwan and the northern Philippines, but also earlier groups
associated with Austroasiatic-speakers, resulting in the modern peoples of Island Southeast Asia and
Oceania.[10][11]

A later seaborne migration is the Neolithic Austronesian expansion of the Austronesian peoples.
Austronesians originated from the island of Taiwan c. 3000-1500 BCE. They are associated with distinctive
maritime sailing technologies (notably outrigger boats, catamarans, lashed-lug boats, and the crab claw
sail) – it is likely that the progressive development of these technologies were related to the later steps of
settlement into Near and Remote Oceania. Starting at around 2200 BCE, Austronesians sailed southwards
to settle the Philippines. From, probably, the Bismarck Archipelago they crossed the western Pacific to
reach the Marianas Islands by
1500 BCE,[12] as well as Palau
and Yap by 1000 BCE. They
were the first humans to reach
Remote Oceania, and the first to
cross vast distances of open
water. They also continued
spreading southwards and
settling the rest of Maritime
Southeast Asia, reaching
Indonesia and Malaysia by 1500 Map showing the migration of the Austronesian peoples
BCE, and further west to
Madagascar and the Comoros in
the Indian Ocean by around 500 CE.[13][14][15] More recently, it is suggested that Austronesians expanded
already earlier, arriving in the Philippines already in 7000 BCE. Additional earlier migrations into Insular
Southeast Asia, associated with Austroasiatic-speakers from Mainland Southeast Asia, are estimated to have
taken place already in 15000 BCE.[16]

At around 1300 to 1200 BCE, a branch of the Austronesian migrations known as the Lapita culture reached
the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and New Caledonia. From there, they settled
Tonga and Samoa by 900 to 800 BCE. Some also back-migrated northwards in 200 BCE to settle the
islands of eastern Micronesia (including the Carolines, the Marshall Islands, and Kiribati), mixing with
earlier Austronesian migrations in the region. This remained the furthest extent of the Austronesian
expansion into Polynesia until around 700 CE when there was another surge of island exploration. They
reached the Cook Islands, Tahiti, and the Marquesas by 700 CE; Hawaiʻi by 900 CE; Rapa Nui by 1000
CE; and finally New Zealand by 1200 CE.[14][17][18] Austronesians may have also reached as far as the
Americas, although evidence for this remains inconclusive.[19][20]

European exploration

The first contact of European navigators with the western edge of the Pacific Ocean was made by the
Portuguese expeditions of António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão, via the Lesser Sunda Islands, to the
Maluku Islands, in 1512,[21][22] and with Jorge Álvares's expedition to southern China in 1513,[23] both
ordered by Afonso de Albuquerque from Malacca.

The eastern side of the ocean was encountered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after
his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached a new ocean.[24] He named it Mar del Sur ("Sea
of the South" or "South Sea") because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first
observed the Pacific.

In 1520, navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his crew were the first to cross the Pacific in recorded history.
They were part of a Spanish expedition to the Spice Islands that would eventually result in the first world
circumnavigation. Magellan called the ocean Pacífico (or "Pacific" meaning, "peaceful") because, after
sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often
called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century.[25] Magellan stopped at one
uninhabited Pacific island before stopping at Guam in March 1521.[26] Although Magellan himself died in
the Philippines in 1521, Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano led the remains of the expedition back to
Spain across the Indian Ocean and round the Cape of Good Hope, completing the first world
circumnavigation in 1522.[27] Sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527,
Portuguese expeditions encountered the Caroline Islands,[28] the Aru Islands,[29] and Papua New
Guinea.[30] In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan.[31]
In 1564, five Spanish ships carrying
379 soldiers crossed the ocean from
Mexico led by Miguel López de
Legazpi, and colonized the
Philippines and Mariana Islands. [32]
For the remainder of the 16th century,
Spain maintained military and
mercantile control, with ships sailing
from Mexico and Peru across the
Pacific Ocean to the Philippines via
Guam, and establishing the Spanish
East Indies. The Manila galleons
operated for two and a half centuries,
linking Manila and Acapulco, in one
of the longest trade routes in history.
Spanish expeditions also arrived at
Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook
Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the
Admiralty Islands in the South
Pacific.[33] Map showing a large number of Spanish expeditions across the
Pacific Ocean from the 16th to 18th centuries including the Manila
Later, in the quest for Terra Australis galleon route between Acapulco and Manila, the first transpacific trade
("the [great] Southern Land"), route in world history
Spanish explorations in the 17th
century, such as the expedition led by
the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, arrived at
the Pitcairn and Vanuatu archipelagos, and sailed the Torres
Strait between Australia and New Guinea, named after navigator
Luís Vaz de Torres. Dutch explorers, sailing around southern
Africa, also engaged in exploration and trade; Willem Janszoon,
made the first completely documented European landing in
Australia (1606), in Cape York Peninsula,[34] and Abel Janszoon
Tasman circumnavigated and landed on parts of the Australian Universalis Cosmographia, also known
continental coast and arrived at Tasmania and New Zealand in as the Waldseemüller map, dated 1507,
1642.[35] was the first map to show the Americas
separating two distinct oceans. South
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain considered the Pacific America was generally considered the
Ocean a mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers. As New World and shows the name
the only known entrance from the Atlantic, the Strait of "America" for the first time, after
Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent the Amerigo Vespucci
entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western side of the
Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines.[36]

The 18th century marked the beginning of major exploration by the Russians in Alaska and the Aleutian
Islands, such as the First Kamchatka expedition and the Great Northern Expedition, led by the Danish
Russian navy officer Vitus Bering. Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest, reaching
Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and colonized Polynesia, and the
British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North
American Pacific Northwest. In 1768, Pierre-Antoine Véron, a young astronomer accompanying Louis
Antoine de Bougainville on his voyage of exploration, established the width of the Pacific with precision
for the first time in history.[37] One of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain
in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska,
Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific.[33]

Made in 1529, the Diogo Ribeiro map Map of the Pacific Ocean Maris Pacifici by
was the first to show the Pacific at during European Ortelius (1589). One of
about its proper size Exploration, circa 1754. the first printed maps to
show the Pacific
Ocean[38]

Map of the Pacific

Ocean during
European
Exploration, circa
1702–1707

New Imperialism

Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the

occupation of much of Oceania by European powers, and later
Japan and the United States. Significant contributions to
oceanographic knowledge were made by the voyages of HMS
Beagle in the 1830s, with Charles Darwin aboard;[39] HMS
Challenger during the 1870s;[40] the USS Tuscarora (1873–76);[41]
and the German Gazelle (1874–76).[42]

In Oceania, France obtained a leading position as imperial power The bathyscaphe Trieste before her
after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and record dive to the bottom of the
1853, respectively.[43] After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and Mariana Trench, 23 January 1960
1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro negotiated the
incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888.
By occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations.[44]: 5 3  By 1900 nearly all Pacific islands
were in control of Britain, France, United States, Germany, Japan, and Chile.[43]
Although the United States gained control of Guam and the
Philippines from Spain in 1898,[45] Japan controlled most of the
western Pacific by 1914 and occupied many other islands during
the Pacific War; however, by the end of that war, Japan was
defeated and the U.S. Pacific Fleet was the virtual master of the
ocean. The Japanese-ruled Northern Mariana Islands came under
the control of the United States.[46] Since the end of World War II,
Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars taking
many former colonies in the Pacific have become independent
over Tahiti on 9 September 1842
states.

Geography
The Pacific separates Asia and Australia from the Americas. It
may be further subdivided by the equator into northern (North
Pacific) and southern (South Pacific) portions. It extends from
the Antarctic region in the South to the Arctic in the north.[1]
The Pacific Ocean encompasses approximately one-third of the
Earth's surface, having an area of 165,200,000  km2
(63,800,000  sq  mi)— larger than Earth's entire landmass
combined, 150,000,000 km2 (58,000,000 sq mi).[47]
Sunset over the Pacific Ocean as seen
Extending approximately 15,500 km (9,600 mi) from the Bering from the International Space Station.
Sea in the Arctic to the northern extent of the circumpolar Tops of thunderclouds are also visible.
Southern Ocean at 60°S (older definitions extend it to
Antarctica's Ross Sea), the Pacific reaches its greatest east–west
width at about 5°N latitude, where it stretches approximately
19,800 km (12,300 mi) from Indonesia to the coast of Colombia
—halfway around the world, and more than five times the
diameter of the Moon.[48] Its geographic center is in eastern
Kiribati south of Kiritimati, just west from Starbuck Island at
4°58′S 158°45′W.[49] The lowest known point on Earth—the
Mariana Trench—lies 10,911  m (35,797  ft; 5,966 fathoms)
below sea level. Its average depth is 4,280 m (14,040 ft; 2,340
fathoms), putting the total water volume at roughly
710,000,000 km3 (170,000,000 cu mi).[1] The island geography of the Pacific
Ocean Basin
Due to the effects of plate tectonics, the Pacific Ocean is
currently shrinking by roughly 2.5  cm (1  in) per year on three
sides, roughly averaging 0.52  km2 (0.20  sq  mi) a year. By
contrast, the Atlantic Ocean is increasing in size.[50][51]

Along the Pacific Ocean's irregular western margins lie many

seas, the largest of which are the Celebes Sea, Coral Sea, East
China Sea (East Sea), Philippine Sea, Sea of Japan, South China
Sea (South Sea), Sulu Sea, Tasman Sea, and Yellow Sea (West
Sea of Korea). The Indonesian Seaway (including the Strait of
Malacca and Torres Strait) joins the Pacific and the Indian The regions, island nations, and
Ocean to the west, and Drake Passage and the Strait of Magellan territories of Oceania
link the Pacific with the Atlantic Ocean on the east. To the north,
the Bering Strait connects the Pacific with the Arctic Ocean.[52]
As the Pacific straddles the 180th meridian, the West Pacific (or western Pacific, near Asia) is in the Eastern
Hemisphere, while the East Pacific (or eastern Pacific, near the Americas) is in the Western
Hemisphere.[53]

The Southern Pacific Ocean harbors the Southeast Indian Ridge crossing from south of Australia turning
into the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge (north of the South Pole) and merges with another ridge (south of South
America) to form the East Pacific Rise which also connects with another ridge (south of North America)
which overlooks the Juan de Fuca Ridge.

For most of Magellan's voyage from the Strait of Magellan to the Philippines, the explorer indeed found the
ocean peaceful; however, the Pacific is not always peaceful. Many tropical storms batter the islands of the
Pacific.[54] The lands around the Pacific Rim are full of volcanoes and often affected by earthquakes.[55]
Tsunamis, caused by underwater earthquakes, have devastated many islands and in some cases destroyed
entire towns.[56]

The Martin Waldseemüller map of 1507 was the first to show the Americas separating two distinct
oceans.[57] Later, the Diogo Ribeiro map of 1529 was the first to show the Pacific at about its proper
size.[58]

Bordering countries and territories

Sovereign nations
Australia New Zealand
Brunei Nicaragua
Cambodia North Korea
Canada Palau
Chile Panama
China Papua New Guinea
Colombia Peru
Costa Rica Philippines
Ecuador Russia
El Salvador Samoa
Federated States of Micronesia Singapore
Fiji Solomon Islands
Guatemala South Korea
Honduras Taiwan
Indonesia Thailand
Japan Timor-Leste
Kiribati Tonga
Malaysia Tuvalu
Marshall Islands United States
Mexico Vanuatu
Nauru Vietnam

Territories
American Samoa (US) Baker Island (US)
 Clipperton Island (France) Macquarie Island (Australia)
Cook Islands (New Zealand) Midway Atoll (US)
Coral Sea Islands (Australia) New Caledonia (France)
French Polynesia (France) Norfolk Island (Australia)
Guam (US) Northern Mariana Islands (US)
Hong Kong (China) Niue (New Zealand)
Howland Island (US) Palmyra Atoll (US)
Jarvis Island (US) Pitcairn Islands (UK)
Johnston Island (US) Tokelau (New Zealand)
Kingman Reef (US) Wallis and Futuna (France)
Macau (China) Wake Island (US)

Landmasses and islands

The Pacific Ocean has most of the islands in the world. There
are about 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean.[59][60][61] The
islands entirely within the Pacific Ocean can be divided into
three main groups known as Micronesia, Melanesia and
Polynesia. Micronesia, which lies north of the equator and west
of the International Date Line, includes the Mariana Islands in
the northwest, the Caroline Islands in the center, the Marshall Tarawa Atoll in Kiribati
Islands to the east and the islands of Kiribati in the
southeast.[62][63]

Melanesia, to the southwest, includes New Guinea, the world's second largest island after Greenland and by
far the largest of the Pacific islands. The other main Melanesian groups from north to south are the
Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia.[64]

The largest area, Polynesia, stretching from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south, also
encompasses Tuvalu, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga and the Kermadec Islands to the west, the Cook Islands,
Society Islands and Austral Islands in the center, and the Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu, Mangareva Islands,
and Easter Island to the east.[65]

Islands in the Pacific Ocean are of four basic types: continental islands, high islands, coral reefs and uplifted
coral platforms. Continental islands lie outside the andesite line and include New Guinea, the islands of
New Zealand, and the Philippines. Some of these islands are structurally associated with nearby continents.
High islands are of volcanic origin, and many contain active volcanoes. Among these are Bougainville,
Hawaii, and the Solomon Islands.[66]

The coral reefs of the South Pacific are low-lying structures that have built up on basaltic lava flows under
the ocean's surface. One of the most dramatic is the Great Barrier Reef off northeastern Australia with
chains of reef patches. A second island type formed of coral is the uplifted coral platform, which is usually
slightly larger than the low coral islands. Examples include Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and Makatea in
the Tuamotu group of French Polynesia.[67][68]
 Ladrilleros Beach in Tahuna maru islet, French Los Molinos on the coast of
Colombia on the coast of Polynesia Southern Chile
Chocó natural region

Water characteristics
The volume of the Pacific Ocean, representing about 50.1 percent
of the world's oceanic water, has been estimated at some
714 million cubic kilometers (171 million cubic miles).[69] Surface
water temperatures in the Pacific can vary from −1.4 °C (29.5 °F),
the freezing point of seawater, in the poleward areas to about 30 °C
(86  °F) near the equator.[70] Salinity also varies latitudinally,
reaching a maximum of 37 parts per thousand in the southeastern
area. The water near the equator, which can have a salinity as low
as 34 parts per thousand, is less salty than that found in the mid-
Sunset in Monterey County,
latitudes because of abundant equatorial precipitation throughout
California, U.S.
the year. The lowest counts of less than 32 parts per thousand are
found in the far north as less evaporation of seawater takes place in
these frigid areas.[71] The motion of Pacific waters is generally
clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere (the North Pacific gyre) and counter-clockwise in the Southern
Hemisphere. The North Equatorial Current, driven westward along latitude 15°N by the trade winds, turns
north near the Philippines to become the warm Japan or Kuroshio Current.[72]

Turning eastward at about 45°N, the Kuroshio forks and some water moves northward as the Aleutian
Current, while the rest turns southward to rejoin the North Equatorial Current.[73] The Aleutian Current
branches as it approaches North America and forms the base of a counter-clockwise circulation in the
Bering Sea. Its southern arm becomes the chilled slow, south-flowing California Current.[74] The South
Equatorial Current, flowing west along the equator, swings southward east of New Guinea, turns east at
about 50°S, and joins the main westerly circulation of the South Pacific, which includes the Earth-circling
Antarctic Circumpolar Current. As it approaches the Chilean coast, the South Equatorial Current divides;
one branch flows around Cape Horn and the other turns north to form the Peru or Humboldt Current.[75]

Climate
The climate patterns of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres generally mirror each other. The trade
winds in the southern and eastern Pacific are remarkably steady while conditions in the North Pacific are far
more varied with, for example, cold winter temperatures on the east coast of Russia contrasting with the
milder weather off British Columbia during the winter months due to the preferred flow of ocean
currents.[76]
In the tropical and subtropical Pacific, the El Niño Southern
Oscillation (ENSO) affects weather conditions. To determine the
phase of ENSO, the most recent three-month sea surface
temperature average for the area approximately 3,000  km
(1,900  mi) to the southeast of Hawaii is computed, and if the
region is more than 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) above or below normal for
that period, then an El Niño or La Niña is considered in
progress.[77]

In the tropical western Pacific, the monsoon and the related wet
season during the summer months contrast with dry winds in the
winter which blow over the ocean from the Asian landmass.[78]
Worldwide, tropical cyclone activity peaks in late summer, when
the difference between temperatures aloft and sea surface
temperatures is the greatest; however, each particular basin has
its own seasonal patterns. On a worldwide scale, May is the least
active month, while September is the most active month.
Impact of El Niño and La Niña on North
November is the only month in which all the tropical cyclone
America
basins are active.[79] The Pacific hosts the two most active
tropical cyclone basins, which are the northwestern Pacific and
the eastern Pacific. Pacific hurricanes form south of Mexico,
sometimes striking the western Mexican coast and occasionally
the southwestern United States between June and October, while
typhoons forming in the northwestern Pacific moving into
southeast and east Asia from May to December. Tropical
cyclones also form in the South Pacific basin, where they
occasionally impact island nations.

In the arctic, icing from October to May can present a hazard for
shipping while persistent fog occurs from June to December.[80]
A climatological low in the Gulf of Alaska keeps the southern
coast wet and mild during the winter months. The Westerlies and
associated jet stream within the Mid-Latitudes can be particularly
strong, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, due to the Typhoon Tip at global peak intensity on
temperature difference between the tropics and Antarctica,[81] 12 October 1979
which records the coldest temperature readings on the planet. In
the Southern hemisphere, because of the stormy and cloudy
conditions associated with extratropical cyclones riding the jet stream, it is usual to refer to the Westerlies as
the Roaring Forties, Furious Fifties and Shrieking Sixties according to the varying degrees of latitude.[82]

Geology
The ocean was first mapped by Abraham Ortelius; he called it Maris Pacifici following Ferdinand
Magellan's description of it as "a pacific sea" during his circumnavigation from 1519 to 1522. To Magellan,
it seemed much more calm (pacific) than the Atlantic.[83]

The andesite line is the most significant regional distinction in the Pacific. A petrologic boundary, it
separates the deeper, mafic igneous rock of the Central Pacific Basin from the partially submerged
continental areas of felsic igneous rock on its margins.[84] The andesite line follows the western edge of the
islands off California and passes south of
the Aleutian arc, along the eastern edge
of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril
Islands, Japan, the Mariana Islands, the
Solomon Islands, and New Zealand's
North Island.[85][86]

The dissimilarity continues

northeastward along the western edge of
the Andes Cordillera along South
America to Mexico, returning then to the
islands off California. Indonesia, the
Philippines, Japan, New Guinea, and
New Zealand lie outside the andesite A Ring of Fire; the Pacific is ringed by many volcanoes and
line. oceanic trenches.

Within the closed loop of the andesite

line are most of the deep troughs, submerged volcanic mountains,
and oceanic volcanic islands that characterize the Pacific basin.
Here basaltic lavas gently flow out of rifts to build huge dome-
shaped volcanic mountains whose eroded summits form island arcs,
chains, and clusters. Outside the andesite line, volcanism is of the
explosive type, and the Pacific Ring of Fire is the world's foremost
belt of explosive volcanism.[62] The Ring of Fire is named after the
several hundred active volcanoes that sit above the various
subduction zones.
A stratovolcano in Ulawun on the
The Pacific Ocean is the only ocean which is mostly bounded by island of New Britain in Papua New
subduction zones. Only the Antarctic and Australian coasts have no Guinea
nearby subduction zones.

Geological history

The Pacific Ocean was born 750 million years ago at the breakup
of Rodinia, although it is generally called the Panthalassa until the
breakup of Pangea, about 200  million years ago.[87] The oldest
Pacific Ocean floor is only around 180 Ma old, with older crust
subducted by now.[88]
Mount St. Helens in Skamania
County, Washington, U.S. in 2020
Seamount chains

The Pacific Ocean contains several long seamount chains, formed by hotspot volcanism. These include the
Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain and the Louisville Ridge.

Economy
The exploitation of the Pacific's mineral wealth is hampered by the ocean's great depths. In shallow waters
of the continental shelves off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, petroleum and natural gas are
extracted, and pearls are harvested along the coasts of Australia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua,
Panama, and the Philippines, although in sharply declining volume in some cases.[89]

Fishing

Fish are an important economic asset in the Pacific. The shallower shoreline waters of the continents and
the more temperate islands yield herring, salmon, sardines, snapper, swordfish, and tuna, as well as
shellfish.[90] Overfishing has become a serious problem in some areas. For example, catches in the rich
fishing grounds of the Okhotsk Sea off the Russian coast have been reduced by at least half since the 1990s
as a result of overfishing.[91]

Environment
The quantity of small plastic fragments floating in
the north-east Pacific Ocean increased a
hundredfold between 1972 and 2012.[93] The
ever-growing Great Pacific garbage patch
between California and Japan is three times the
size of France.[94] An estimated 80,000 metric
tons of plastic inhabit the patch, totaling
1.8 trillion pieces.[95]

Marine pollution is a generic term for the harmful

entry into the ocean of chemicals or particles. The
main culprits are those using the rivers for Pacific Ocean currents have created three islands of
disposing of their waste.[96] The rivers then empty debris.[92]
into the ocean, often also bringing chemicals used
as fertilizers in agriculture. The excess of oxygen-
depleting chemicals in the water leads to hypoxia and the creation
of a dead zone.[97]

Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created waste

that has ended up floating in a lake, sea, ocean, or waterway.
Oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and
coastlines, frequently washing aground where it is known as beach
litter.[96]

In addition, the Pacific Ocean has served as the crash site of Marine debris on a Hawaiian coast in
satellites, including Mars 96, Fobos-Grunt, and Upper Atmosphere 2008
Research Satellite.

Nuclear waste

From 1946 to 1958, Marshall Islands served as the Pacific Proving Grounds for the United States and was
the site of 67 nuclear tests on various atolls.[99][100] Several nuclear weapons were lost in the Pacific
Ocean,[101] including one-megaton bomb lost during the 1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident.[102]
In 2021, the discharge of radioactive water from the Fukushima
nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean over a course of 30 years was
approved by the Japanese Cabinet. The Cabinet concluded the
radioactive water would have been diluted to drinkable
standard.[103] Apart from dumping, leakage of tritium into the
Pacific was estimated to be between 20 and 40 trillion Bqs from
2011 to 2013, according to the Fukushima plant.[104]

Major ports and harbors In 2020, Japanese Prime Minister

Suga declined to drink the bottle of
Fukushima's treated radioactive
List of major ports water that he was holding, which
would otherwise be discharged to the
Acapulco Melbourne Pacific.[98]
Auckland Nagoya
Bangkok Nakhodka
Busan Oakland
Callao Osaka
Cebu City Panama City
Dalian Portland
Guangzhou San Diego
Haiphong San Francisco
Ho Chi Minh City Seattle
Hong Kong Shanghai
Honolulu Singapore
Johor Bahru Sydney
Kaohsiung Tianjin
Keelung Tokyo
Long Beach Vancouver
Los Angeles Vladivostok
Manila Yokohama

List of seas, gulfs and bays by surface area

Philippine Sea : 5,695,000 km2 (2,199,000 sq mi)
Coral Sea : 4,791,000 km2 (1,850,000 sq mi)
South China Sea: 3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi)
Tasman Sea : 2,300,000 km2 (890,000 sq mi)
Bering Sea : 2,000,000 km2 (770,000 sq mi)
Sea of Okhotsk : 1,583,000 km2 (611,000 sq mi)
Gulf of Alaska : 1,533,000 km2 (592,000 sq mi)
East China Sea: 1,249,000 km2 (482,000 sq mi)
Sea of Japan : 978,000 km2 (378,000 sq mi)
Solomon Sea : 720,000 km2 (280,000 sq mi)
Arafura Sea : 650,000 km2 (250,000 sq mi)
Banda Sea  : 470,000 km2 (180,000 sq mi)
 Yellow Sea : 380,000 km2 (150,000 sq mi)
Gulf of Thailand : 320,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi)
Java Sea  : 320,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi)
Gulf of Carpentaria : 300,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi)
Celebes Sea : 280,000 km2 (110,000 sq mi)
Sulu Sea : 260,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi)
Bismarck Sea : 250,400 km2 (96,700 sq mi)
Flores Sea  : 240,000 km2 (93,000 sq mi)
Molucca Sea : 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi)
Gulf of Anadyr : 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi)
Gulf of California : 160,000 km2 (62,000 sq mi)
Gulf of Tonkin : 126,250 km2 (48,750 sq mi)
Halmahera Sea : 95,000 km2 (37,000 sq mi)
Bohai Sea : 78,000 km2 (30,000 sq mi)
Gulf of Papua : 70,400 km2 (27,200 sq mi)
Koro Sea : 58,000 km2 (22,000 sq mi)
Bali Sea : 45,000 km2 (17,000 sq mi)
Savu Sea : 35,000 km2 (14,000 sq mi)
Bohol Sea 29,000 km2 (11,000 sq mi)
Seto Inland Sea : 23,203 km2 (8,959 sq mi)
Sibuyan Sea 22,400 km2 (8,600 sq mi)
Seram Sea 12,000 km (7,500 mi)
Visayan Sea 11,850 km2 (4,580 sq mi)
Gulf of Panama 2,400 km2 (930 sq mi)
Manila Bay : 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi)
Tokyo Bay : 1,500 km2 (580 sq mi)

List of islands in the Pacific

See also
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
List of rivers of the Americas by coastline#Pacific Ocean coast
Pacific Alliance
Pacific coast
Pacific Time Zone
Seven Seas
Trans-Pacific Partnership
War of the Pacific
Natural delimitation between the Pacific and South Atlantic oceans by the Scotia Arc

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Further reading
Barkley, Richard A. (1968). Oceanographic Atlas of the Pacific Ocean. Honolulu: University
of Hawaii Press.
prepared by the Special Publications Division, National Geographic Society. (1985). Blue
Horizons: Paradise Isles of the Pacific. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.
ISBN 978-0-87044-544-6.
Cameron, Ian (1987). Lost Paradise: The Exploration of the Pacific (https://archive.org/detail
s/lostparadiseexpl00came). Topsfield, MA: Salem House. ISBN 978-0-88162-275-1.
Couper, A.D., ed. (1989). Development and Social Change in the Pacific Islands. London:
Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-00917-1.
Gilbert, John (1971). Charting the Vast Pacific. London: Aldus. ISBN 978-0-490-00226-5.
Igler, David (2013). The Great Ocean: Pacific Worlds from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush.
New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-991495-1.
Jones, Eric, Lionel Frost, and Colin White. Coming Full Circle: An Economic History of the
Pacific Rim (Westview Press, 1993)
Lower, J. Arthur (1978). Ocean of Destiny: A Concise History of the North Pacific, 1500–1978
(https://archive.org/details/oceanofdestinyco0000lowe). Vancouver: University of British
Columbia Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-0101-0.
Napier, W.; Gilbert, J.; Holland, J. (1973). Pacific Voyages. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
ISBN 978-0-385-04335-9.
Nunn, Patrick D. (1998). Pacific Island Landscapes: Landscape and Geological
Development of Southwest Pacific Islands, Especially Fiji, Samoa and Tonga (https://books.
google.com/books?id=AN8486A8fMcC&pg=PA15). [email protected]. ISBN 978-982-02-
0129-3.
Oliver, Douglas L. (1989). The Pacific Islands (3rd ed.). Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1233-1.
 Paine, Lincoln. The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World (2015).
Ridgell, Reilly (1988). Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia,
and Polynesia (2nd ed.). Honolulu: Bess Press. ISBN 978-0-935848-50-2.
Samson, Jane. British imperial strategies in the Pacific, 1750–1900 (Ashgate Publishing,
2003).
Soule, Gardner (1970). The Greatest Depths: Probing the Seas to 20,000 feet (6,100 m) and
Below (https://archive.org/details/greatestdepthspr00soul). Philadelphia: Macrae Smith.
ISBN 978-0-8255-8350-6.
Spate, O.H.K. (1988). Paradise Found and Lost. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
ISBN 978-0-8166-1715-9.
Terrell, John (1986). Prehistory in the Pacific Islands: A Study of Variation in Language,
Customs, and Human Biology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-
30604-1.

Historiography
Calder, Alex, et al. eds. Voyages and Beaches: Pacific Encounters, 1769–1840 (U of Hawai‘i
Press, 1999)
Davidson, James Wightman. "Problems of Pacific history." Journal of Pacific History 1#1
(1966): 5–21.
Dickson, Henry Newton (1911). "Pacific Ocean"  (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encycl
op%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Pacific_Ocean). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.).
pp. 434–441.
Dirlik, Arif. “The Asia-Pacific Idea: Reality and Representation in the Invention of a Regional
Structure,” Journal of World History 3#1 (1992): 55–79.
Dixon, Chris, and David Drakakis-Smith. “The Pacific Asian Region: Myth or Reality?”
Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 77#@ (1995): 75+
Dodge, Ernest S. New England and the South Seas (Harvard UP, 1965).
Flynn, Dennis O., Arturo Giráldez, and James Sobredo, eds. Studies in Pacific History:
Economics, Politics, and Migration (Ashgate, 2002).
Gulliver, Katrina. "Finding the Pacific world." Journal of World History 22#1 (2011): 83–100.
online (https://www.academia.edu/241829/Finding_the_Pacific_World)
Korhonen, Pekka. "The Pacific Age in World History," Journal of World History 7#1 (1996):
41–70.
Munro, Doug. The Ivory Tower and Beyond: Participant Historians of the Pacific (Cambridge
Scholars Publishing, 2009).
"Recent Literature in Discovery History." Terrae Incognitae, annual feature in January issue
since 1979; comprehensive listing of new books and articles.
Routledge, David. "Pacific history as seen from the Pacific Islands." Pacific Studies 8#2
(1985): 81+ online (https://web.archive.org/web/20160923134705/https://journals.lib.byu.ed
u/spc/index.php/PacificStudies/article/viewFile/9369/9018)
Samson, Jane. "Pacific/Oceanic History" in Kelly Boyd, ed. (1999). Encyclopedia of
Historians and Historical Writing vol 2 (https://books.google.com/books?id=0121vD9STIMC
&pg=PA901). Taylor & Francis. pp. 901–02. ISBN 978-1-884964-33-6.
Stillman, Amy Ku‘uleialoha. “Pacific-ing Asian Pacific American History,” Journal of Asian
American Studies 7#3 (2004): 241–270.

External links
 EPIC Pacific Ocean Data Collection Viewable (https://web.archive.org/web/2010050401242
9/http://www.epic.noaa.gov/epic/ewb/) on-line collection of observational data
NOAA In-situ Ocean Data Viewer (https://web.archive.org/web/20060211015453/http://dapp
er.pmel.noaa.gov/dchart/) plot and download ocean observations
NOAA PMEL Argo profiling floats Realtime Pacific Ocean data (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0060210183949/http://floats.pmel.noaa.gov/floats/)
NOAA TAO (https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/drupal/disdel/) El Niño data Realtime Pacific
Ocean El Niño buoy data
NOAA Ocean Surface Current Analyses (https://web.archive.org/web/20051229005041/htt
p://www.oscar.noaa.gov/datadisplay/) – Realtime (OSCAR) Near-realtime Pacific Ocean
Surface Currents derived from satellite altimeter and scatterometer data

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