Water occupies about 70% of the earth's surface. and the Pacific Ocean are the largest water areas. The first of them has long played a crucial role in the existence of human civilization. they wash continents and islands with an inseparable medium, but they have different properties in different areas. The fortieth latitudes are famous for constant storms that rage throughout the year. The tropical waters are known for the scorching sun, trade winds and occasional destructive hurricanes.
General characteristics of the Pacific Ocean
There is a difference in size between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the first of which occupies over 33% of the world's surface. It also has the greatest depths, lower water temperature and salt concentration. The width of the ocean along the equator is 17 thousand km, the area is 178.7 million km 2, and the average depth is 3940 m.Distinguishing features of the ocean are also that the earth's crust under it is extremely mobile, the bottom is rich in volcanoes, and the waters are animal and plant worlds.
The second name of the Pacific Ocean is Great. Its waters are washed by five continents. The eastern shores are quite simple, with several bays and peninsulas. There are many seas on the western outskirts. They include shelf ones, which are located in the shallow waters of the continent, the depths do not exceed 100 m. Part of the seas is located at the point of contact. Groups of islands separate them from the ocean. The coastline is highly dissected.
General characteristics of the Atlantic Ocean
The differences between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are not only in size, but also in shape. The latter is stretched in the north-south direction and resembles a winding ribbon. Its width is about 5 thousand km, the surface area is 91.6 million km 2, and the average depth is 3597 m. The Atlantic Ocean is the place of discharge of a large number of large rivers. If we take the total runoff of the Congo and the Amazon, then it will be only one fourth.
The Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean have different salinity. In the first, it is larger and ranges from 34 to 37.3 ‰. On average for the oceans, it is 34.71 ‰. It has the warmest water, its temperature is 3.99 ºC (the world average is 3.51 ºC). This phenomenon has a simple explanation: the ocean actively exchanges waters with coastal seas and bays, which are characterized by warmth and high salinity.
Research
The Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean have been explored for a long time. The latter was mastered by the indigenous population long before the appearance of the Europeans, who fell into its waters only during the Great Geographical Discoveries. A group of ships led by F. Magellan crossed the Pacific Ocean in a westerly direction. For several months the waters were calm, so the name was given accordingly. Since that time, the ocean has been explored by many expeditions led by domestic and foreign sailors.
The ancient Greeks and peoples of Scandinavia were still engaged in the development of the Atlantic Ocean. Centers of navigation appeared on its shores. Since the time of the Great Geographical Discoveries, the main waterways pass through it. In the 19th and 20th centuries, expedition ships carried out a comprehensive study of the Atlantic. Until now, scientists are studying the nature of the main currents, the mutual influence of the atmosphere and the ocean.
Bottom relief
Comparison of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in terms of the bottom topography gives reason to say that the first is much more complicated. The latter has a younger age, if we look at the theory of the movement of lithospheric plates. A huge ridge runs along the Atlantic Ocean in the meridional direction, which, coming to the surface, forms about. Iceland. This underwater mountain range divides the waters into two almost identical parts. There are large shelves off the European and North American coasts.
The shoals in the Pacific Ocean are significant off the coast of Asia and Australia. The slope of the mainland is steep, often in the form of steps. At the bottom there are many ridges, uplifts and hollows, as well as over 10 thousand volcanic mountains. The waters of the ocean are also known for the presence of the Ring of Fire and the Mariana Trench, which has a record depth of 11.022 km.
Climate
The similarity between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans lies in the fact that they lie in several climatic zones. above the first of them contain a lot of moisture, which falls in the form of rain. Their annual number over the equator reaches 3000 mm. The Arctic Ocean is separated from the Pacific Ocean by a piece of land and underwater mountain ranges, which protects the latter from cold waters.
Trade winds blow constantly in the central regions of the Pacific Ocean, and monsoons in the western regions. Dry cold air from the mainland leads to the icing of some seas. The western regions are often at the mercy of typhoons. In the temperate zone, winter is accompanied by storms. The North and South Pacific are known for high waves reaching 30 meters. The average temperature of the surface water layer varies between -1 ... + 29 ºC. The predominance of precipitation over evaporation has led to the fact that the salinity of water is below the world average.
The widest region of the Atlantic is found in temperate and tropical climates, rather than equatorial as in the Pacific. There are frequent trade winds and winds from the west. Storms in waters south of the equator occur all year round. In the temperate zone, they occur mainly in winter.
The Atlantic is somewhat colder than the Pacific. The reasons for this are as follows: icebergs, cold waters from the poles, active vertical mixing. Strong differences in air and water temperatures lead to dense fogs. The high salinity of the Atlantic is explained by the fact that the evaporated moisture is carried towards the continents, because the width of the ocean is relatively small.
Currents
The Pacific and Atlantic oceans connect the continents by waterways. The currents of the latter are predominantly meridional. They have greater speed and ability to transfer cold and heat between different latitudes. The Atlantic is famous for its large number of icebergs.
The Pacific Ocean is dominated by currents directed along latitudes. In the north and south, currents formed with a closed oval contour.
Organic world
Flora and fauna in the Pacific Ocean is extremely diverse. All conditions have been created for this: age, different climatic zones, sizes. It contains ½ of the total mass of the organic world. The richness of flora and fauna is especially great at the equator and in the tropics near coral reefs. The northern part has large reserves of salmonids. Ichthyofauna is also rich off the coast of the South American continent. Following the fish, birds that feed on them also gathered here. The Pacific Ocean is home to many species of mammals (whales, seals, etc.), invertebrates (molluscs, corals, etc.).
The flora and fauna of the Atlantic Ocean has less species diversity than the Pacific Ocean. The reason for this phenomenon lies in the fact that the former is much younger, but managed to survive a serious cold snap during the ice age. The number of representatives of the organic world is large here, despite their poor species composition.
Islands and seas of the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean
The Pacific Ocean includes the following seas: the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk, East China, Bering, Japan and other islands included in it: Kuril, Japanese, New Guinea and New Zealand, etc.
Seas that make up the Atlantic Ocean: Black, Mediterranean, Baltic and others. Famous islands: Iceland, British, Canary and others.
It should be noted that the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean have more differences than similarities. No wonder they are on opposite sides of the globe, have different formation times, bottom structure and other factors that influenced their characteristics.
Many seas wash the shores of one or more countries. Some of these seas are huge, others are very small ... Only the inland seas are not part of the ocean.
After the Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago from a clot of gas and dust, the planet's temperature dropped and the vapor contained in the atmosphere condensed (turned into liquid when cooled), settling on the surface in the form of rains. From this water, the world ocean was formed, subsequently divided by the continents into four oceans. These oceans include numerous coastal seas, often interconnected.
The largest seas of the Pacific Ocean
Philippine sea
Area: 5.7 million km 2, located between Taiwan in the north, the Marianna Islands in the east, the Caroline Islands in the southeast and the Philippines in the west.
Coral sea
Area: 4 million km2, bounded in the west by Australia, Papua New Guinea in the north, Vanuatu in the east, and New Caledonia
South China Sea
Area: 3.5 million km2, located between the Philippines to the east, Malaysia to the south, Vietnam to the west and China to the north
Tasman Sea
Area: 3.3 million km 2, washing Australia in the west and New Zealand in the east and separating the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Bering Sea
Area: 2.3 million km 2, located between Chukotka (Russia) in the west and Alaska (USA) in the east.
Japanese Sea
Area: 970,000 km 2, located between the Russian Far East in the northwest, Korea in the west and Japan in the east.
The largest seas of the Atlantic Ocean
Sargasso Sea
Area: 4 million km 2, located between Florida (USA) in the west and the northern Antilles in the south.
Composition of sea water
Sea water is approximately 96% water and 4% salt. Apart from the Dead Sea, the saltiest sea in the world is the Red Sea: it contains 44 grams of salt per liter of water (versus 35 grams on average for most seas). This high salt content is due to the fact that water evaporates faster in this hot region.
Gulf of guinea
Area: 1.5 million km 2, located at the latitude of the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Mediterranean Sea
Area: 2.5 million km 2, surrounded by Europe in the north, Western Asia in the east and North Africa in the south.
Antillean sea
Area: 2.5 million km 2, located between the Antilles in the east, the coast of South America in the South and Central America in the West.
Gulf of Mexico
Area: 1.5 million km 2, adjacent to the southern US coast to the north and Mexico to the west.
Baltic Sea
Area: 372,730 km 2, washing Russia and Finland in the north, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the east, Poland and Germany in the south, and Denmark with Sweden in the west.
North Sea
Area: 570,000 km 2, it is adjacent to Scandinavia in the east, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France in the south, and Great Britain in the west.
The largest seas of the Indian Ocean
Arabian Sea
Area: 3.5 million km 2, washed by the Arabian Peninsula in the west, Pakistan in the north and India in the east.
Bay of bengal
Area: 2.1 million km 2, located between the shores of India in the west, Bangladesh in the north, Myanmar (Burma) in the northeast, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the southeast, and Sri Lanka in the southwest.
Great Australian Bight (Australian Gulf)
Area: 1.3 million km 2, stretches along the southern coast of Australia.
Arafura sea
Area: 1 million km 2, located between Papua New Guinea in the northwest, Indonesia in the west and Australia in the south.
Mozambique strait
Area: 1.4 million km 2, located near Africa, between the shores of Mozambique in the west and Madagascar in the east.
The largest seas of the Arctic Ocean
Barencevo sea
Area: 1.4 million km 2, washes the coast of Norway in the west and Russia in the east.
Greenland sea
Area: 1.2 million km 2, bounded by Greenland in the west and the island of Svalbard (Norway) in the east.
East-Siberian Sea
Area: 900,000 km 2, washes the coast of Siberia.
The largest seas of Antarctica
Inland seas
Inland or closed seas are completely landlocked. The Black and Caspian Seas are the largest of them.
Black Sea
Area: 461,000 km 2. Around it are Romania and Bulgaria in the west, Russia and Ukraine in the north, Georgia in the east and Turkey in the south. It communicates with the Mediterranean Sea through the Marmara Sea.
Bellingshausen Sea
Area: 1.2 million km 2, located near Antarctica.
Caspian Sea
Area: 376,000 km 2, located between Azerbaijan in the west, Russia in the northwest, Kazakhstan in the north and east, Turkmenistan in the southeast and Iran in the south.
Ross Sea
Area: 960,000 km 2, located north of Antarctica.
Weddell Sea
Area: 1.9 million km 2, located between the South Orkney Islands (UK) and the South Shetland Islands (UK) in the north and Antarctica in the south.
The Dead Sea is so salty that there are no living organisms in it
And Japanese. These three seas make up the group of the Russian Far Eastern Seas. The Far Eastern seas are the deepest and largest seas of our country. The territory occupied by them is almost twice the area on which they are located, and. The volume of waters of the Far Eastern seas exceeds seven times the volume of the above seas.
The seas of the Pacific Ocean stretch from northeast to southwest for 5000 km. Beringovo, Okhotsk and, on the one hand, are limited by the land of the largest continent (). On the other, the eastern side, their borders run along the Aleutian, and located in the waters of the Pacific Ocean - the largest ocean on Earth.
The depressions of the Far Eastern seas occupy the territory located between the underwater parts of the continent and the island arcs that limit the eastern border of the seas. Thus, the basin is a continental slope with a steep side on the opposite side. The basins of these seas are characterized by enormous depths, the bottom surface in some areas is flat, in others it is wavy. At the bottom there are large uplifts, similar to mountain ranges and single heights. The Japanese and Okhotsk seas are characterized by a small development of the shelf. In these seas, vast areas have significant depths.
Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk in winter
These seas are characterized by a monsoon climate, which is noticeable in changes depending on the season and affects the features. Due to the fact that the seas occupy vast territories located from north to south, the climate of individual parts of the seas also depends on. Especially the monsoon is most clearly traced. In the north of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk and in the south, these features are less noticeable. The climate of the northern part of the Bering Sea is close to, and the southern part of the Sea of \u200b\u200bJapan gravitates towards the sea.
There are climatic differences between the eastern and western regions of the Far Eastern seas. The western part has a somewhat cold climate, due to the influence of the Pacific Ocean. The eastern regions are characterized by a relatively warm climate, which was influenced by the mainland.
In these seas, there is little continental waters. It has practically no effect, since the size of these seas is very large. Only in the coastal zone, where there are large estuaries, fresh waters are felt in the upper layer of the sea in spring and summer. For the Far Eastern seas, water exchange with the Pacific Ocean and neighboring basins is significant. Bering and connected with the ocean by large straits (over 1000 - 2000 m). The Sea of \u200b\u200bJapan communicates with the Pacific Ocean only through a few small straits (up to 150 m). Thus, the exchange of waters near the Bering and Okhotsk Seas occurs to great depths. And the waters of the Sea of \u200b\u200bJapan exchange with the ocean only the upper layers of water. The nature of water exchange affects the appearance of the sea and the specificity of its waters.
In all three Far Eastern seas, periods are clearly observed, which are due to the influence of the tidal Pacific Ocean. Fluctuations in the water level during high tide are due to the characteristics of the coastline and coastal. In the Penzhinsky Gulf of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk, the largest tides that occur in. The tide in the Sea of \u200b\u200bJapan and the Bering Sea is less than in the Okhotsk Sea.
Japanese Sea
The waters of the Far Eastern seas are covered with ice every year. The features of the ice cover depend on latitude and various local factors. The western regions of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk have the strongest ice cover. Low in this area are due to the influence of the mainland. Even in the north of the Bering Sea, which is located at higher latitudes, the water temperature is not as low as in the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk. In all the seas of the Far East, ice is annual and of local origin (ice forms and melts in sea waters).
The waters of the Bering and Okhotsk seas are well connected with the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Thus, the chemical composition of sea waters is in many respects close to oceanic ones. This is most clearly manifested in the distribution of oxygen over the levels of the water column. The waters of the Sea of \u200b\u200bJapan, which are highly isolated from the ocean, have a water composition different from that of the ocean. At great depths of this sea, waters containing a large amount of oxygen are observed. A similar phenomenon is not observed in the Pacific waters bordering with.
Human economic activity in the Far Eastern seas is due to their geographical location and natural features. In the Far Eastern seas, the sea is well developed. A large number of fish (sardines, mackerel, saury and other species) and other sea products (mussels, scallops, squid and seaweed) are caught in the waters. Also in these seas, sea is widely used, which contributes to the improvement of trade relations.
The activities of enterprises and plants of the pulp and paper and electric power industries, the processes of oil and gas production, housing and communal services, the development of shipbuilding and ship repair works, the functioning of the merchant and naval fleets negatively affect the ecological state of the Far Eastern Seas. In the waters of the seas located near the Primorsky and Khabarovsk territories, Sakhalin, Magadan and regions, there is a discharge of contaminated waste water. As a result, in the Far Eastern waters, located near the coast, there is a high content of oil products, salts of heavy metals, as well as pesticides. In the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk, the most polluted area is the waters of the Terpeniya Bay. In the most severe ecological situation is observed in the waters, along the coast and in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Golden Horn.
It is believed that the first person to visit the Pacific Ocean by ship was Magellan... In 1520 he circled South America and saw new expanses of water. Since during the entire journey Magellan's team did not meet a single storm, the new ocean was named " Quiet".
But even earlier in 1513 the Spaniard Vasco Nunez de Balboa headed south from Colombia to what he was told was a rich country with a large sea. Having reached the ocean, the conquistador saw the endless surface of the water stretching to the west, and called it " South Sea".
Fauna of the Pacific Ocean
The ocean is famous for the richest flora and fauna. It is home to about 100 thousand species of animals. There is no such variety in any other ocean. For example, the second largest ocean is Atlantic , inhabited by "only" 30 thousand species of animals.
There are several places in the Pacific Ocean where the depth exceeds 10 km. This is famous Mariana Trench , Philippine Trench and the Kermadec and Tonga troughs. Scientists were able to describe 20 species animals living at such a great depth.
Half of all seafood consumed by humans comes from the Pacific Ocean. Among 3 thousand species of fish, an industrial scale fishery is open for herring, anchovies , mackerel, sardine and etc.
Climate
The great length of the ocean from north to south quite logically explains the variety of climatic zones - from equatorial to Antarctic. The most extensive zone is the equatorial one. Throughout the year, the temperature here does not drop below 20 degrees. Temperature fluctuations throughout the year are so small that we can safely say that there is always +25. There is a lot of precipitation, over 3,000 mm. in year. Very frequent cyclones are characteristic.
The amount of precipitation is greater than the amount of water evaporating. Rivers, which bring more than 30,000 m³ of fresh water into the ocean every year, make surface waters less salty than other oceans.
The relief of the seabed and islands of the Pacific Ocean
The bottom topography is extremely diverse. In the east is East Pacific Risewhere the relief is relatively flat. Basins and deep-water trenches are located in the center. The average depth is 4,000 m, and in some places it exceeds 7 km. The ocean floor is covered with volcanic products with high levels of copper, nickel and cobalt. The thickness of such deposits in some areas can be 3 km. The age of these rocks begins with the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
At the bottom, there are several long chains of seamounts formed by volcanoes: mountains of the emperor, Louisville and Hawaiian skeletons. The Pacific Ocean has about 25,000 islands ... This is more than all other oceans combined. Most of them are located south of the equator.
The islands are classified into 4 types:
- Continental islands... Very closely related to the continents. Includes New Guinea, the islands of New Zealand and the Philippines;
- High islands... Appeared as a result of underwater volcanic eruptions. Many of today's high islands have active volcanoes. For example Bougainville, Hawaii and the Solomon Islands;
- Coral elevated atolls;
The last two types of islands are huge colonies of coral polyps that form coral reefs and islands.
- This ocean is so huge that its maximum width is equal to half of the Earth's equator, i.e. more than 17 thousand km.
- The fauna is large and varied. Even now, new animals unknown to science are regularly discovered there. So, in 2005, a group of scientists discovered about 1000 species of decapod crayfish, two and a half thousand molluscs and more than a hundred crustaceans.
- The deepest point on the planet is in the Pacific Ocean at Mariana Trench ... Its depth exceeds 11 km.
- The highest mountain in the world is located in the Hawaiian Islands. It is called Muan-Kea and is extinct volcano ... The height from the base to the top is about 10,000 m.
- Located at the bottom of the ocean Pacific volcanic ring of firewhich is a chain volcanoes located around the perimeter of the entire ocean.