83 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
83 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
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PACIFIC OCEAN
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GEOGRAPHY
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Total area: 165,384,000 km2; includes Arafura Sea, Banda Sea,
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Bellingshausen Sea, Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Coral Sea, East China Sea,
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Gulf of Alaska, Makassar Strait, Philippine Sea, Ross Sea, Sea of Japan,
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Sea of Okhotsk, South China Sea, Tasman Sea, and other tributary water
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bodies
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Comparative area: slightly less than 18 times the size of the US;
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the largest ocean (followed by the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and
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Arctic Ocean); covers about one-third of the global surface; larger than
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the total land area of the world
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Coastline: 135,663 km
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Climate: the western Pacific is monsoonal--a rainy season occurs
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during the summer months, when moisture-laden winds blow from the ocean
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over the land, and a dry season during the winter months, when dry winds
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blow from the Asian land mass back to the ocean
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Terrain: surface in the northern Pacific dominated by a clockwise,
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warm water gyre (broad, circular system of currents) and in the southern
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Pacific by a counterclockwise, cool water gyre; sea ice occurs in the
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Bering Sea and
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Sea of Okhotsk during winter and reaches maximum northern extent from
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Antarctica in October; the ocean floor in the eastern Pacific is
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dominated by the East Pacific Rise, while the western Pacific is
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dissected by deep trenches; the world's greatest depth is 10,924 meters
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in the Marianas Trench
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Natural resources: oil and gas fields, polymetallic nodules, sand
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and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, fish
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Environment: endangered marine species include the dugong, sea
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lion, sea otter, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in Philippine
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Sea and South China Sea; dotted with low coral islands and rugged
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volcanic islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean; subject to tropical
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cyclones (typhoons) in southeast and east Asia from May to December (most
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frequent from July to October); tropical cyclones (hurricanes) may form
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south of Mexico and strike Central America and Mexico from June to
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October (most common in August and September); southern shipping lanes
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subject to icebergs from Antarctica; occasional El Nino phenomenon
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occurs off the coast of Peru when the trade winds slacken and the warm
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Equatorial Countercurrent moves south, which kills the plankton that is
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the primary food source for anchovies; consequently, the anchovies move
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to better feeding grounds, causing resident marine birds to starve by the
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thousands because of their lost food source
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Note: the major choke points are the Bering Strait, Panama
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Canal, Luzon Strait, and the Singapore Strait; the Equator divides the
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Pacific Ocean into the North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean;
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ships subject to superstructure icing in extreme north from October to
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May and in extreme south from May to October; persistent fog in the
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northern Pacific from June to December is a hazard to shipping;
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surrounded by a zone of violent volcanic and earthquake activity
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sometimes referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire
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ECONOMY
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Overview: The Pacific Ocean is a major contributor to the world
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economy and particularly to those nations its waters directly touch.
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It provides cheap sea transportation between East and West, extensive
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fishing grounds, offshore oil and gas fields, minerals, and sand and
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gravel for the construction industry. In 1985 over half (54%) of the
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world's total fish catch came from the Pacific Ocean, which is the only
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ocean where the fish catch has increased every year since 1978.
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Exploitation of offshore oil and gas reserves is playing an
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ever-increasing role in the energy supplies of Australia, New Zealand,
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China, US, and Peru. The high cost of recovering offshore oil and gas,
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combined with the wide swings in world prices for oil since 1985, has
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slowed but not stopped new drillings.
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Industries: fishing, oil and gas production
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COMMUNICATIONS
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Ports: Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong, Los Angeles (US),
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Manila (Philippines), Pusan (South Korea), San Francisco (US), Seattle
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(US), Shanghai (China), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Vladivostok
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(USSR), Wellington (NZ), Yokohama (Japan)
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Telecommunications: several submarine cables with network focused
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on Guam and Hawaii
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