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