O Opacific ocean is the set of waters that bathes the east of the Asia and of the Oceania and the west portion of the American continent, surrounding, in addition, tens of thousands of islands. Çcovers approximately one third of the surface of planet Earth, being the largest ocean among the five. It houses the deepest point of the hydrosphere, which is in the Marianas Trench, almost 11 thousand meters below the surface.
in the Pacific weather phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña are formed, and natural, such as tropical storms, tidal waves and tsunamis. let us remember that nohe is situated in the Circle of Fire, the area of greatest tectonic instability in the world. Among the serious environmental problems that affect this ocean is pollution by plastics and microplastics — its size is such that a kind of plastic island was formed in the near Hawaii.
Read too: What is the influence of ocean currents on the climate?
What are the characteristics of the Pacific Ocean?
the pacific ocean is the biggest of oceans that cover the earth
. The area covered by it is 161.76 million km², almost double the length of the Atlantic Ocean. This value represents a share of 31.7% of the entire area of the planet. In terms of volume, it holds approximately 660 million km³ of water. This is possible thanks to its average depth of 4080 meters, also higher than the others.The deepest point of the Pacific and the whole hydrosphere land is in the vicinity of the Mariana Islands in the Philippine Sea. It is the Challenger depression, in the Marianas Trench, 10,924 meters below the surface.
The surface water temperatures of the Pacific are higher after those found in the Indian Ocean, the warmest of the oceans. The average varies between 21 ºC and 27 ºC, although, in a time interval of 3 to 7 years, the cooling or heating of equatorial waters, giving rise to broad atmospheric phenomena reach.
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Origin of the name of the Pacific Ocean
the name of the pacific ocean was given by the Portuguese explorer Fernão de Magalhães, on one of his expeditions in the 16th century. In 1520, after a year sailing through the waters of the Atlantic, his fleet crossed the area currently called Estreito de Magallanes, in his honor, which is located in the south of the American continent. When crossing into Asia, they came across a vastness of calm waters, therefore peaceful.
Pacific ocean geography
The Pacific separates East Asia and Oceania from the western portion of the American continent. At North, has contact with the Oarctic ocean through the passage known as Strait of Bering, while its southern waters make the transition to the OAntarctic ocean. Besides these, it also meets the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic. It is crossed by the Equator Line, which divides it into North Pacific and South Pacific.
The climatic conditions found are quite different in regional terms. Fruit of pressure systems and systems of winds dand west and trades, the south and east of the Pacific have a stable climate. It is important to emphasize that there are, yes, the occurrence of seasonal events and also extreme phenomena, although their frequency is lower.
The situation is different in the north and in the west. In this region, there is the alternation between dry seasons and the period of monsoons, which occur, respectively, in the Winter and in the summer, especially in the south and southeast of the Asian continent. In addition, phenomena such as tropical storms are common.
The Pacific oceanic relief is heterogeneous, featuring different features between its east and west portions associated with tectonics. The first is characterized by the presence of a narrow continental shelf, steep slopes and ocean trenches, while the mountainous areas are situated to the north. The second, in turn, is marked by large oceanic trenches, such as the Marianas Trench, which indicate the meeting of tectonic plates, sets of mountains and volcanic islands, unlike the central areas, where flat relief predominates.
Read too: What are ocean ridges?
islands and seas
The vastness of the Pacific is reflected in the number of islands it surrounds, which total, approximately 30 thousand. These islands are divided into three major sub-regions: Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. Check out the main islands in each of these areas below, including some of the countries islands.
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Micronesia
Mariana Islands
carolina islands
Marshall Islands
Kiribati
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Melanesia
New Guinea
Fiji islands
Solomon Islands
New Caledonia
Bismarck Archipelago
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Polynesia
Hawaii
New Zealand
Easter Island
Cook Islands
Samoa
Tuvalu
The set of waters of the Pacific Ocean is also formed by a large number of seas, among which we cite:
Bali Sea
Bering Sea
Coral Sea
East China Sea
South China Sea
sea of japan
Philippine Sea
gulf of alaska
Phenomena originated in the Pacific Ocean
Several natural and climatic phenomena originate in the Pacific, which produce consequences more intense for those countries bathed in it, but may also have repercussions in other areas, such as at the Brazil.
atmospherics
The atmospheric oceanic phenomena are those that, although they originate in the waters of the Pacific, in this case, temporarily alter the atmospheric circulation pattern, generating seasonal changes in the pressure on these areas and, consequently, in the rainfall and wind regime. The two main atmospheric phenomena that occur in the Pacific are El Niño and La Niña.
O El Niño corresponds to the abnormal warming of the waters of the South Pacific (equatorial), which forms a low pressure zone and alters the circulation of winds and the rainfall regime in various regions of the planet. In areas where it originates, there are rains and hot weather. In Brazil, this phenomenon causes intensification of droughts in the North East, reduced precipitation in the North region, and heavy rains in the South region of the country, according to Inpe.
Like La Niña the opposite happens, that is, the Pacific water cooling in the vicinity ofOANDquadra, leaving dry and cold weather in the vicinity of where it originated. In the national territory, there is an intensification of rainfall in the regions North and Northeast and dry weather in the South and Southeast.
Natural
The most prevalent natural phenomena in the Pacific are the typhoons and cyclones, which can also be called tropical storms or hurricanes in the North Pacific. These are storms with winds that reach speeds above 119 km/h, most commonly occurring between mid-May and late November. The areas that most concentrate this type of phenomenon are the east of the Philippines, the southern and southeastern regions of China, and southern Mexico.
The Pacific covers a area of high tectonic instability, characterized by the encounter of plates. This region is called Circle of fire, where the incidence of volcanism and intense earthquakes is bigger than anywhere else on the planet, which also includes so-called tsunamis.
These, in turn, can generate tsunamis of large proportions and a high degree of destruction in the affected territories. An example is the earthquake followed by a tsunami that devastated areas of Japan in 2011 and became known as Fukushima earthquake.
Read too: What are the differences between hurricane, tornado and cyclone?
How important is the Pacific Ocean?
The importance of the Pacific encompasses economic, social and ecological factors. Its seas play the role of waterways. navigation and transport, being responsible for the displacement of people and cargo between the eastern and western hemispheres, mainly. The presence of large commercial ports stands out, such as Shanghai (China), Hong Kong, Yokohama (Japan), Singapore, Sydney (Australia) and Bangkok (Thailand).
O tourism it is an important economic activity developed in the Pacific, in its thousands of islands and idyllic landscapes. thinking about primary sector, a fishing practiced in this ocean corresponds to almost 60% of all fishing activity in the world, with the highest concentration in the Pacific Northwest region, which includes the coastal areas of China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. In addition to fish, other natural resources are found in the Pacific, like sand, minerals, Petroleum and natural gas.
Environmental problems
Bathing densely populated areas of high economic dynamism, the Pacific Ocean faces serious environmental problems, many of them shared with the other great oceans that cover the planet. THE intensification of fishing activity (both legal and illegal) to levels far beyond the reproductive capacity of these animals, as the magazine describes National Geographic, is one of those problems and affects the conservation of marine life.
From the serious repercussions for the biodiversity ocean, we also have the large amounts of waste, notably plastic and microplastic. The disposal trail found in this ocean is larger than in the others, and there is even an area called Great Pacific Garbage Island, which concentrates huge amounts of discarded material near the west coast of the United States and Hawaii, almost all of the waste being made of plastic composites.
the intense oil exploration and ship leaks, industrial discharges in port regions and even the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere, part of which is absorbed by the oceans, contribute to water change through the acidification process. This leads to a gradual transformation in the marine environment, leading to the death of algae and animals.
Atoll
The Pacific Ocean, together with the Indian Ocean, concentrates the largest number of atolls in the world. An atoll is an island made up of Coral reefs, which commonly surround a lagoon. Its formation is associated with successive volcanic activities on the ocean floor in relatively shallow areas, forming solid structures that rise close to the surface and thus allow corals and other species to grow. install.
The island of Kirimati or Christmas, in the Central Pacific, is the largest atoll in the world. and integrates the archipelago of the Republic of Kiribati, composed mostly of islands with these characteristics. Other atolls in the Pacific comprise the archipelagos of Fiji, New Caledonia, Marshall, as well as isolated areas of the ocean such as the atolls of Okinotorishima and Wake.
Continents and countries bordered by the Pacific Ocean
The coastline bathed by the Pacific is 135,663 km. We list below, by continent, which are the main countries that this ocean reaches.
America
Canada |
Guatemala |
Chile |
Honduras |
Colombia |
Mexico |
Costa Rica |
Nicaragua |
El Salvador |
Panama |
Ecuador |
Peru |
U.S |
Asia
Brunei |
South Korea |
Japan |
Thailand |
Cambodia |
fiji |
Malaysia |
Taiwan |
China |
Philippines |
Russia |
East Timor |
North Korea |
Indonesia |
Singapore |
Vietnam |
Oceania
Australia |
Nauru |
American Samoa |
Federation of Micronesian States |
New Zealand |
tonga |
Marshall Islands |
palau |
Tuvalu |
Solomon Islands |
Papua New Guinea |
Vanuatu |
Kiribati |
Samoa |
See too: What are the 10 poorest countries in the world?
Curiosities about the Pacific Ocean
The area covered by the Pacific Ocean is greater than the total land surface of planet Earth, that is, the combined areas of continents, islands and other surfaces.
The deepest point in the Pacific is wider than Mount Everest, which rises to 8848 meters above sea level.
As it approaches the Arctic and Antarctic oceans, the temperature of the waters of the Pacific drops and reaches -2°C.
The Pacific Islands have a population of 2.3 million people, according to the World Bank.
In June 2020, former NASA astronaut Kathy Sullivan was consecrated as the first woman to dive to the depths of Challenger depression in the Mariana Trenches. This expedition has been made by only eight people since the 1960s.
solved exercises
Question 1 - (Mackenzie 2016) “El Niño is likely to spread climate anomalies across the planet. Northern Brazil, for example, can get even drier, making it more susceptible to natural forest fires. The South must suffer from storms and floods.”
(Excerpt from an article in Veja magazine in August 2015).
Regarding the EL NIÑO phenomenon, it is correct to say that it results from the unusual heating of the waters.
A) surface and sub-surface of the equatorial Pacific ocean.
B) deep in the equatorial Pacific ocean.
C) surface and sub-surface of the Brazilian Atlantic Ocean.
D) surface and sub-surface of the Indian Ocean.
E) Deep in the Indian Ocean.
Resolution
Alternative A. El Niño originates from the warming of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific.
Question 2 - (UFRGS 2017) The oceans are great sources of food due to the richness of their marine life, although, in recent times, they have been facing environmental problems, caused by human actions.
Consider the following statements about the environmental problems of the oceans.
I - Ocean waters receive all products derived from industrial activities, but their large extensions reduce the concentration of pollutants, not offering great risks to marine fauna.
II - Predatory fishing, on an industrial scale, removes thousands of tons of fish from the sea without any control regarding the selection of species and the time of reproduction of each one, which can lead to whole schools disappearance.
III - Maintenance accidents on oil and gas platforms are responsible for most of the oil discharges into the oceans.
Which ones are correct?
A) Only I.
B) Only II.
C) Only III.
D) Only II and III.
E) I, II and III.
Resolution
Alternative D. Items II and III are correct. Unlike what was stated in item I, industrial disposal made directly into the oceans is highly harmful to marine fauna and flora.
By Paloma Guitarrara
Geography teacher
