OCEANS
INTRODUCTION Approximately 71% of the surface of the world is covered by the five oceans of the world. Most of the water on earth is in the oceans. All these are actually part of the large world ocean.
LIST OF OCEANS Here is a list of all five oceans according to size. Pacific Atlantic Indian Southern Arctic oceans
PACIFIC OCEAN The Pacific Ocean is in the area between the Americas and the Eurasia continental systems. Australia is in the southern part of this ocean. The size of the Pacific is about 68.3 million square miles (165.25 million square miles). It is subdivided into two parts by the equator – The North and the South Pacific. The Pacific was unknown to the European people in the ancient and the middle ages. The Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa was the first among the Europeans to cross the Isthmus of Panama to reach the Pacific Ocean. Magellan was credited to give the ocean its name. He called it as “Mar Pacifico” i.e. “The Peaceful Sea”.
PACIFIC OCEAN
PACIFIC OCEAN
ATLANTIC OCEAN With its 41.1 million surface area, the Atlantic is the second largest ocean after the Pacific. Almost 1/5th of the earth’s surface is under its water. Atlas, the Titan of Greek mythology held up the sky. The Atlantic Ocean is named after him, literally meaning, “Sea of Atlas”. Actually, the Greeks believed that it was a gigantic river. Atlantic separates Europe from North America. It is also is in between Africa and South America. From ages, it is the busiest Ocean of the world.
ATLANTIC OCEAN
ATLANTIC OCEAN
INDIAN OCEAN The 3rd largest of all five oceans of the world, the Indian Ocean is named after India. It is the only ocean named after a country or rather a sub-continent. It is in the south of Asia and west of Africa. The area of the Ocean is 63 square miles (264 square Km). It takes 19.5% of earth’s surface. The average depth of it is 3890 meters or 12762 ft. The deepest point is 8,047 m (26,401 ft).
INDIAN OCEAN
INDIAN OCEAN
ANTARCTIC OCEAN Southern Ocean is also called as the Antarctic Ocean. It is the part of the World Ocean encircling Antarctica. Sometimes, it is considered merely as a part of the Atlantic, Indian, and the Pacific Ocean. The northern limit of it is 60 degrees south. It is a very cold ocean with floating icebergs. The water is completely different from other larger oceans. The depth of this ocean is around 13000 to 16000 feet in most of the places . It has the deepest point at 7,236 m (23,740 ft) under the sea level.
ANTARTIC OCEAN
ARCTIC OCEAN The Arctic Ocean is around the North Pole of the earth. It is the smallest and shallowest of all oceans. Some oceanographers do not consider it as a ocean. They prefer the term Arctic sea. The Arctic is mostly surrounded by Asia, Europe and North America. Maximum part of the ocean becomes frozen solid during the winter. The water of Arctic lacks salinity. The ice covered water is flooded by the big rivers of Siberia. But the ice cover of the ocean is shrinking due to global warming. It has been observed that the rate of disappearance of ice cover is 3% per decade. It occupies an area of 5.4 million sq ml or 14 million km2. The ocean is surrounded by Russia, Norway, Greenland, Canada and Alaska.
ARCTIC OCEAN
OCEANS