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Pacific Ocean

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The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east. At 169.2 million square kilometres (65.3 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean – and, in turn, the hydrosphere – covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about 32% of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined. The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands are deemed wholly within the South Pacific. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the Pacific and in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,798 ft).

For more information about Pacific Ocean, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with pacific ocean

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NASA satellite sees Tropical Depression 10P Strengthening in south Pacific

NASA satellite sees Tropical Depression 10P Strengthening in south Pacific

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 27, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

NASA's Aqua satellite is keeping an eye on the tenth tropical depression to form in the southern Pacific Ocean. Tropical Depression 10P has formed overnight and is expected to continue strengthening.


NASA Research Finds Last Decade was Warmest on Record, 2009 One of Warmest Years

NASA Research Finds Last Decade was Warmest on Record, 2009 One of Warmest Years

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 21, 2010 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (48) | comments 100 | with audio podcast

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new analysis of global surface temperatures by NASA scientists finds the past year was tied for the second warmest since 1880. In the Southern Hemisphere, 2009 was the warmest year on record.


Bering Strait influenced ice age climate patterns worldwide

Bering Strait influenced ice age climate patterns worldwide

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 10, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (21) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

In a vivid example of how a small geographic feature can have far-reaching impacts on climate, new research shows that water levels in the Bering Strait helped drive global climate patterns during ice age ...


Ancient Pacific islanders brought to light

Ancient Pacific islanders brought to light

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- A find of 60 headless skeletons summer 2009 may reveal the identity of the people who first inhabited the Pacific Ocean archipelago Vanuatu 3000 years ago.


Tropical Cyclone Mick forms quickly, hits Fiji in the southwestern Pacific

Tropical Cyclone Mick forms quickly, hits Fiji in the southwestern Pacific

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Tropical Cyclone Mick formed over the weekend in the southwestern Pacific Ocean and made a quick landfall over Fiji's main island of Viti Levu earlier today, December 14. Mick made landfall as a Category ...


Rocket launches Air Force satellite from Fla.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 06, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(AP) -- A rocket carrying an Air Force satellite that will be used by the military has launched from Cape Canaveral.


System 97W's 'castle wall' breached, and opened up to dissipation

System 97W's 'castle wall' breached, and opened up to dissipation

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 04, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The "walls" of System 97W have been breached, and residents in the Western Pacific Ocean no longer have a tropical cyclone to worry about today. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center cancelled their "formation ...


NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites see Nida fading, and 97W getting organized

NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites see Nida fading, and 97W getting organized

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites flew over Tropical Depression Nida and System 97W in the Western Pacific Ocean and noticed that one is fading while the other is powering up.


Typhoon Nida's cloud tops dropping as it zigzags in wind shear

Typhoon Nida's cloud tops dropping as it zigzags in wind shear

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 01, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Nida is battling to keep its typhoon strength in the Western Pacific Ocean as wind shear continues to tear at the storm and weaken it. NASA's CloudSat satellite noticed that Nida's cloud tops are not as high ...


Winds drive icebergs away from New Zealand

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 01, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(AP) -- Strong westerly winds in the southern Pacific Ocean have driven scores of icebergs originally headed toward New Zealand to the east, away from the country, an oceanographer said Tuesday.


Ships warned about icebergs headed for New Zealand (AP)

Ships warned about icebergs headed for New Zealand

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Ships are on alert and maritime authorities are monitoring the movements of hundreds of menacing icebergs drifting toward New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean, officials said.


Icebergs head from Antarctica for New Zealand (AP)

Icebergs head from Antarctica for New Zealand

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 24, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (5) | comments 1

(AP) -- Ships in the south Pacific Ocean have been alerted that hundreds of icebergs believed to have split off Antarctic ice shelves are drifting north toward New Zealand, officials said Tuesday.


El Nino Could Play A Role In Colorado's Winter Weather, Scientist Says

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 2 / 5 (1) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- El Nino, a warming event of the tropical Pacific Ocean that affects weather patterns in the United States and elsewhere, has strengthened in recent months and already appears to have influenced Colorado's ...


One word: bioplastics

One word: bioplastics

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (15) | comments 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, more than 250 billion pounds of plastic are produced worldwide. Much of it ends up in the world's oceans, a fact that troubles MIT biology professor Anthony Sinskey.


Salmon migration mystery explored on Idaho's Clearwater River

Salmon migration mystery explored on Idaho's Clearwater River

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 15, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Temperature differences and slow-moving water at the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake rivers in Idaho might delay the migration of threatened juvenile salmon and allow them to grow larger ...