The Pacific Ocean is this vast body of water and understanding it is vital to understanding the Earth. Besides understanding it from a scientific perspective, the Pacific Rim is now the most vibrant and dynamic part of the world, dotted with the largest economies, high technology hubs and powerful armies and navies. The note below shares some important facts and features of the Pacific ocean and I have included links to a few YouTube videos to provide additional information or context. Happy reading and learning!
Size - The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of all the ocean bodies on the Earth. At 165m sq Km it is larger than all the land masses on Earth put together. It's widest section from Indonesia to Colombia spans around 19,800 km and the Pacific ocean amounts to 28% of the Earth's surface. The Pacific contains around half the Earth's entire water which is not surprising given its large area. Islands dot the entire Pacific and there are more than 20,000 of these islands in the ocean, each unique geographies and cultures. The Pacific ocean is also shrinking in size at the rate of around 0.5sq km per annum with a corresponding increasing offset of the Atlantic ocean due to phenomena called plate tectonics and subduction.
Discovery - Whist indigenous people have been living across the various Pacific islands for thousands of years, the modern discovery of the Pacific is attributed to the Portuguese explorer - Vasco Nunez de Balboa in 1513 when he crossed the Isthmus of Panama and sighted the Pacific. Ferdinand Magellan first recorded the crossing of the Pacific in 1521 and also gave it the name that stands till today 'The Pacific Ocean" - the peaceful sea. Since then, the European powers greatly expanded their ambit of presence & conquest in the Pacific including the Spanish, Dutch, French, German & English and established various colonial outposts across the Pacific and in latter years were matched by the Americans. The Americans now have many military bases dotted across the Pacific and control of the Pacific is vital for the American navy. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uE4pWxMbmg]
Weather & Climate - Oceans in general and the Pacific in particular have immense heat storing capabilities. Oceans also provide for the intersections of warm and cold water and the Pacific is infamous of key weather related events like El Nino and La Nina because of the vast and critical interchange between the oceans and atmosphere. The great size of the Pacific and especially given large parts of the ocean lie between the Tropics make it the largest area covered by the Trade Winds and hence a key driver of global climate and weather patterns. The eastern boundary of the Pacific experiences storms called Hurricanes which are called Typhoons in the Western Pacific. The Pacific is also a region of high rainfall.
Deepest Trench - The Challenger Deep, part of the Marianas Trench is the deepest known point on the Earth. Crescent shaped, the trench is around 11 Km deep. The trench is located close to the Island of Guam. The trench is deeper than Mt. Everest and the pressure at the bottom is more than 1,000 bar. More people have walked on the moon than on the Marianas Trench and thus remains a highly un-explored region. Despite the high pressure and completely absence of sunlight, complex life forms exist even in the deepest parts of the ocean which has resulted in new scientific discoveries around the origin of life on the planet [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VRnNHSqNKo] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0G68ORc8uQ]
Tallest Mountain - Mauna Kea one of the six volcanic mountains that have formed the island of Hawaii is the world's tallest mountain at 9,966m in height. However, as a large part of Mauna Kea lies below the sea level, Mount Everest remains the tallest peak measured from mean sea level.
Garbage - There is a significant amount of debris and garbage in Pacific ocean caused by indiscriminate dumping by humans. There are infact two established garbage patches, the Western garbage patch located near Japan and the Eastern garbage patch near Hawaii. Garbage accumulates in these regions largely because of the specific nature of the Pacific ocean currents. The garbage is mostly plastic as it does not bio degrade and a large component of this is micro plastic. The garbage resides not only at the surface but will sink into the lower portions of the ocean as well. The accumulation of garbage in the Pacific has now become a gigantic problem and since the patches are located in regions far from any country, the chances of a clean up are remote unfortunately. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtaNqGyHkNE] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsjvwQclGLo]
Ring of Fire - The Pacific Plate and plate tectonics are at the heart of the ring of fire. The ring of fire is located all around the edges of the Pacific Ocean and is the home of volcanic activity and earthquakes. More than 80% of the world's volcanoes and devastating earthquakes (c. 90%) happen around the Pacific fault lines dotted by the ring of fire. One of the reasons is the faster movement of the Pacific plate (the largest tectonic plate) relative to other tectonic plates in the region. Processes including subduction play a critical role that results in frequent instability and earthquakes. The largest and most deadly volcanic eruption that took place in recorded history was Krakatoa (other was Tambora also in Indonesia) in Indonesia in 1883. Explosions were heard nearly 4,000 miles away and ash and projectile was propelled to a distance of 80 km upwards. Tsunami waves crossed a 100ft and more than 30,000 people died as a result of this explosion. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q1Ur3Z6dT0]
Pacific Rim - Islands in the Pacific and nations that border the Pacific ocean are today the most vibrant and dominant part of the global economy. Billions live in and around the coastal regions of the Pacific including the West Coast of N America, Japan, Korea, China and Indonesia. Dominant economies dot the edges of the Pacific making this the most dynamic region in the world connected by the vast expanse of the Pacific ocean. The Pacific rim is the world's leading technology hub.
Great Barrier Reef (GBF) - The GBF located off the eastern coast of Australia is one of the seven wonder of the natural world, is larger than the Great Wall of China and is the only living creature that is visible from outer space. Stretching 2,300km, it is the largest coral reef foundation in the world. Climate Change is making very visible impacts on the GBF with coral bleaching being one of them.
Point Nemo - The remotest point on Earth, Point Nemo, is an imaginary location in the Pacific Ocean. It lies about 2,700 km from the nearest land body. When boats pass close to Point Nemo they are closer to the International Space Station than to any land body on Earth. Point Nemo has also become a dumping ground for decommissioned satellites, space stations etc given its remoteness. The only humans who get close to the imaginary Point Nemo are those that take place in the Volvo ocean race.
Hawaii & Pearl Harbour - Dec 7, 1941 is forever etched in the history of the Pacific especially the United States and Japan. The day after the attack, FDR and Congress declared war on Japan and formally entered WW2 and decisively changed the outcome of the great war. The surprise attack by Japan disabled the US Pacific fleet with a number of ships and destroyers damaged. Miraculously the air craft carriers of the US escaped this attack by the Japanese and they would play a critical role in future engagements with the Japanese. More than 2,000 US servicemen died in the Pearl Harbour attack which FDR declared "a day that will live in infamy". The Pacific thereafter saw significant naval and military engagements between Japan and the Allied forces (principally the US) including the infamous island hopping campaign and notable sea battles like Coral Sea and Midway. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvInlqvE8IU] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kipF5zoCGAk] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5hH3ksvKE]
Atomic Age - The Pacific rim has seen two of the most devastating bombs in the history which detonated at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945. These two atomic weapons killed thousands and hastened the unconditional surrender of Japan and brought an end to WW2. Since then, the US, UK and France have tested a number of atomic weapons across the Pacific given the remoteness and vastness of the ocean. The Pacific therefore is the first and only atomic ocean. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFUVN0pJayY] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fq3WRPr2qQ] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCtxSlH0DK0] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1up-TRMxdo]
Galapagos - The Galapagos are islands in the Pacific that are distributed on both sides of the equator and form part of Ecuador. The Galapagos are inextricably linked to Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection. It was his five week visit in 1835 to these Pacific islands that led Darwin to observe that species whilst similar from island to island were perfectly suited and adapted for the environment they lived in. His theories considerably advanced work and thought leadership around natural selection, evolution and origin of species. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOiUZ3ycZwU]
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