Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.

At 165.25 million square kilometers (63.8 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 one-third 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, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,797 ft).

The eastern Pacific Ocean was first sighted by Europeans in the early 16th century when Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and discovered the great "southern sea" which he named Mar del Sur. The ocean's current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacifico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means "peaceful sea".

Latest News for: North pacific ocean

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Monster Pacific Storm Unleashes Massive 65-Foot Waves

gCaptain 21 Dec 2024
A powerful hurricane-force low pressure system in the North Pacific Ocean is generating extraordinary sea conditions, with significant wave heights reaching 65.77 feet (20 meters), according to the National Weather Service’s Ocean Prediction Center....
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Freed activist Paul Watson vows to 'end whaling worldwide'

Atlantic News Telegraph 21 Dec 2024
Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who has been freed from detention in Denmark, vowed on Saturday to end whale hunting around the world and stop Japan if it tried to resume whaling in the Southern Ocean ... "If the Kangei Maru goes to the North Pacific or the Southern Ocean then we will intervene against their illegal operations," Watson said....
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Earth's Magnetic North Pole Has A New Position, "The Blob" Kills 4 Million Seabirds, And Much More This Week

IFL Science 21 Dec 2024
Earth's Magnetic North Pole Officially Has A New Position ... According to a new study, it’s the worst single species die-off in modern history and was triggered by "The Blob", a mass of warm water in the north Pacific Ocean that has had a lasting and devastating impact on marine and coastal species....
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NORAD's Santa tracker was a Cold War morale boost. Now it attracts millions of kids

Chatanooga Times Free Press 21 Dec 2024
Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa's location ... A staff member jokingly drew Santa and his sleigh over the North Pole ... He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean....
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NORAD’s Santa tracker was a Cold War morale boost. Now it attracts millions of kids

Odessa American 21 Dec 2024
Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa’s location ... A staff member jokingly drew Santa and his sleigh over the North Pole ... He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean....
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He smuggled drugs, became a Brown Beret and focused his later years on mental health ...

San Diego Union-Tribune 21 Dec 2024
“As 8- and 9-year-old kids, those same hills were once our playgrounds, from north of Sidro to the international border, and along the southern border to the Pacific Ocean, with the Tijuana River Valley in the middle; this is the area where my life as a drug dealer began.” ... He’s scheduled to speak and sign copies of his book from 3.30 to 5.30 p.m ... Q....
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Is the NORAD Santa tracker safe from a government shutdown?

WPTV 20 Dec 2024
Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa’s location ... A staff member jokingly drew Santa and his sleigh over the North Pole ... He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean....
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Will NORAD still track Santa if there’s a government shutdown?

The Oregonian 20 Dec 2024
Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa’s location ... In the pre-digital age, the agency used a 60-by-80-foot plexiglass map of North America to track unidentified objects ... He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean....
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What will happen to the NORAD Santa tracker if there’s a government shutdown?

Penn Live 20 Dec 2024
Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa’s location ... In the pre-digital age, the agency used a 60-by-80-foot plexiglass map of North America to track unidentified objects ... He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean....
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Russian Air Force Flies Nuclear-Capable Bombers Near Alaska

Moscow Times 18 Dec 2024
Long-range aviation pilots regularly fly over the neutral waters of the Arctic, the North Atlantic, the Black and Baltic seas, as well as the Pacific Ocean,” the Russian military said ... North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement....
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Humpback whale mother-calf health assessed using drone tech

Phys Dot Org 17 Dec 2024
Recent declines in North Pacific humpback whale reproduction and survival of calves ......

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