Article
Article
Pacific Ocean
Article By:
Reid, Joseph L. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.
Last reviewed:2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.481800
The Pacific Ocean has an area of 6.3 × 107 mi2 (1.65 × 108 km2) and a mean depth of 14,049 ft (4282 m). It covers 32% of the Earth's surface and 46% of the surface of all oceans and seas, and its area is greater than that of all land areas combined. Its mean depth is the greatest of the three oceans, and its volume is 53% of the total of all oceans. Its greatest depths in the Marianas and Japan trenches are the world's deepest, more than 6 mi (10 km; Fig. 1).
The content above is only an excerpt.
About AccessScience
AccessScience provides the most accurate and trustworthy scientific information available.
Recognized as an award-winning gateway to scientific knowledge, AccessScience is an amazing online resource that contains high-quality reference material written specifically for students. Contributors include more than 9000 highly qualified scientists and 43 Nobel Prize winners.
MORE THAN 8500 articles and Research Reviews covering all major scientific disciplines and encompassing the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology and McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science & Technology
115,000-PLUS definitions from the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms
3000 biographies of notable scientific figures
MORE THAN 19,000 downloadable images and animations illustrating key topics
ENGAGING VIDEOS highlighting the life and work of award-winning scientists
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY and additional readings to guide students to deeper understanding and research
LINKS TO CITABLE LITERATURE help students expand their knowledge using primary sources of information
