Article
Article
Pacific Ocean
Article By:
Reid, Joseph L. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.
Last reviewed:December 2019
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).
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