View source for Earth:Pacific Ocean

{{Short description|Ocean between  Asia, Oceania, and the Americas}}
{{Infobox body of water
| name               = Pacific Ocean
| image              = File:Pacific Ocean - en.png
| alt                = Map of the Pacific Ocean
| coords             = {{Coord|0|N|160|W|region:XP_type:waterbody_dim:20000000|display=inline,title}}
| area               = {{convert|165250000|km2|abbr=on}}
| depth              = {{convert|4280|m|abbr=on}}
| max-depth          = {{convert|10911|m|abbr=on}}
| volume             = {{convert|710000000|km3|abbr=on}}
| shore              = 
| islands            = List of islands
| trenches           = 
| cities             = List
}}


The '''Pacific Ocean''' is the largest and deepest of Earth's five [[Earth:Borders of the oceans|oceanic divisions]]. It extends from the [[Earth:Arctic Ocean|Arctic Ocean]] in the north to the [[Earth:Southern Ocean|Southern Ocean]] (or, depending on definition, to [[Earth:Antarctica|Antarctica]]) in the south, and is bounded by the continents of [[Earth:Asia|Asia]] and [[Earth:Oceania|Oceania]] in the west and the [[Earth:Americas|Americas]] in the east.

At {{convert|165250000|km2|sp=us|abbr=off}} in area (as defined with a southern Antarctic border), this largest division of the [[Earth:World Ocean|World Ocean]] and the [[Earth:Hydrosphere|hydrosphere]] covers about 46% of Earth's water surface and about 32% of the planet's total surface area, larger than its entire land area ({{convert|148,000,000 |sqkm|abbr=on}}).<ref name="ebc">"[https://www.britannica.com/place/Pacific-Ocean Pacific Ocean]". ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica|Britannica Concise]].'' 2008: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.</ref> The centers of both the [[Earth:Land and water hemispheres|Water Hemisphere]] and the [[Earth:Western Hemisphere|Western Hemisphere]], as well as the [[Earth:Pole of inaccessibility#Oceanic pole of inaccessibility|oceanic pole of inaccessibility]], are in the Pacific Ocean. Ocean circulation (caused by the Coriolis effect) subdivides it<ref>{{cite web|url=https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_currents/04currents1.html|title=The Coriolis Effect|publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|accessdate=April 8, 2022}}</ref> into two largely independent volumes of water that meet at the [[Astronomy:Equator|equator]], the '''North Pacific Ocean''' and the '''South Pacific Ocean''' (or more loosely the [[Earth:South Seas|South Seas]]). The Pacific Ocean can also be informally divided by the [[Physics:International Date Line|International Date Line]] into the '''East Pacific''' and the '''West Pacific''', which allows it to be further divided into four quadrants, namely the ''Northeast Pacific'' off the coasts of [[Earth:North America|North America]], the ''Southeast Pacific'' off [[Earth:South America|South America]], ''Northwest Pacific'' off [[Place:Far East|Far Eastern Asia]], and the ''Southwest Pacific'' around [[Earth:Oceania|Oceania]].

The Pacific Ocean's mean depth is {{convert|4000|m|ft|sp=us|abbr=off}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/pacific-size.html|title=How big is the Pacific Ocean?|last=Administration|first=US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric|website=oceanexplorer.noaa.gov|language=EN-US|access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref> [[Earth:Challenger Deep|Challenger Deep]] in the Mariana Trench, located in the northwestern Pacific, is the deepest known point in the world, reaching a depth of {{convert|10928|m|ft|sp=us|abbr=off}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fivedeeps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/FDE-Challenger-Release-FINAL-5132019.pdf|title=Deepest Submarine Dive in History, Five Deeps Expedition Conquers Challenger Deep}}</ref> The Pacific also contains the deepest point in the [[Earth:Southern Hemisphere|Southern Hemisphere]], the Horizon Deep in the [[Earth:Tonga Trench|Tonga Trench]], at {{convert|10823|m|ft|sp=us|abbr=off}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fivedeeps.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-06-11-FDE-Press-Release-Tonga.pdf|title=CONFIRMED: Horizon Deep Second Deepest Point on the Planet}}</ref> The third deepest point on Earth, the [[Earth:Sirena Deep|Sirena Deep]], is also located in the Mariana Trench.

The western Pacific has many major marginal seas, including the Philippine Sea, South China Sea, East China Sea, Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, [[Earth:Mar de Grau|Mar de Grau]], Tasman Sea, and the [[Earth:Coral Sea|Coral Sea]].

==Etymology==
In the early 16th century, Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and sighted the great "Southern Sea" which he named {{lang|es|Mar del Sur}} (in Spanish). Afterwards, the ocean's current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish [[Earth:Circumnavigation|circumnavigation]] of the world in 1521, as he encountered favorable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it '''{{lang|pt|Mar Pacífico}}''', which in Spanish and Portuguese means ''''peaceful sea''''.<ref>{{Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Ferdinand Magellan |inline=1 }}</ref>

==Largest seas in the Pacific Ocean==
[[File:Pacific Ocean as viewed from GOES-18 on September 23, 2023.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The Pacific Ocean, photograph taken from space by the [[Engineering:GOES-18|GOES-18]] spacecraft in September 2023]]
Top large seas:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-marginal-seas-of-the-pacific-ocean.html|title=The Marginal Seas Of The Pacific Ocean| date=23 November 2018 |publisher=World Atlas|accessdate=April 8, 2022}}</ref>
{{Div col}}
* Australasian Mediterranean Sea – 9.080 million km<sup>2</sup> (includes other seas)
* Philippine Sea – 5.695 million km<sup>2</sup> (largest single sea)
* [[Earth:Coral Sea|Coral Sea]] – 4.791 million km<sup>2</sup>
* Chilean Sea – 3.6 million&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* South China Sea – 3.5 million km<sup>2</sup>
* Tasman Sea – 2.3 million km<sup>2</sup>
* Bering Sea – 2 million km<sup>2</sup>
* Sea of Okhotsk – 1.583 million km<sup>2</sup>
* Gulf of Alaska – 1.533 million km<sup>2</sup>
* East China Sea – 1.249 million km<sup>2</sup>
* [[Earth:Mar de Grau|Mar de Grau]] – 1.14 million km<sup>2</sup>
* Sea of Japan – 978,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Solomon Sea – 720,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Banda Sea – 695,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Arafura Sea – 650,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Timor Sea – 610,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Yellow Sea – 380,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Java Sea – 320,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Gulf of Thailand – 320,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Gulf of Carpentaria – 300,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Celebes Sea – 280,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Sulu Sea – 260,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Bismarck Sea – 250,400&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Gulf of Anadyr – 200,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Molucca Sea – 200,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Gulf of California – 160,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Gulf of Tonkin – 126,250&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Halmahera Sea – 95,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Bohai Sea – 78,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Gulf of Papua – 70,400&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Koro Sea – 58,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Bali Sea – 45,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Savu Sea – 35,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Seto Inland Sea – 23,203&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Salish Sea – 18,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
* Seram Sea – 12,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
{{div col end}}

== History ==
=== Prehistory ===
Across the continents of Asia, [[Earth:Australia (continent)|Australia]] and the [[Earth:Americas|Americas]], more than 25,000 islands, large and small, rise above the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Multiple islands were the shells of former active [[Earth:Volcano|volcano]]es that have lain dormant for thousands of years. Close to the equator, without vast areas of blue ocean, are a dot of [[Earth:Atoll|atoll]]s that have over intervals of time been formed by seamounts as a result of tiny coral islands strung in a ring within surroundings of a central [[Earth:Lagoon|lagoon]].

=== Early migrations ===
[[File:Fijian double canoe, model, Otago Museum, 2016-01-29.jpg|thumb|Model of a Fijian drua, an example of an Austronesian vessel with a double-canoe (catamaran) hull and a crab claw sail]]
Important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Modern humans first reached the western Pacific in the [[Earth:Paleolithic|Paleolithic]], at around 60,000 to 70,000 years ago. Originating from a southern coastal human migration out of Africa, they reached [[Place:East Asia|East Asia]], [[Place:Mainland Southeast Asia|Mainland Southeast Asia]], the Philippines, New Guinea, and then Australia by making the sea crossing of at least {{convert|80|km}} between [[Earth:Sundaland|Sundaland]] and [[Earth:Australia (continent)|Sahul]]. It is not known with any certainty what level of maritime technology was used by these groups{{snd}}the presumption is that they used large bamboo rafts which may have been equipped with some sort of sail. The reduction in favourable winds for a crossing to Sahul after 58,000 B.P. fits with the dating of the settlement of Australia, with no later migrations in the prehistoric period. The seafaring abilities of pre-Austronesian residents of Island South-east Asia are confirmed by the settlement of [[Place:Buka, Papua New Guinea|Buka]] by 32,000 B.P. and [[Earth:Manus Island|Manus]] by 25,000 B.P. Journeys of {{convert|180|km}} and {{convert|230|km}} are involved, respectively.<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Connor |first1=Sue |last2=Hiscock |first2=Peter |editor1-last=Cochrane |editor1-first=Ethan E |editor2-last=Hunt |editor2-first=Terry L. |title=The Oxford handbook of prehistoric Oceania |date=2018 |location=New York |isbn=978-0199925070 |chapter=The Peopling of Sahul and Near Oceania}}</ref>

The descendants of these migrations today are the Negritos, Melanesians, and Indigenous Australians. Their populations in [[Place:Maritime Southeast Asia|maritime Southeast Asia]], coastal New Guinea, and [[Place:Island Melanesia|Island Melanesia]] later intermarried with the incoming Austronesian settlers from Taiwan and the northern {{wipe|Philippines}}, but also earlier groups associated with [[Social:Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic-speakers]], resulting in the modern peoples of Island Southeast Asia and Oceania.<ref name="Jett2017">{{cite book |last1=Jett |first1=Stephen C. |title=Ancient Ocean Crossings: Reconsidering the Case for Contacts with the Pre-Columbian Americas |date=2017 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0817319397 |pages=168–171 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EgOUDgAAQBAJ |access-date=4 June 2020 |archive-date=26 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726125617/https://books.google.com/books?id=EgOUDgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Waruno2017">{{cite book|author =Mahdi, Waruno|editor =Acri, Andrea|editor2 =Blench, Roger|editor3 =Landmann, Alexandra|title =Spirits and Ships: Cultural Transfers in Early Monsoon Asia|chapter =Pre-Austronesian Origins of Seafaring in Insular Southeast Asia|publisher =ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute|year =2017|pages =325–440|isbn =978-9814762755|chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=uJsnDwAAQBAJ|access-date =4 June 2020|archive-date =26 July 2020|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20200726134025/https://books.google.com/books?id=uJsnDwAAQBAJ|url-status =live}}</ref>

[[File:Chronological dispersal of Austronesian people across the Pacific.svg|thumb|upright=2|Map showing the migration of the Austronesian peoples]]
A later seaborne migration is the [[History:Neolithic|Neolithic]] Austronesian expansion of the Austronesian peoples. Austronesians originated from the island of Taiwan {{circa|3000}}–1500 BCE. They are associated with distinctive maritime sailing technologies (notably [[Engineering:Outrigger boat|outrigger boat]]s, [[Engineering:Catamaran|catamaran]]s, lashed-lug boats, and the [[Engineering:Crab claw sail|crab claw sail]]){{snd}}it is likely that the progressive development of these technologies were related to the later steps of settlement into Near and Remote Oceania. Starting at around 2200 BCE, Austronesians sailed southwards to settle the {{wipe|Philippines}}. From, probably, the Bismarck Archipelago they crossed the western Pacific to reach the Marianas Islands by 1500 BCE,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Winter |first1=Olaf |last2=Clark |first2=Geoffrey |last3=Anderson |first3=Atholl |last4=Lindahl |first4=Anders |title=Austronesian sailing to the northern Marianas, a comment on Hung et al. (2011) |journal=Antiquity |date=September 2012 |volume=86 |issue=333 |pages=898–910 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00047992|s2cid=161735451 }}</ref> as well as Palau and Yap by 1000 BCE. They were the first humans to reach [[Place:Remote Oceania|Remote Oceania]], and the first to cross vast distances of open water. They also continued spreading southwards and settling the rest of [[Place:Maritime Southeast Asia|Maritime Southeast Asia]], reaching Indonesia and Malaysia by 1500 BCE, and further west to {{wipe|Madagascar}} and the Comoros in the [[Earth:Indian Ocean|Indian Ocean]] by around 500 CE.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Heiske|first1=Margit|last2=Alva|first2=Omar|last3=Pereda-Loth|first3=Veronica|last4=Van Schalkwyk|first4=Matthew|last5=Radimilahy|first5=Chantal|last6=Letellier|first6=Thierry|last7=Rakotarisoa|first7=Jean-Aimé|last8=Pierron|first8=Denis|date=2021-01-22|title=Genetic evidence and historical theories of the Asian and African origins of the present Malagasy population|journal=Human Molecular Genetics|volume=30|issue=R1|pages=R72–R78|doi=10.1093/hmg/ddab018|pmid=33481023|issn=0964-6906|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Gray-et-al2009">{{cite journal | vauthors = Gray RD, Drummond AJ, Greenhill SJ | s2cid = 29838345 | title = Language phylogenies reveal expansion pulses and pauses in Pacific settlement | journal = Science | volume = 323 | issue = 5913 | pages = 479–483 | date = January 2009 | pmid = 19164742 | doi = 10.1126/science.1166858 | bibcode = 2009Sci...323..479G }}</ref><ref name="Pawley2002">{{cite book | vauthors = Pawley A |chapter=The Austronesian dispersal: languages, technologies and people |editor1-first=Peter S. |editor1-last=Bellwood |editor2-first=Colin |editor2-last=Renfrew |title=Examining the farming/language dispersal hypothesis |publisher=McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge |year=2002 |isbn=978-1902937205 |pages=251–273 }}</ref> More recently, it is suggested that Austronesians expanded already earlier, arriving in the Philippines already in 7000 BCE. Additional earlier migrations into Insular Southeast Asia, associated with Austroasiatic-speakers from Mainland Southeast Asia, are estimated to have taken place already in 15000 BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Larena |first=Maximilian |date= 22 March 2021|title=Multiple migrations to the Philippines during the last 50,000 years |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=118 |issue=13 |pages=e2026132118 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2026132118 |pmid=33753512 |pmc=8020671 |bibcode=2021PNAS..11826132L |doi-access=free }}</ref>

At around 1300 to 1200 BCE, a branch of the Austronesian migrations known as the Lapita culture reached the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and [[Earth:New Caledonia|New Caledonia]]. From there, they settled Tonga and Samoa by 900 to 800 BCE. Some also back-migrated northwards in 200 BCE to settle the islands of eastern [[Place:Micronesia|Micronesia]] (including the Carolines, the Marshall Islands, and Kiribati), mixing with earlier Austronesian migrations in the region. This remained the furthest extent of the Austronesian expansion into [[Place:Polynesia|Polynesia]] until around 700 CE when there was another surge of island exploration. They reached the Cook Islands, Tahiti, and the Marquesas by 700 CE; Hawai{{okina}}i by 900 CE; Rapa Nui by 1000 CE; and finally New Zealand by 1200 CE.<ref name="Gray-et-al2009"/><ref name="Stanley2004">{{cite book|last=Stanley|first=David|title=South Pacific|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_EDGapfBX-CAC|date=2004|publisher=Avalon Travel |isbn=978-1-56691-411-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_EDGapfBX-CAC/page/n38 19]}}</ref><ref name="gibbons">{{cite web |last1=Gibbons |first1=Ann |title='Game-changing' study suggests first Polynesians voyaged all the way from East Asia |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/game-changing-study-suggests-first-polynesians-voyaged-all-way-east-asia |website=Science |access-date=23 March 2019 |archive-date=13 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413063912/https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/10/game-changing-study-suggests-first-polynesians-voyaged-all-way-east-asia |url-status=live }}</ref> Austronesians may have also reached as far as the [[Earth:Americas|Americas]], although evidence for this remains inconclusive.<ref>Van Tilburg, Jo Anne. 1994. ''Easter Island: Archaeology, Ecology and Culture.'' Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press</ref><ref>Langdon, Robert. The Bamboo Raft as a Key to the Introduction of the Sweet Potato in Prehistoric Polynesia, ''The Journal of Pacific History'', Vol. 36, No. 1, 2001</ref>

===European exploration===
{{Main|Exploration of the Pacific}}
[[File:Waldseemuller map 2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|''Universalis Cosmographia'', also known as the Waldseemüller map, dated 1507, was the first map to show the Americas separating two distinct oceans. South America was generally considered the New World and shows the name "America" for the first time, after Amerigo Vespucci]]
The first contact of European navigators with the western edge of the Pacific Ocean was made by the Portuguese expeditions of António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão, via the Lesser Sunda Islands, to the Maluku Islands, in 1512,<ref>{{cite book|last=Hannard|first=Willard A.|title=Indonesian Banda: Colonialism and its Aftermath in the Nutmeg Islands|publisher=Yayasan Warisan dan Budaya Banda Naira|year=1991|location=Bandanaira|page=7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Milton|first=Giles|title=Nathaniel's Nutmeg|publisher=Sceptre|date=1999|location=London|pages=5, 7|isbn= 978-0-340-69676-7}}</ref> and with Jorge Álvares's expedition to southern China in 1513,<ref name="Porter, Jonathan 1996">Porter, Jonathan. (1996). ''Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to the Present''. Westview Press. {{ISBN|0-8133-3749-6}}</ref> both ordered by Afonso de Albuquerque from Malacca.

The eastern side of the ocean was encountered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached a new ocean.<ref name="Ober">{{cite book|last=Ober|first=Frederick Albion|title=Vasco Nuñez de Balboa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=98zUIbdvAYgC&pg=PT129|publisher=Library of Alexandria|isbn=978-1-4655-7034-5|page=129|year=2010}}</ref> He named it ''Mar del Sur'' ("Sea of the South" or [[Earth:South Seas|"South Sea"]]) because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific.

In 1520, navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his crew were the first to cross the Pacific in recorded history. They were part of a Spanish expedition to the Spice Islands that would eventually result in the first world [[Earth:Circumnavigation|circumnavigation]]. Magellan called the ocean ''Pacífico'' (or "Pacific" meaning, "peaceful") because, after sailing through the stormy seas off [[Earth:Cape Horn|Cape Horn]], the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the '''Sea of Magellan''' in his honor until the eighteenth century.<ref>Camino, Mercedes Maroto. ''Producing the Pacific: Maps and Narratives of Spanish Exploration (1567–1606)'', p. 76. 2005.</ref> Magellan stopped at one uninhabited Pacific island before stopping at Guam in March 1521.<ref>Guampedia entry on ''Ferdinand Magellan''| url = https://www.guampedia.com/ferdinand-magellan/</ref> Although Magellan himself died in the {{wipe|Philippines}} in 1521, Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano led the remains of the expedition back to Spain across the [[Earth:Indian Ocean|Indian Ocean]] and round the Cape of Good Hope, completing the first world circumnavigation in 1522.<ref name=oceanario>[https://archive.today/20130616003402/http://www.oceanario.pt/cms/1316/ "Life in the sea: Pacific Ocean"], Oceanário de Lisboa. Retrieved 9 June 2013.</ref> Sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions encountered the Caroline Islands,<ref>{{cite book|last=Galvano|first=Antonio|title=The Discoveries of the World from Their First Original Unto the Year of Our Lord 1555, issued by the Hakluyt Society|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|orig-year=1563|date=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XivHTiZoMycC&pg=1|isbn=978-0-7661-9022-1|ref=Galvano 1563|page=168}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> the Aru Islands,<ref>{{cite book |last=Kratoska |first=Paul H. |title=South East Asia, Colonial History: Imperialism before 1800, Volume 1 de South East Asia, Colonial History |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2001 |pages=52–56}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z9U-FUPS3DkC]</ref> and Papua New Guinea.<ref name=Whiteway>{{cite book|last=Whiteway|first=Richard Stephen|title=The rise of Portuguese power in India, 1497–1550|publisher=A. Constable|date=1899|location=Westminster|url=https://archive.org/details/riseportuguesep00whitgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/riseportuguesep00whitgoog/page/n353 333]}}</ref> In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan.<ref>Steven Thomas, {{cite web|url=http://balagan.info/portuguese-in-japan|title=Portuguese in Japan|publisher=Steven's Balagan|access-date=May 22, 2015|date=April 25, 2006}}</ref>

In 1564, five Spanish ships carrying 379 soldiers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi, and colonized the {{wipe|Philippines}} and Mariana Islands.<ref name="HendersonDelpar2000">{{cite book|last1=Henderson|first1=James D.|last2=Delpar|first2=Helen|last3=Brungardt|first3=Maurice Philip|author4=Weldon, Richard N.|title=A Reference Guide to Latin American History|url=https://archive.org/details/referenceguideto00hend|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-1-56324-744-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/referenceguideto00hend/page/28 28]}}</ref> For the remainder of the 16th century, Spain maintained military and mercantile control, with ships sailing from Mexico and Peru across the Pacific Ocean to the Philippines via Guam, and establishing the Spanish East Indies. The [[Engineering:Manila galleon|Manila galleon]]s operated for two and a half centuries, linking [[Place:Manila|Manila]] and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history. Spanish expeditions also arrived at Tuvalu, the [[Earth:Marquesas Islands|Marquesas]], the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, the Marshalls and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific.<ref name="Fernandez-Armesto 2006 305–307">{{cite book|last=Fernandez-Armesto|first=Felipe|title=Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration|date=2006|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-06259-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/305 305–307]|url=https://archive.org/details/pathfindersgloba00fern/page/305}}</ref>

Later, in the quest for [[Earth:Terra Australis|Terra Australis]] ("the [great] Southern Land"), Spanish explorations in the 17th century, such as the expedition led by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, arrived at the Pitcairn and Vanuatu archipelagos, and sailed the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea, named after navigator Luís Vaz de Torres. Dutch explorers, sailing around southern Africa, also engaged in exploration and trade; Willem Janszoon, made the first completely documented European landing in Australia (1606), in Cape York Peninsula,<ref>J.P. Sigmond and L.H. Zuiderbaan (1979) ''Dutch Discoveries of Australia''.Rigby Ltd, Australia. pp. 19–30 {{ISBN|0-7270-0800-5}}</ref> and Abel Janszoon Tasman circumnavigated and landed on parts of the Australian continental coast and arrived at Tasmania and New Zealand in 1642.<ref>{{cite book|title=Primary Australian History: Book F [B6] Ages 10–11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_i98Pu5dDhkC&pg=PA6|date=2008|publisher=R.I.C. Publications|isbn=978-1-74126-688-7|page=6}}</ref>

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a ''mare clausum''{{snd}}a sea closed to other naval powers. As the only known entrance from the Atlantic, the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent the entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western side of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the {{wipe|Philippines}}.<ref name=lytle>{{Citation|last=Lytle Schurz|first=William|title=The Spanish Lake|journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review|volume=5|issue=2|date=1922|pages=181–194|jstor=2506024|doi=10.2307/2506024}}</ref>

The 18th century marked the beginning of major exploration by the Russians in [[Earth:Alaska|Alaska]] and the [[Biography:Aleutian Islands|Aleutian Islands]], such as the [[History:First Kamchatka expedition|First Kamchatka expedition]] and the [[Earth:Great Northern Expedition|Great Northern Expedition]], led by the Danish Russian navy officer Vitus Bering. Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest, reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and colonized [[Place:Polynesia|Polynesia]], and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American [[Place:Pacific Northwest|Pacific Northwest]]. In 1768, Pierre-Antoine Véron, a young [[Astronomy:Astronomer|astronomer]] accompanying Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his voyage of exploration, established the width of the Pacific with precision for the first time in history.<ref name="Williams2004">{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Glyndwr|title=Captain Cook: Explorations And Reassessments|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VqDHGru-zcIC&pg=PA143|date=2004|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-1-84383-100-6|page=143}}</ref> One of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the [[Earth:Malaspina Expedition|Malaspina Expedition]] of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific.<ref name="Fernandez-Armesto 2006 305–307" />

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Carta universal en que se contiene todo lo que del mundo se ha descubierto fasta agora hizola Diego Ribero cosmographo de su magestad, ano de 1529, en Sevilla.jpg|Made in 1529, the Diogo Ribeiro map was the first to show the Pacific at about its proper size
File:A compleat chart of the coast of Asia and America with the great South Sea - R.W. Seale del. et sculp. NYPL465242.tiff|Map of the Pacific Ocean during European Exploration, circa 1754.
File:Ortelius - Maris Pacifici 1589.jpg|[[Earth:Maris Pacifici|Maris Pacifici]] by Ortelius (1589). One of the first printed maps to show the Pacific Ocean<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-01-093/|title=Library Acquires Copy of 1507 Waldseemüller World Map – News Releases (Library of Congress)|publisher=Loc.gov|access-date=April 20, 2013}}</ref>
File:A generall chart of the South Sea ... NYPL481132.tiff|Map of the Pacific Ocean during European Exploration, circa 1702–1707
</gallery>

=== New Imperialism ===
[[File:Trieste (23 Jan 1960).jpeg|thumb|The bathyscaphe ''Trieste'' before her record dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 23 January 1960]]
[[File:TahitiDupetitThouars.jpg|thumb|Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars taking over Tahiti on 9 September 1842]]
Growing [[Social:Imperialism|imperialism]] during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by European powers, and later Japan and the United States. Significant contributions to oceanographic knowledge were made by the voyages of [[Engineering:HMS Beagle|HMS ''Beagle'']] in the 1830s, with [[Biography:Charles Darwin|Charles Darwin]] aboard;<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/charles-darwins-travel-beagle/|title=Charles Darwin's Travels on the HMS Beagle|last=Marty|first=Christoph|work=Scientific American|access-date=23 March 2018|language=en}}</ref> HMS ''Challenger'' during the 1870s;<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.interactiveoceans.washington.edu/story/HMS_Challenger|title=The Voyage of HMS Challenger|website=www.interactiveoceans.washington.edu|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref> the USS ''Tuscarora'' (1873–76);<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VP9BAAAAYAAJ&q=dab|title=A Synopsis of the Cruise of the U.S.S. "Tuscarora": From the Date of Her Commission to Her Arrival in San Francisco, Cal. Sept. 2d, 1874|date=1874|publisher=Cosmopolitan printing Company|language=en}}</ref> and the German ''Gazelle'' (1874–76).<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nE0pAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA101|title=A Physical, Historical, Political, & Descriptive Geography|journal=Nature|volume=22|issue=553|page=95|last=Johnston|first=Keith|date=1881|language=en|bibcode=1880Natur..22Q..95.|doi=10.1038/022095a0|s2cid=4070183|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In Oceania, France obtained a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and [[Earth:New Caledonia|New Caledonia]] protectorates in 1842 and 1853, respectively.<ref name=Asiapacific>Bernard Eccleston, Michael Dawson. 1998. ''The Asia-Pacific Profile''. Routledge. p. 250.</ref> After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro negotiated the incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888. By occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations.<ref name="sater">William Sater, ''Chile and the United States: Empires in Conflict'', 1990 by the University of Georgia Press, {{ISBN|0-8203-1249-5}}</ref>{{rp|page=53}} By 1900 nearly all Pacific islands were in control of Britain, France, United States, Germany, Japan, and Chile.<ref name=Asiapacific />

Although the United States gained control of Guam and the Philippines from Spain in 1898,<ref name="TewariAlvarez2008">{{cite book|last1=Tewari|first1=Nita|last2=Alvarez|first2=Alvin N.|title=Asian American Psychology: Current Perspectives|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8qgAi0LVj8C&pg=PA161|year=2008|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-84169-749-9|page=161}}</ref> Japan controlled most of the western Pacific by 1914 and occupied many other islands during the Pacific War; however, by the end of that war, Japan was defeated and the U.S. Pacific Fleet was the virtual master of the ocean. The Japanese-ruled Northern Mariana Islands came under the control of the United States.<ref>''The Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union With the United States of America'', {{USStatute|94|241|90|263|1976|03|24}}</ref> Since the end of World War II, many former colonies in the Pacific have become independent [[Earth:Sovereign state|states]].

== Geography ==
[[File:Iss007e10807.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Sunset over the Pacific Ocean as seen from the [[Astronomy:International Space Station|International Space Station]]. Tops of thunderclouds are also visible.]]
[[File:Pacific Basin Island Geography.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The island geography of the Pacific Ocean Basin]]
[[File:Pacific Culture Areas.png|thumb|upright=1.35|The three major cultural areas of the Pacific Ocean islands: Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia]]
The Pacific separates Asia and Australia from the Americas. It may be further subdivided by the equator into northern (North Pacific) and southern (South Pacific) portions. It extends from the Antarctic region in the South to the Arctic in the north.<ref name=ebc /> The Pacific Ocean encompasses approximately one-third of the Earth's surface, having an area of {{convert|165200000|km2|abbr=on}}{{snd}} larger than Earth's entire landmass combined, {{convert|150000000|km2|abbr=on}}.<ref>[http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/DanielChen.shtml "Area of Earth's Land Surface"], ''The Physics Factbook''. Retrieved 9 June 2013.</ref>

Extending approximately {{convert|15500|km|abbr=on}} from the Bering Sea in the Arctic to the northern extent of the circumpolar [[Earth:Southern Ocean|Southern Ocean]] at 60°S (older definitions extend it to [[Earth:Antarctica|Antarctica]]'s Ross Sea), the Pacific reaches its greatest east–west width at about 5°N latitude, where it stretches approximately {{convert|19800|km|abbr=on}} from Indonesia to the coast of Colombia{{snd}}halfway around the world, and more than five times the diameter of the Moon.<ref name="Nuttall2005">{{cite book|last=Nuttall|first=Mark|title=Encyclopedia of the Arctic: A–F|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LcucDSk4w3YC&pg=PA1461|date=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-57958-436-8|page=1461}}</ref> Its geographic center is in eastern Kiribati south of Kiritimati, just west from Starbuck Island at {{Coord|4.97|S|158.75|W|format=dms|type:landmark_region:FR_scale:10000|display=inline}}.<ref>{{cite web | title=International Journal of Oceans and Oceanography, Volume 15 Number 1, 2021, Determining the Areas and Geographical Centers of Pacific Ocean and its Northern and Southern Halves, pp 25–31, Arjun Tan| website=Research India Publications| url=https://www.ripublication.com/Volume/ijoov15n1.htm | ref={{sfnref}} | access-date=2022-07-18}}</ref> The lowest known point on Earth{{snd}}the Mariana Trench{{snd}}lies {{convert|10911|m|ft fathom|abbr=on|lk=out}} below sea level. Its average depth is {{convert|4280|m|ft fathom|abbr=on}}, putting the total water volume at roughly {{convert|710000000|km3|cumi|abbr=on}}.<ref name=ebc />

Due to the effects of [[Earth:Plate tectonics|plate tectonics]], the Pacific Ocean is currently shrinking by roughly {{convert |2.5|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} per year on three sides, roughly averaging {{convert|0.52|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} a year. By contrast, the Atlantic Ocean is increasing in size.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.bucknell.edu/x17758.xml |title = Plate Tectonics |website = Bucknell University |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140225224202/http://www.bucknell.edu/x17758.xml |archive-date = 25 February 2014 |access-date = 9 June 2013 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref name="Young2009">{{cite book|last=Young|first=Greg|title=Plate Tectonics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqTxe74R5LwC&pg=PT9|date=2009|publisher=Capstone|isbn=978-0-7565-4232-0|page=9}}</ref>

Along the Pacific Ocean's irregular western margins lie many seas, the largest of which are the Celebes Sea, [[Earth:Coral Sea|Coral Sea]], East China Sea (East Sea), Philippine Sea, Sea of Japan, South China Sea (South Sea), Sulu Sea, Tasman Sea, and Yellow Sea (West Sea of Korea). The Indonesian Seaway (including the Strait of Malacca and Torres Strait) joins the Pacific and the [[Earth:Indian Ocean|Indian Ocean]] to the west, and Drake Passage and the Strait of Magellan link the Pacific with the Atlantic Ocean on the east. To the north, the Bering Strait connects the Pacific with the [[Earth:Arctic Ocean|Arctic Ocean]].<ref name="Organization1953">{{cite journal|author=International Hydrographic Organization|title=Limits of Oceans and Seas|journal=Nature|volume=172|issue=4376|page=484|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wD0dAQAAIAAJ|date=1953|bibcode=1953Natur.172R.484.|doi=10.1038/172484b0|s2cid=36029611|doi-access=free}}</ref>

As the Pacific straddles the [[Earth:180th meridian|180th meridian]], the ''West Pacific'' (or ''western Pacific'', near Asia) is in the [[Earth:Eastern Hemisphere|Eastern Hemisphere]], while the ''East Pacific'' (or ''eastern Pacific'', near the Americas) is in the [[Earth:Western Hemisphere|Western Hemisphere]].<ref name="Lydia">{{cite book|author=Agno, Lydia|title=Basic Geography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HofX9zL4YQEC&pg=PA25|date=1998|publisher=Goodwill Trading Co., Inc.|isbn=978-971-11-0165-7|page=25}}</ref>

The Southern Pacific Ocean harbors the [[Earth:Southeast Indian Ridge|Southeast Indian Ridge]] crossing from south of Australia turning into the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge (north of the [[Earth:South Pole|South Pole]]) and merges with another ridge (south of South America) to form the [[Earth:East Pacific Rise|East Pacific Rise]] which also connects with another ridge (south of North America) which overlooks the [[Earth:Juan de Fuca Ridge|Juan de Fuca Ridge]].

For most of Magellan's voyage from the Strait of Magellan to the {{wipe|Philippines}}, the explorer indeed found the ocean peaceful; however, the Pacific is not always peaceful. Many tropical storms batter the islands of the Pacific.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/437703/Pacific-Ocean/36086/The-trade-winds "Pacific Ocean: The trade winds"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 9 June 2013.</ref> The lands around the [[Earth:Pacific Rim|Pacific Rim]] are full of [[Earth:Volcano|volcano]]es and often affected by [[Earth:Earthquake|earthquake]]s.<ref name="Murphy1979">{{cite book|author=Shirley Rousseau Murphy|title=The Ring of Fire|date=1979|publisher=Avon|isbn=978-0-380-47191-1|title-link=The Ring of Fire|author-link=Shirley Rousseau Murphy}}</ref> [[Tsunami]]s, caused by underwater earthquakes, have devastated many islands and in some cases destroyed entire towns.<ref name="Bryant2008">{{cite book|last=Bryant|first=Edward|title=Tsunami: The Underrated Hazard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6lvl6i7r2CcC&pg=PR26|date=2008|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3-540-74274-6|page=26}}</ref>

The Martin Waldseemüller map of 1507 was the first to show the Americas separating two distinct oceans.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Map That Named America|url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0309/maps.html|website=www.loc.gov|access-date=3 December 2014}}</ref> Later, the Diogo Ribeiro map of 1529 was the first to show the Pacific at about its proper size.<ref>{{Citation|last=Ribero|first=Diego|title=Carta universal en que se contiene todo lo que del mundo se ha descubierto fasta agora / hizola Diego Ribero cosmographo de su magestad, ano de 1529, e[n] Sevilla|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230692844|publisher=W. Griggs|access-date=30 September 2017}}</ref>

=== Bordering countries and territories ===

==== Sovereign nations ====
[[File:Map of the Territorial Waters of the Pacific Ocean.png|thumb|upright=1.55|An exclusive economic zone map of the Pacific which excludes non-tropical islands.]]
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* {{flag|Australia}}
* {{flag|Brunei}}
* {{flag|Cambodia}}
* {{flag|Canada}}
* {{flag|Chile}}
* {{flag|China}}
* {{flag|Colombia}}
* {{flag|Costa Rica}}
* {{flag|Ecuador}}
* {{flag|El Salvador}}
* {{flag|Federated States of Micronesia}}
* {{flag|Fiji}}
* {{flag|Guatemala}}
* {{flag|Honduras}}
* {{flag|Indonesia}}
* {{flag|Japan}}
* {{flag|Kiribati}}
* {{flag|Malaysia}}
* {{flag|Marshall Islands}}
* {{flag|Mexico}}
* {{flag|Nauru}}
* {{flag|New Zealand}}
* {{flag|Nicaragua}}
* {{flag|North Korea}}
* {{flag|Palau}}
* {{flag|Panama}}
* {{flag|Papua New Guinea}}
* {{flag|Peru}}
* {{flag|Philippines}}
* {{flag|Russia}}
* {{flag|Samoa}}
* {{flag|Singapore}}
* {{flag|Solomon Islands}}
* {{flag|South Korea}}
* {{flag|Taiwan}}
* {{flag|Thailand}}
* {{flag|Timor-Leste}}
* {{flag|Tonga}}
* {{flag|Tuvalu}}
* {{flag|United States}}
* {{flag|Vanuatu}}
* {{flag|Vietnam}}
{{div col end}}

==== Territories ====
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* {{flag|American Samoa}} (US)
* {{flag|Baker Island}} (US)
* {{flag|Clipperton Island}} (France)
* {{flag|Cook Islands}} (New Zealand)
* {{flag|Coral Sea Islands}} (Australia)
* {{flag|French Polynesia}} (France)
* {{flag|Guam}} (US)
* {{flag|Hong Kong}} (China)
* {{flag|Howland Island}} (US)
* {{flag|Jarvis Island}} (US)
* {{flag|Johnston Island}} (US)
* {{flag|Kingman Reef}} (US)
* {{flag|Macau}} (China)
* {{flag|Macquarie Island}} (Australia)
* {{flag|Midway Atoll}} (US)
* {{flag|New Caledonia|local}} (France)
* {{flag|Norfolk Island}} (Australia)
* {{flag|Northern Mariana Islands}} (US)
* {{flag|Niue}} (New Zealand)
* {{flag|Palmyra Atoll}} (US)
* {{flag|Pitcairn Islands}} (UK)
* {{flag|Tokelau}} (New Zealand)
* {{flag|Wallis and Futuna|local}} (France)
* {{flag|Wake Island}} (US)
{{div col end}}

=== Landmasses and islands ===
[[File:South Tarawa from the air.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Tarawa Atoll in Kiribati]]
The Pacific Ocean has most of the islands in the world. There are about 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean.<ref>{{cite web|last1=K|first1=Harsh|title=This ocean has most of the islands in the world|url=http://mysticalroads.com/pacific-ocean-facts/|website=Mysticalroads|access-date=6 April 2017|date=19 March 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802153519/http://mysticalroads.com/pacific-ocean-facts/|archive-date=2 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ishihara|first1=Masahide|last2=Hoshino|first2=Eiichi|last3=Fujita|first3=Yoko|title=Self-determinable Development of Small Islands|date=2016|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-981-10-0132-1|page=180|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3hNkDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA180|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=United States. [[Organization:National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]|last2=Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council|title=Toward an Ecosystem Approach for the Western Pacific Region: from Species-based Fishery Management Plans to Place-based Fishery Ecosystem Plans: Environmental Impact Statement|date=2009|publisher=Northwestern University|location=Evanston, IL|page=60|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Tw3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA60|language=en|author2-link=Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council}}</ref> The islands entirely within the Pacific Ocean can be divided into three main groups known as [[Place:Micronesia|Micronesia]], [[Place:Melanesia|Melanesia]] and [[Place:Polynesia|Polynesia]]. Micronesia, which lies north of the equator and west of the [[Physics:International Date Line|International Date Line]], includes the Mariana Islands in the northwest, the Caroline Islands in the center, the Marshall Islands to the east and the islands of Kiribati in the southeast.<ref name="AAE">{{cite book|title=Academic American encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cF8NAQAAMAAJ|date=1997|publisher=Grolier Incorporated|isbn=978-0-7172-2068-7|page=8}}</ref><ref name="LalFortune2000p63">{{cite book|last1=Lal|first1=Brij Vilash|last2=Fortune|first2=Kate|title=The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pPpJl8E5wC&pg=PA63|date=2000|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2265-1|page=63}}</ref>

Melanesia, to the southwest, includes New Guinea, the world's second largest island after [[Place:Greenland|Greenland]] and by far the largest of the Pacific islands. The other main Melanesian groups from north to south are the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz, Vanuatu, Fiji and [[Earth:New Caledonia|New Caledonia]].<ref name="West2009">{{cite book|last=West|first=Barbara A.|title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA521|date=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-1913-7|page=521}}</ref>

The largest area, [[Place:Polynesia|Polynesia]], stretching from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south, also encompasses Tuvalu, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga and the Kermadec Islands to the west, the Cook Islands, Society Islands and Austral Islands in the center, and the [[Earth:Marquesas Islands|Marquesas Islands]], Tuamotu, Mangareva Islands, and Easter Island to the east.<ref name="DunfordRidgell1996">{{cite book|last1=Dunford|first1=Betty|last2=Ridgell|first2=Reilly|title=Pacific Neighbors: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3n2z7E1zH3MC|date=1996|publisher=Bess Press|isbn=978-1-57306-022-6|page=125}}</ref>

Islands in the Pacific Ocean are of four basic types: continental islands, high islands, coral reefs and uplifted coral platforms. Continental islands lie outside the andesite line and include New Guinea, the islands of New Zealand, and the Philippines. Some of these islands are structurally associated with nearby continents. High islands are of volcanic origin, and many contain active volcanoes. Among these are Bougainville, Hawaii, and the Solomon Islands.<ref name="GillespieClague2009">{{cite book|last1=Gillespie|first1=Rosemary G.|last2=Clague|first2=David A.|title=Encyclopedia of Islands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9ZogGs_fz8C&pg=PA706|date=2009|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-25649-1|page=706}}</ref>

The [[Earth:Coral reef|coral reef]]s of the South Pacific are low-lying structures that have built up on basaltic lava flows under the ocean's surface. One of the most dramatic is the Great Barrier Reef off northeastern Australia with chains of reef patches. A second island type formed of coral is the uplifted coral platform, which is usually slightly larger than the low coral islands. Examples include Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and Makatea in the Tuamotu group of French Polynesia.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/137072/coral-island "Coral island"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 22 June 2013.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pacific/places/country/nauru.htm |title =Nauru|website = Charting the Pacific|publisher = ABC Radio Australia|date = 2005}}</ref>

<gallery widths="180px" heights="120px">>
File:Ladrilleros Beach Colombia.jpg|Ladrilleros Beach in Colombia on the coast of Chocó natural region
File:Tahuna maru islet Raroia.jpg|Tahuna maru islet, French Polynesia
File:Los Molinos.JPG|Los Molinos on the coast of Southern Chile
</gallery>

==Water characteristics==
[[File:Sunset Marina.JPG|thumb|Sunset in Monterey County, California, U.S.]]
The volume of the Pacific Ocean, representing about 50.1 percent of the world's oceanic water, has been estimated at some {{convert|714|e6km3|e6cumi|sp=us|abbr=off}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pwlf.org/pacific.htm |title=PWLF.org – The Pacific WildLife Foundation – The Pacific Ocean |access-date=23 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421015555/http://www.pwlf.org/pacific.htm |archive-date=21 April 2012 }}</ref> Surface water temperatures in the Pacific can vary from {{convert|-1.4|°C|°F|abbr=on}}, the freezing point of seawater, in the poleward areas to about {{convert|30|°C|°F|abbr=on}} near the equator.<ref name="Mongillo2000">{{cite book|last=Mongillo|first=John F.|title=Encyclopedia of Environmental Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozAN5vLbssgC&pg=PA255|date=2000|publisher=University Rochester Press|isbn=978-1-57356-147-1|page=255}}</ref> [[Earth:Salinity|Salinity]] also varies latitudinally, reaching a maximum of 37 parts per thousand in the southeastern area. The water near the equator, which can have a salinity as low as 34 parts per thousand, is less salty than that found in the mid-latitudes because of abundant equatorial precipitation throughout the year. The lowest counts of less than 32 parts per thousand are found in the far north as less evaporation of seawater takes place in these frigid areas.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/437703/Pacific-Ocean/36092/Salinity "Pacific Ocean: Salinity"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 9 June 2013.</ref> The motion of Pacific waters is generally clockwise in the [[Earth:Northern Hemisphere|Northern Hemisphere]] (the [[Physics:Ocean gyre|North Pacific gyre]]) and counter-clockwise in the [[Earth:Southern Hemisphere|Southern Hemisphere]]. The [[Earth:North Equatorial Current|North Equatorial Current]], driven westward along latitude 15°N by the [[Earth:Trade winds|trade winds]], turns north near the Philippines to become the warm Japan or [[Earth:Kuroshio Current|Kuroshio Current]].<ref>[http://oceanmotion.org/html/background/equatorial-currents.htm "Wind Driven Surface Currents: Equatorial Currents Background"], Ocean Motion. Retrieved 9 June 2013.</ref>

Turning eastward at about 45°N, the Kuroshio forks and some water moves northward as the [[Earth:Aleutian Current|Aleutian Current]], while the rest turns southward to rejoin the North Equatorial Current.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/325346/Kuroshio "Kuroshio"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 9 June 2013.</ref> The Aleutian Current branches as it approaches North America and forms the base of a counter-clockwise circulation in the Bering Sea. Its southern arm becomes the chilled slow, south-flowing [[Earth:California Current|California Current]].<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/13933/Aleutian-Current "Aleutian Current"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 9 June 2013.</ref> The [[Earth:South Equatorial Current|South Equatorial Current]], flowing west along the equator, swings southward east of New Guinea, turns east at about 50°S, and joins the main westerly circulation of the South Pacific, which includes the Earth-circling [[Earth:Antarctic Circumpolar Current|Antarctic Circumpolar Current]]. As it approaches the Chilean coast, the South Equatorial Current divides; one branch flows around [[Earth:Cape Horn|Cape Horn]] and the other turns north to form the Peru or [[Earth:Humboldt Current|Humboldt Current]].<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/437770/Pacific-South-Equatorial-Current "South Equatorial Current"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 9 June 2013.</ref>

== Climate ==
[[File:El nino north american weather.png|thumb|upright=1.1|Impact of El Niño and La Niña on North America]]
[[File:Typhoon Tip (1979) peak intensity.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Typhoon Tip at global peak intensity on 12 October 1979]]
The climate patterns of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres generally mirror each other. The [[Earth:Trade winds|trade winds]] in the southern and eastern Pacific are remarkably steady while conditions in the North Pacific are far more varied with, for example, cold winter temperatures on the east coast of Russia contrasting with the milder weather off British Columbia during the winter months due to the preferred flow of ocean currents.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/437703/Pacific-Ocean/36083/Islands#toc36085 "Pacific Ocean: Islands"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 13 June 2013.</ref>

In the tropical and subtropical Pacific, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects weather conditions. To determine the phase of ENSO, the most recent three-month [[Physics:Sea surface temperature|sea surface temperature]] average for the area approximately {{convert|3000|km|mi|abbr=on}} to the southeast of Hawaii is computed, and if the region is more than {{convert|0.5|C-change|1}} above or below normal for that period, then an [[Earth:El Niño|El Niño]] or [[Earth:La Niña|La Niña]] is considered in progress.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/lanina/enso_evolution-status-fcsts-web.pdf|title=ENSO: Recent Evolution, Current Status and Predictions|pages=5, 19–20|author=Climate Prediction Center |publisher=[[Organization:National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]|date=30 June 2014|access-date=30 June 2014}}</ref>

In the tropical western Pacific, the [[Earth:Monsoon|monsoon]] and the related wet season during the summer months contrast with dry winds in the winter which blow over the ocean from the Asian landmass.<ref>Glossary of Meteorology (2009). [http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?p=1&query=monsoon&submit=Search Monsoon.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322122025/http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?p=1&query=monsoon&submit=Search |date=22 March 2008 }} American Meteorological Society. Retrieved on 16 January 2009.</ref> Worldwide, [[Physics:Tropical cyclone|tropical cyclone]] activity peaks in late summer, when the difference between temperatures aloft and sea surface temperatures is the greatest; however, each particular basin has its own seasonal patterns. On a worldwide scale, May is the least active month, while September is the most active month. November is the only month in which all the [[Earth:Tropical cyclone basins|tropical cyclone basins]] are active.<ref name="AOML FAQ G1">{{cite web|title=Frequently Asked Questions: When is hurricane season?|publisher=[[Organization:National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]|access-date=25 July 2006|url=http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/G1.html|author1 = Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory – Hurricane Research Division|author-link1=Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory}}</ref> The Pacific hosts the two most active [[Earth:Tropical cyclone basins|tropical cyclone basins]], which are the northwestern Pacific and the eastern Pacific. [[Earth:Pacific hurricane|Pacific hurricane]]s form south of Mexico, sometimes striking the western Mexican coast and occasionally the southwestern United States between June and October, while [[Earth:Typhoon|typhoon]]s forming in the northwestern Pacific moving into southeast and east Asia from May to December. Tropical cyclones also form in the South Pacific basin, where they occasionally impact island nations.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Chand |first1=Savin S. |title=A Review of South Pacific Tropical Cyclones: Impacts of Natural Climate Variability and Climate Change |date=2020 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32878-8_6 |work=Climate Change and Impacts in the Pacific |pages=251–273 |editor-last=Kumar |editor-first=Lalit |access-date=2023-10-25 |series=Springer Climate |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-32878-8_6 |isbn=978-3-030-32878-8 |last2=Dowdy |first2=Andrew |last3=Bell |first3=Samuel |last4=Tory |first4=Kevin|s2cid=212780026 }}</ref>

In the arctic, icing from October to May can present a hazard for shipping while persistent fog occurs from June to December.<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/oceans/pacific-ocean/ "Pacific Ocean"], ''World Factbook'', CIA. Retrieved 13 June 2013.</ref> A climatological low in the Gulf of Alaska keeps the southern coast wet and mild during the winter months. The [[Earth:Westerlies|Westerlies]] and associated [[Earth:Jet stream|jet stream]] within the Mid-Latitudes can be particularly strong, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, due to the temperature difference between the tropics and Antarctica,<ref name="Stimac">John P. Stimac. [http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfjps/1400/pressure_wind.html Air pressure and wind.] Retrieved on 8 May 2008.</ref> which records the coldest temperature readings on the planet. In the Southern hemisphere, because of the stormy and cloudy conditions associated with extratropical cyclones riding the jet stream, it is usual to refer to the Westerlies as the Roaring Forties, Furious Fifties and Shrieking Sixties according to the varying degrees of latitude.<ref>{{cite book|last=Walker|first=Stuart|title=The sailor's wind |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|date=1998|page=[https://archive.org/details/sailorswind00walk/page/91 91]|isbn=978-0-393-04555-0|url=https://archive.org/details/sailorswind00walk|url-access=registration}}</ref>

==Geology==
{{Main|Earth:Geology of the Pacific Ocean|Earth:Pacific Plate}}
[[File:Pacific Ring of Fire.svg|thumb|upright=1.75|A Ring of Fire; the Pacific is ringed by many volcanoes and oceanic trenches. This map does not show the Cascadia Subduction Zone along part of the west coast of North America, whose trench is completely buried in sediments.]]
[[File:Ulawun.jpg|thumb|A [[Earth:Stratovolcano|stratovolcano]] in Ulawun on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea]]
[[File:Mount Saint Helens, June 2020.jpg|thumb|[[Earth:Mount St. Helens|Mount St. Helens]] in Skamania County, Washington, U.S. in 2020]]
The ocean was first mapped by Abraham Ortelius; he called it Maris Pacifici following Ferdinand Magellan's description of it as "a pacific sea" during his circumnavigation from 1519 to 1522. To Magellan, it seemed much more calm (pacific) than the Atlantic.<ref name="Library2006">{{cite book|author=Turnbull, Alexander |title=Map New Zealand: 100 Magnificent Maps from the Collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=227gAAAAMAAJ|year=2006|publisher=Godwit|isbn=978-1-86962-126-1|page=8}}</ref>

The [[Earth:Andesite line|andesite line]] is the most significant regional distinction in the Pacific. A petrologic boundary, it separates the deeper, [[Earth:Mafic|mafic]] [[Earth:Igneous rock|igneous rock]] of the Central Pacific Basin from the partially submerged continental areas of [[Earth:Felsic|felsic]] igneous rock on its margins.<ref name="TrentHazlett2010">{{cite book|last1=Trent|first1=D. D.|last2=Hazlett|first2=Richard|last3=Bierman|first3=Paul|title=Geology and the Environment|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TbGOhr9Po9IC&pg=PA133|date=2010|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-538-73755-5|page=133}}</ref> The andesite line follows the western edge of the islands off California and passes south of the [[Biography:Aleutian Islands|Aleutian arc]], along the eastern edge of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, Japan, the Mariana Islands, the Solomon Islands, and New Zealand's North Island.<ref name="LalFortune2000p4">{{cite book|last1=Lal|first1=Brij Vilash|last2=Fortune|first2=Kate|title=The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pPpJl8E5wC&pg=PA4|year=2000|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2265-1|page=4}}</ref><ref name="Mueller-Dombois1998">{{cite book|last=Mueller-Dombois|first=Dieter|title=Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7UB5d33i8WkC&pg=PA13|date=1998|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-387-98313-4|page=13}}</ref>

The dissimilarity continues northeastward along the western edge of the [[Place:Andes|Andes]] Cordillera along South America to Mexico, returning then to the islands off California. Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, New Guinea, and New Zealand lie outside the andesite line.

Within the closed loop of the andesite line are most of the deep troughs, submerged volcanic mountains, and oceanic volcanic islands that characterize the Pacific basin. Here basaltic lavas gently flow out of rifts to build huge dome-shaped volcanic mountains whose eroded summits form island arcs, chains, and clusters. Outside the andesite line, volcanism is of the explosive type, and the Pacific [[Earth:Ring of Fire|Ring of Fire]] is the world's foremost belt of explosive volcanism.<ref name="AAE" /> The Ring of Fire is named after the several hundred active volcanoes that sit above the various subduction zones.

The Pacific Ocean is the only ocean which is mostly bounded by [[Earth:Subduction|subduction]] zones. Only the central part of the North American coast and the Antarctic and Australian coasts have no nearby subduction zones.

=== Geological history ===
The Pacific Ocean was born 750&nbsp;million years ago at the breakup of [[Earth:Rodinia|Rodinia]], although it is generally called the [[Earth:Panthalassa|Panthalassa]] until the breakup of Pangea, about 200&nbsp;million years ago.<ref name="geol.umd.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/G102/102prot2.htm |title=GEOL 102 The Proterozoic Eon II: Rodinia and Pannotia |publisher=Geol.umd.edu |date=5 January 2010 |access-date=31 October 2010}}</ref> The oldest Pacific Ocean floor is only around 180 Ma old, with older crust subducted by now.<ref name="MussettKhan2000">{{cite book|last1=Mussett|first1=Alan E.|last2=Khan|first2=M. Aftab|title=Looking into the Earth: An Introduction to Geological Geophysics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nzJLiPjHvCQC&pg=PA332|year= 2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-78574-7|page=332}}</ref>

=== Seamount chains ===
The Pacific Ocean contains several long [[Earth:Seamount|seamount]] chains, formed by [[Earth:Hotspot (geology)|hotspot volcanism]]. These include the [[Earth:Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain|Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain]] and the [[Earth:Louisville Ridge|Louisville Ridge]].

== Economy ==
The exploitation of the Pacific's mineral wealth is hampered by the ocean's great depths. In shallow waters of the continental shelves off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, [[Chemistry:Petroleum|petroleum]] and [[Chemistry:Natural gas|natural gas]] are extracted, and [[Chemistry:Pearl|pearl]]s are harvested along the coasts of Australia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Philippines, although in sharply declining volume in some cases.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/437703/Pacific-Ocean/36099/Fisheries "Pacific Ocean: Fisheries"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 12 June 2013.</ref>

=== Fishing ===
[[Biology:Fish|Fish]] are an important economic asset in the Pacific. The shallower shoreline waters of the continents and the more temperate islands yield [[Biology:Herring|herring]], salmon, [[Biology:Sardine|sardine]]s, [[Biology:Australasian snapper|snapper]], [[Biology:Swordfish|swordfish]], and [[Biology:Tuna|tuna]], as well as shellfish.<ref>[https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/places/other/oceans-continents/pacific-ocean/commerce-and-shipping "Pacific Ocean: Commerce and Shipping"], ''The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia'', 6th edition. Retrieved 14 June 2013.</ref> Overfishing has become a serious problem in some areas. Overfishing leads to depleted fish populations and closed fisheries, causing both economic and ecologic consequences.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burgess |first=Matthew G |date=September 16, 2013 |title=Predicting overfishing and extinction threats in multispecies fisheries |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=110 |issue=40 |pages=15943–15948 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1314472110 |doi-access=free |pmid=24043810 |pmc=3791778 |bibcode=2013PNAS..11015943B }}</ref> For example, catches in the rich fishing grounds of the Okhotsk Sea off the Russian coast have been reduced by at least half since the 1990s as a result of overfishing.<ref>[http://centerforoceansolutions.org/?q=projects/pacific-ocean-initiative/major-threats-pacific-ocean/overfishing-and-exploitation "Pacific Ocean Threats & Impacts: Overfishing and Exploitation"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512140621/http://www.centerforoceansolutions.org/?q=projects%2Fpacific-ocean-initiative%2Fmajor-threats-pacific-ocean%2Foverfishing-and-exploitation|date=May 12, 2013}}, Center for Ocean Solutions. Retrieved 14 June 2013.</ref>

==Environment==
[[File:Pacific-garbage-patch-map 2010 noaamdp.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Pacific Ocean currents have created three islands of debris.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/movement/great-pacific-garbage-patch|title=Great Pacific Garbage Patch|website=Marine Debris Division – Office of Response and Restoration|publisher=NOAA|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417124654/https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/movement/great-pacific-garbage-patch|archive-date=April 17, 2014|date=July 11, 2013}}</ref>]]
[[File:Marine debris on Hawaiian coast.jpg|thumb|Marine debris on a Hawaiian coast in 2008]]
The Northwestern Pacific Ocean is most susceptible to micro plastic pollution due to its proximity to highly populated countries like Japan and China.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pan |first1=Zhong |last2=Liu |first2=Qianlong |last3=Sun |first3=Yan |last4=Sun |first4=Xiuwu |last5=Lin |first5=Hui |date=2019-09-01 |title=Environmental implications of microplastic pollution in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X19304771 |journal=Marine Pollution Bulletin |volume=146 |pages=215–224 |doi=10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.06.031 |pmid=31426149 |bibcode=2019MarPB.146..215P |s2cid=196691104 |issn=0025-326X}}</ref> The quantity of small plastic fragments floating in the north-east Pacific Ocean increased a hundredfold between 1972 and 2012.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18099937 Plastic waste in the North Pacific is an ongoing concern] BBC 9 May 2012</ref> The ever-growing [[Earth:Great Pacific garbage patch|Great Pacific garbage patch]] between California and Japan is three times the size of France.<ref>{{cite news|title='Great Pacific Garbage Patch' is massive floating island of plastic, now 3 times the size of France|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/great-pacific-garbage-patch-massive-floating-island-plastic/story?id=53962147|work=ABC News|date=March 23, 2018}}</ref> An estimated 80,000 metric tons of plastic inhabit the patch, totaling 1.8&nbsp;trillion pieces.<ref>{{cite news|title='Great Pacific garbage patch' 16 times bigger than previously thought, say scientists|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/great-pacific-garbage-patch-plastic-pollution-oceans-environment-fish-a8269951.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/great-pacific-garbage-patch-plastic-pollution-oceans-environment-fish-a8269951.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=The Independent|date=March 23, 2018}}</ref>

[[Earth:Marine pollution|Marine pollution]] is a generic term for the harmful entry into the ocean of chemicals or particles. The main culprits are those using the rivers for disposing of their waste.<ref name="news.nationalgeographic.com">{{cite web|url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/photos-giant-ocean-trash-vortex-documented-a-first|title=Photos: Giant Ocean-Trash Vortex Documented – A First|first=Brian|last=Handwerk|publisher=National Geographic|date=September 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119153734/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/photogalleries/pacific-garbage-patch-pictures/|archive-date=November 19, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> The rivers then empty into the ocean, often also bringing chemicals used as [[Chemistry:Fertilizer|fertilizer]]s in agriculture. The excess of oxygen-depleting chemicals in the water leads to [[Earth:Hypoxia (environmental)|hypoxia]] and the creation of a [[Earth:Dead zone (ecology)|dead zone]].<ref>{{cite book|last = Gerlach|first = Sebastian A.|title =  Marine Pollution|publisher=  Springer|location = Berlin |date =1975|language = de}}</ref>

[[Earth:Marine debris|Marine debris]], also known as marine litter, is human-created waste that has ended up floating in a lake, sea, ocean, or waterway. Oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and coastlines, frequently washing aground where it is known as beach litter.<ref name="news.nationalgeographic.com" />

In addition, the Pacific Ocean has served as the crash site of satellites, including [[Astronomy:Mars 96|Mars 96]], [[Astronomy:Fobos-Grunt|Fobos-Grunt]], and [[Engineering:Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite|Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite]].

===Nuclear waste===
[[File:20200926fukushima01.jpg|thumb|In 2020, Japanese Prime Minister Suga declined to drink the bottle of Fukushima's treated radioactive water that he was holding, which would otherwise be discharged to the Pacific.<ref name="Asahi Shimbun 20201103">{{cite news|title=原発の処理水、菅首相「飲んでもいい？」 東電の説明は|trans-title=Prime Minister Suga asks if the treated radioactive water is drinkable. Here is TEPCO's response|newspaper=Asahi Shimbun|date=2020-11-03|last=大月規義|url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASNC255HSNBZULZU00G.html}}</ref>]]
From 1946 to 1958, Marshall Islands served as the Pacific Proving Grounds, designated by the United States, and played host to a total of 67 nuclear tests conducted across various atolls.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/325643/marshall-islands-marks-71-years-since-start-of-us-nuclear-tests-on-bikini|title=Marshall Islands marks 71 years since start of US nuclear tests on Bikini|date=March 1, 2017|website=Radio New Zealand|language=en-nz}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Renee|last=Lewis|title=Bikinians evacuated 'for good of mankind' endure lengthy nuclear fallout|url=http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/7/28/bikini-nuclear-test-survivors-demand-compensation.html|publisher=Al-Jazeera|date=July 28, 2015}}</ref> Several [[Engineering:Nuclear weapon|nuclear weapon]]s were lost in the Pacific Ocean,<ref>{{cite news|last=Thaler|first=Andrew David|title=How many nuclear weapons are at the bottom of the sea. An (almost certainly incomplete) census of broken arrows over water.|url=http://www.southernfriedscience.com/how-many-nuclear-weapons-are-at-the-bottom-of-the-sea-an-almost-certainly-incomplete-census-of-broken-arrows-over-water/|publisher=Southern Fried Science|date=July 26, 2018}}</ref> including one-megaton bomb that was lost during the 1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident.<ref>{{cite news|title=U.S. discloses accidents involving nuclear weapons|author=Richard Halloran|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 26, 1981|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/26/us/us-discloses-accidents-involving-nuclear-weapons.html}}</ref>

In 2021, the discharge of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean over a course of 30 years was approved by the Japanese Cabinet. The Cabinet concluded the radioactive water would have been diluted to drinkable standard.<ref name="BBC 20210413">{{cite news|title=Fukushima: Japan approves releasing wastewater into ocean|newspaper=BBC|date=2021-04-13|last=|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56728068}}</ref> Apart from dumping, leakage of tritium into the Pacific was estimated to be between 20 and 40 trillion [[Becquerel|Bq]]s from 2011 to 2013, according to the Fukushima plant.<ref name="Scientific American 20130813">{{cite news|title=Radioactive Water Leaks from Fukushima: What We Know|newspaper=Scientific American|date=2013-08-13|last=Hsu|first=Jeremy|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/radioactive-water-leaks-from-fukushima/}}</ref>

== Major ports and harbors ==

===List of major ports===
{{Div col|colwidth=10em}}
* Acapulco
* [[Place:Auckland|Auckland]]
* [[Place:Bangkok|Bangkok]]
* Busan
* Callao
* [[Place:Cebu City|Cebu City]]
* Dalian
* Guangzhou
* Haiphong
* Ho Chi Minh City
* [[Place:Hong Kong|Hong Kong]]
* Honolulu
* [[Place:Jakarta|Jakarta]]
* Johor Bahru
* Kaohsiung
* Keelung
* Long Beach
* {{wipe|Los Angeles}}
* [[Place:Manila|Manila]]
* [[Place:Melbourne|Melbourne]]
* Nagoya
* Nakhodka
* Oakland
* {{wipe|Osaka}}
* [[Place:Panama City|Panama City]]
* {{wipe|Portland, Oregon}}
* San Diego
* {{wipe|San Francisco, California}}
* Seattle
* [[Place:Shanghai|Shanghai]]
* [[Place:Singapore|Singapore]]
* [[Place:Sydney|Sydney]]
* [[Place:Tianjin|Tianjin]]
* [[Place:Tokyo|Tokyo]]
* Valparaíso
* {{wipe|Vancouver}}
* Vladivostok
* Yokohama
{{Div col end}}

==List of seas, gulfs and bays by surface area==
{{Div col|small=yes}}
* Philippine Sea : {{cvt|5695000|km2|abbr=on}}
* [[Earth:Coral Sea|Coral Sea]] : {{cvt|4791000|km2|abbr=on}}
* South China Sea: {{cvt|3500000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Tasman Sea : {{cvt|2300000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Bering Sea : {{cvt|2000000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Sea of Okhotsk : {{cvt|1583000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Gulf of Alaska : {{cvt|1533000|km2|abbr=on}}
* East China Sea: {{cvt|1249000|km2|abbr=on}}
* East Sea : {{cvt|978000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Solomon Sea : {{cvt|720000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Arafura Sea : {{cvt|650000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Banda Sea  : {{cvt|470000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Yellow Sea : {{cvt|380000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Gulf of Thailand : {{cvt|320000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Java Sea  : {{cvt|320000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Gulf of Carpentaria : {{cvt|300000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Celebes Sea : {{cvt|280000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Sulu Sea : {{cvt|260000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Bismarck Sea : {{cvt|250400|km2|abbr=on}}
* Flores Sea  : {{cvt|240000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Molucca Sea : {{cvt|200000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Gulf of Anadyr : {{cvt|200000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Gulf of California : {{cvt|160000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Gulf of Tonkin : {{cvt|126250|km2|abbr=on}}
* Halmahera Sea : {{cvt|95000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Bohai Sea : {{cvt|78000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Gulf of Papua : {{cvt|70400|km2|abbr=on}}
* Koro Sea : {{cvt|58000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Bali Sea : {{cvt|45000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Savu Sea : {{cvt|35000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Bohol Sea {{cvt|29000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Seto Inland Sea : {{cvt|23203|km2|abbr=on}}
* Sibuyan Sea {{cvt|22400|km2|abbr=on}}
* Seram Sea {{cvt|12000|km|abbr=on}}
* Visayan Sea {{cvt|11850|km2|abbr=on}}
* Gulf of Panama {{cvt|2400|km2|abbr=on}}
* Manila Bay : {{cvt|2000|km2|abbr=on}}
* Tokyo Bay : {{cvt|1500|km2|abbr=on}}
{{Div col end}}

==List of islands in the Pacific==

== See also ==
{{div col}}
* [[Organization:Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation|Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation]]
* List of rivers of the Americas by coastline#Pacific Ocean coast
* Pacific Alliance
* [[Earth:Pacific coast|Pacific coast]]
* Mikhail Tikhanov
* [[Pacific Time Zone]]
* [[Seven Seas]]
* [[Finance:Trans-Pacific Partnership|Trans-Pacific Partnership]]
* War of the Pacific
* Natural delimitation between the Pacific and South Atlantic oceans by the Shackleton Fracture Zone
* Natural delimitation between the Pacific and South Atlantic oceans by the Scotia Arc
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book|last=Barkley|first=Richard A.|title=Oceanographic Atlas of the Pacific Ocean|date=1968|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu}}
* {{Cite book|title=Blue Horizons: Paradise Isles of the Pacific|date=1985|publisher=[[Organization:National Geographic Society|National Geographic Society]]|location=Washington, DC|isbn=978-0-87044-544-6|author=prepared by the Special Publications Division, National Geographic Society.}}
* {{Cite book|last=Cameron|first=Ian|title=Lost Paradise: The Exploration of the Pacific|date=1987|publisher=Salem House|location=Topsfield, MA|isbn=978-0-88162-275-1|url=https://archive.org/details/lostparadiseexpl00came}}
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Couper|editor-first=A.D. |title=Development and Social Change in the Pacific Islands|year=1989|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-0-415-00917-1}}
* {{Cite book|last=Gilbert|first=John|title=Charting the Vast Pacific|year=1971|publisher=Aldus|location=London|isbn=978-0-490-00226-5}}
* {{Cite book|last=Igler|first=David|title=The Great Ocean: Pacific Worlds from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush|date=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-991495-1}}
* Jones, Eric, Lionel Frost, and Colin White. ''Coming Full Circle: An Economic History of the Pacific Rim'' (Westview Press, 1993)
* {{Cite book|last=Lower|first=J. Arthur|title=Ocean of Destiny: A Concise History of the North Pacific, 1500–1978|date=1978|publisher=University of British Columbia Press|location=Vancouver|isbn=978-0-7748-0101-0|url=https://archive.org/details/oceanofdestinyco0000lowe}}
* {{Cite book|last=Napier|first=W.|author2=Gilbert, J. |author3=Holland, J. |title=Pacific Voyages|year=1973|publisher=Doubleday|location=Garden City, NY|isbn=978-0-385-04335-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Nunn|first=Patrick D.|title=Pacific Island Landscapes: Landscape and Geological Development of Southwest Pacific Islands, Especially Fiji, Samoa and Tonga|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AN8486A8fMcC&pg=PA15|year=1998|publisher=editorips@usp.ac.fj|isbn=978-982-02-0129-3}}
* {{Cite book|last=Oliver|first=Douglas L.|title=The Pacific Islands|year=1989|edition=3rd|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-8248-1233-1}}
* Paine, Lincoln. ''The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World'' (2015).
* {{Cite book|last=Ridgell|first=Reilly|title=Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia|year=1988|edition=2nd|publisher=Bess Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-935848-50-2}}
* Samson, Jane. ''British imperial strategies in the Pacific, 1750–1900'' (Ashgate Publishing, 2003).
* {{Cite book|last=Soule|first=Gardner|title=The Greatest Depths: Probing the Seas to {{convert|20000|ft|m}} and Below|year=1970|publisher=Macrae Smith|location=Philadelphia|isbn=978-0-8255-8350-6|url=https://archive.org/details/greatestdepthspr00soul}}
* {{Cite book|last=Spate|first=O.H.K.|title=Paradise Found and Lost|year=1988|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|location=Minneapolis|isbn=978-0-8166-1715-9}}
* {{Cite book|last=Terrell|first=John|title=Prehistory in the Pacific Islands: A Study of Variation in Language, Customs, and Human Biology|date=1986|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-30604-1}}

=== Historiography ===
* Calder, Alex, et al. eds. '' Voyages and Beaches: Pacific Encounters, 1769–1840'' (U of Hawai‘i Press, 1999)
* Davidson, James Wightman. "Problems of Pacific history." ''Journal of Pacific History'' 1#1 (1966): 5–21.
* Dirlik, Arif. "The Asia-Pacific Idea: Reality and Representation in the Invention of a Regional Structure", ''Journal of World History'' 3#1 (1992): 55–79.
* Dixon, Chris, and David Drakakis-Smith. "The Pacific Asian Region: Myth or Reality?" ''Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography'' 77#@ (1995): 75+
* Dodge, Ernest S. ''New England and the South Seas'' (Harvard UP, 1965).
* Flynn, Dennis O., Arturo Giráldez, and James Sobredo, eds. ''Studies in Pacific History: Economics, Politics, and Migration'' (Ashgate, 2002).
* Gulliver, Katrina. "Finding the Pacific world." ''Journal of World History'' 22#1 (2011): 83–100. [https://www.academia.edu/241829/Finding_the_Pacific_World online]
* Korhonen, Pekka. "The Pacific Age in World History", ''Journal of World History'' 7#1 (1996): 41–70.
* Munro, Doug. ''The Ivory Tower and Beyond: Participant Historians of the Pacific'' (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009).
* "Recent Literature in Discovery History." ''Terrae Incognitae'', annual feature in January issue since 1979; comprehensive listing of new books and articles.
* Routledge, David. "Pacific history as seen from the Pacific Islands." ''Pacific Studies'' 8#2 (1985): 81+ [https://web.archive.org/web/20160923134705/https://journals.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/PacificStudies/article/viewFile/9369/9018 online]
* Samson, Jane. "Pacific/Oceanic History" in {{cite book|editor=Kelly Boyd|title=Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing vol 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0121vD9STIMC&pg=PA901|year=1999|publisher=Taylor & Francis|pages=901–902|isbn=978-1-884964-33-6}}
* Stillman, Amy Ku‘uleialoha. "Pacific-ing Asian Pacific American History", ''Journal of Asian American Studies'' 7#3 (2004): 241–270.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100504012429/http://www.epic.noaa.gov/epic/ewb/ EPIC Pacific Ocean Data Collection Viewable] on-line collection of observational data
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060211015453/http://dapper.pmel.noaa.gov/dchart/ NOAA In-situ Ocean Data Viewer] plot and download ocean observations
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060210183949/http://floats.pmel.noaa.gov/floats/ NOAA PMEL Argo profiling floats Realtime Pacific Ocean data]
* [https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/drupal/disdel/ NOAA TAO] [[Earth:El Niño|El Niño]] data Realtime Pacific Ocean El Niño buoy data
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051229005041/http://www.oscar.noaa.gov/datadisplay/ NOAA Ocean Surface Current Analyses] – Realtime (OSCAR) Near-realtime Pacific Ocean Surface Currents derived from satellite altimeter and scatterometer data

{{Regions of the world}}

[[Category:Pacific Ocean| ]]
[[Category:Oceans]]

{{Sourceattribution|Pacific Ocean}}