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PACIFIC OCEAN

@Pacific Ocean:Geography

 Location: body of water between Antarctica, Asia, Australia, and the
 Western Hemisphere

 Map references: World

 Area:
 total area: 165.384 million sq km
 comparative area: about 18 times the size of the US; the largest ocean
 (followed by the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Arctic
 Ocean); covers about one-third of the global surface; larger than the
 total land area of the world
 note: includes Bali Sea, Bellingshausen Sea, Bering Sea, Bering
 Strait, Coral Sea, East China Sea, Flores Sea, Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of
 Tonkin, Java Sea, Philippine Sea, Ross Sea, Savu Sea, Sea of Japan,
 Sea of Okhotsk, South China Sea, Tasman Sea, Timor Sea, and other
 tributary water bodies

 Coastline: 135,663 km

 International disputes: some maritime disputes (see littoral states)

 Climate: the western Pacific is monsoonal - a rainy season occurs
 during the summer months, when moisture-laden winds blow from the
 ocean over the land, and a dry season during the winter months, when
 dry winds blow from the Asian land mass back to the ocean

 Terrain: surface currents in the northern Pacific are dominated by a
 clockwise, warm-water gyre (broad circular system of currents) and in
 the southern Pacific by a counterclockwise, cool-water gyre; in the
 northern Pacific sea ice forms in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk in
 winter; in the southern Pacific sea ice from Antarctica reaches its
 northernmost extent in October; the ocean floor in the eastern Pacific
 is dominated by the East Pacific Rise, while the western Pacific is
 dissected by deep trenches, including the world's deepest, the 10,924
 meter Marianas Trench

 Natural resources: oil and gas fields, polymetallic nodules, sand and
 gravel aggregates, placer deposits, fish

 Environment:
 current issues: endangered marine species include the dugong, sea
 lion, sea otter, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in
 Philippine Sea and South China Sea
 natural hazards: surrounded by a zone of violent volcanic and
 earthquake activity sometimes referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire;
 subject to tropical cyclones (typhoons) in southeast and east Asia
 from May to December (most frequent from July to October); tropical
 cyclones (hurricanes) may form south of Mexico and strike Central
 America and Mexico from June to October (most common in August and
 September); southern shipping lanes subject to icebergs from
 Antarctica; occasional El Nino phenomenon occurs off the coast of Peru
 when the trade winds slacken and the warm Equatorial Countercurrent
 moves south, killing the plankton that is the primary food source for
 anchovies; consequently, the anchovies move to better feeding grounds,
 causing resident marine birds to starve by the thousands because of
 their lost food source; ships subject to superstructure icing in
 extreme north from October to May and in extreme south from May to
 October; persistent fog in the northern Pacific can be a maritime
 hazard from June to December
 international agreements: NA

 Note: the major choke points are the Bering Strait, Panama Canal,
 Luzon Strait, and the Singapore Strait; the Equator divides the
 Pacific Ocean into the North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific
 Ocean; dotted with low coral islands and rugged volcanic islands in
 the southwestern Pacific Ocean

@Pacific Ocean:Government

 Digraph: ZN

Economy

 Overview: The Pacific Ocean is a major contributor to the world
 economy and particularly to those nations its waters directly touch.
 It provides low-cost sea transportation between East and West,
 extensive fishing grounds, offshore oil and gas fields, minerals, and
 sand and gravel for the construction industry. In 1985 over half (54%)
 of the world's fish catch came from the Pacific Ocean, which is the
 only ocean where the fish catch has increased every year since 1978.
 Exploitation of offshore oil and gas reserves is playing an
 ever-increasing role in the energy supplies of Australia, NZ, China,
 US, and Peru. The high cost of recovering offshore oil and gas,
 combined with the wide swings in world prices for oil since 1985, has
 slowed but not stopped new drillings.

 Industries: fishing, oil and gas production

@Pacific Ocean:Transportation

 Ports: Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong, Los Angeles (US), Manila
 (Philippines), Pusan (South Korea), San Francisco (US), Seattle (US),
 Shanghai (China), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Vladivostok (Russia),
 Wellington (NZ), Yokohama (Japan)

@Pacific Ocean:Communications

 Telephone system:
 international: several submarine cables with network nodal points on
 Guam and Hawaii


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