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 Match 185   DB Rec# - 7,637  Dataset-WOFACT

Title         :Pacific Ocean 
Text          : 
                                  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 
 
                                    Geography 
  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 
 
                                   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 
 
                                 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) 
 
                                 Communications 
 
Telephone system: 
  international: 
    several submarine cables with network nodal points on Guam and Hawaii 

This publication is also available online from the CIA (http://www.odci.gov/cia) as 1995 World Factbook (http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/95fact/index.html).

The printed version of this item can be found under the title:
The World Factbook 1995,
SuDoc No: PREX 3.15:995

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Updated: March 12, 1996