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Blue Planet Challenge
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Pacific Ocean:
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world's five oceans
Location: the body of water between the Southern Ocean, Asia, Australia and the western hemisphere
Area: 155.6 million square km, or about 15 times the size of the US. The Pacific Ocean covers about 28 per cent of the global surface - larger than the total land area of the world
Terrain: 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 Mariana Trench, which is the world's deepest place
Deepest point: Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench - 11,022m
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Atlantic Ocean:
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, but larger than the Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean)
Location: the body of water between Africa, Europe, the Southern Ocean, and the western hemisphere
Area: 76.8 million square km, or just under 6.5 times the size of the US
Terrain: the ocean floor is dominated by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a rugged north-south underwater mountain range stretching down the entire Atlantic basin
Deepest point: Milwaukee Deep in the Puerto Rico Trench - 8,605m
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Indian Ocean:
The Indian Ocean remains the third largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, but larger than the Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean)
Location: the body of water between Africa, the Southern Ocean, Asia, and Australia
Area: 68.6 million square km or about 5.5 times the size of the US
Terrain: the ocean floor is dominated by the Mid-Indian Ocean Ridge and subdivided by the Southeast Indian Ocean Ridge, the Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge and Ninetyeast Ridge
Deepest point: Java Trench - 7,258m
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Southern Ocean:
The Southern Ocean is the fourth-largest of the world's five oceans
Location: body of water between 60 degrees south latitude and Antarctica
Area: 20.3 million sq km, or slightly more than twice the size of the US
Terrain: the Southern Ocean is deep, 4,000-5,000m over most of its extent with only limited areas of shallow water. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (21,000km in length) moves perpetually eastward. It is the world's largest ocean current, transporting 130 million cubic meters of water per second - 100 times the flow of all the world's rivers
Deepest point: 7,235m at the southern end of the South Sandwich Trench
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Arctic Ocean:
The Arctic Ocean remains the smallest of the world's five oceans
Location: body of water mostly north of the Arctic Circle
Area: 14.1 million square km, or slightly less than 1.5 times the size of the US
Terrain: the ocean floor is about 50 per cent continental shelf (the highest percentage of any ocean) with the remainder a central basin interrupted by three submarine ridges (Alpha Cordillera, Nansen Cordillera and Lomonosov Ridge)
Deepest point: Fram Basin - 4,665m
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