Our Earth is home to many varied life forms and ecosystems, but one of the most massive by far would be the ecosystem within our oceans. There are many unexplored regions of the ocean and more specifically of the Pacific Ocean which means plenty of our world is still yet to be understood or known by humans yet. But chances are you probably know at least a little about oceans or the Pacific. So what else is there to really learn? Here are some amazing facts about the Pacific Ocean you may not know yet.
Calm Ocean?
The Pacific Ocean was named by Ferdinand Magellan in the early 1500s after sailing through what’s now known as the Magellan Straight in a mission to sail around the world. When he entered this ocean, the waters were much calmer than what he had experienced so far. Therefore he named this ocean after the Latin word pacificus which means tranquil.
Massive Sizes
If you combined all of the area of the world’s land, it would still be smaller than the Pacific Ocean. And not to mention, this ocean is the Earth’s deepest as well. So it just truly is a vast area when you think about it. Some of its depths are still very unexplored by scientists or explorers alike because of pressure levels that far under the surface.
Islands AND Volcanoes… Oh My!
Thousands of islands exist in the Pacific Ocean. It’s actually the home for the majority of our islands. Over 25 thousands islands lie within the Pacific’s borders. And on top of this, even more underwater volcanoes are contained in this water mass. Over 75 thousand volcanoes exist in the Pacific, which leads to tons of underwater earthquakes and eruptions over the history of Earth.
Dirty Pacific
Since it is the largest, there are many downsides to the Pacific Ocean and human interaction with it. This ocean is also our most polluted ocean mass, and it gets worse each year. Much of the pollution comes from plastics and micro-plastics which are in many of our daily items and trash, plus some of the debris comes from satellite crashes that land pieces in the ocean.
Redistributing Waters
Each year, the Pacific Ocean loses around one inch of its size each year and the Atlantic Ocean gains that equal amount. This is because of how our Earth’s tectonic plates are moving. It happens on three different sides of the basin in the Pacific Ocean. Who knows how long or how much this will go on for?
Now that you know a little more, maybe we sparked an interest in learning even more facts and information out there about the Pacific Ocean and our Earth’s many other ocean ecosystems. And as time goes by, even more vast knowledge can be uncovered as humans are able to explore the remaining hidden secrets of our world’s ocean depths. These are just some of many unique and amazing facts about the Pacific Ocean you can learn. You can always also share this list with friends and family to spark their interests too!