OCEANS OF THE WORLD

This contains all geographic information about the 5 major oceans of the world.

1. CHAPTER 10 OCEANS OF THE WORLD

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: At the end of this chapter, students must be able to; a. identify the major oceans of the world, c. locate the five oceans of the world.

3. Introduction What is an OCEAN ? An ocean is a vast and a continuous frame of salty water that shelters almost 75 % of the total earth's surface. The planet Earth appears to be blue and white in the outer space because almost ¾ of the Earth is occupied by the bodies of water such as oceans and seas other bodies of water are lakes, lagoons, rivers, streams and springs.

4. 5 OCEANS IN THE WORLD: 1 . PACIFIC OCEAN, 2. INDIAN OCEAN, 3. ATLANTIC OCEAN, 4. ARCTIC OCEAN 5. SOUTHERN OCEAN

5. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN OCEAN AND A SEA The difference between these two bodies of water are summarized in terms of depth , area and marine life . DEPTH The comparison by depth shows that oceans are much deeper as compared to seas because land usually encloses the seawaters. Pacific Ocean (largest) -10, 924 meters Arctic Ocean (smallest) - 5, 625 meters Average depth of 5 oceans – 3, 688 meters Carribean Sea – 6, 946 meters (deepest sea)

6. AREA Thus, this variation in the area indicates that seas are smaller than oceans. Pacific Ocean – 60, 060, 700 square miles Arctic Ocean – 5, 427, 000 square miles Mediterranean Sea (largest sea) – 1, 144, 800 square miles Ocean’s average total area - 361, 900, 000 square kilometers

7. MARINE LIFE Seas support a large portion of marine life since sunlight penetrates deep down allowing photosynthesis to take place. Oceans rarely support marine life since they are deeper than seas and thus sunlight does not penetrate deep enough to the surface to let photosynthesis to take place.

8. 5 OCEANS OF THE WORLD ASIA EUROPE AFRICA NORTH AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA AUSTRALIA

9. 1. PACIFIC OCEAN The largest and the deepest of the world’s five oceans. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Oceania in the west and the Americas in the east. Important access waterways include: LA PEROUSE, TSUGARU, TSUSHIMA, TAIWAN, SINGAPORE and TORRES STRAITS. In Spring 2000, the International Hydrographic Organization delimits the portion of the Pacific Ocean (60 degrees of South) which is now the SOUTHERN OCEAN.

10. The planetary air pressure systems and resultant wind patterns exhibit remarkable uniformity in the south and east; trade winds and westerly winds are well-developed patterns, modified by seasonal fluctuations. From June – October, tropical cyclones may form south of Mexico and affect the areas of Mexico and Central America. The Western Pacific is monsoonal. Tropical cyclones (typhoons) may strike Southeast and East of Asia from May to December.

11. Its terrain surface currents in the Northern Pacific are dominated by a clockwise warm-water gyre and in the Southern pacific by a counter clockwise, 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 the deep trenches including the Marianas Trench which is the deepest point in the world’s ocean.

12. GYRE - circular pattern of ocean currents.

13. 2. ATLANTIC OCEAN -second largest ocean among the five major oceans of the world. -Strategic important access waterways include; Kiel Canal (Germany), Oresund (Denmark-Sweden), Bosporus (Turkey), Strait of Gibraltar (Morocco-Spain), St Lawrence Seaway (Canada-US) -total area of 76. 792 M square km. the climate tropical cyclones (hurricanes) develop off the coast of Africa near Cape Verde and move Westward into the Caribbean Sea; hurricanes can occur from May to December but are most frequent from August to November.

14. terrain consists of surface usually covered with sea ice in Labrador Sea, Denmark Strait and coastal portions of the Baltic Sea form October to June. clockwise warm-water gyre in the Northern Atlantic, counter clockwise warm-water gyre in the Southern Atlantic. The ocean floor is dominated by the Mid- Atlantic Ridge, a rugged North-South Centerline for the entire Atlantic ocean.

15. 3. INDIAN OCEAN t hird largest among the 5 oceans of the world. s trategic important access waterways include: Suez Canal (Egypt), Bab e l Mandeb ( D jibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), and Strait of Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia). t otal area of 68. 556 M square km.

16. its terrain consist of surface dominated by counter clockwise gyre in the southern Indian ocean; unique reversal currents in the northern Indian Ocean; low atmospheric pressure over southwest Asia from hot, rising, summer air results in the southwest monsoon and southwest-to-northeast winds and currents while high pressure over Northern Asia from cold, falling, winter air results in the northeast monsoon and northeast-to-southwest winds and currents, ocean floor is dominated by the Mid-Indian ocean Ridge and subdivided by the Southeast Indian Ocean Ridge, Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge, and Northeast Ridge

17. 4. ARCTIC OCEAN -the smallest of the world’s five oceans. -the two important seasonal waterways include: Northwest passage (US and Canada) and Northern Sea Route (Norway and Russia) -total area is 15.056 M square km. Its climate is characterized by persistent cold and relatively narrow annual temperature ranges; winters characterized by continuous darkness, cold and stable weather conditions, and clear skies. Summer characterized by continuous daylight, damp and foggy weather, and weak cyclones with rain or snow

18. The terrain consists of central surface covered by a perennial drifting polar icepack that, on average is about 3 m thick. The icepack is surrounded by open seas during the summer, but more than doubles in size during the winter and extends to the encircling landmasses; the ocean floor is about 50% continental shelf.

19. 5. SOUTHERN OCEAN Southern Ocean, also called Antarctic Ocean, the southern portions of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans and their tributary seas surrounding  Antarctica . Unbroken by any other continental landmass, the Southern  Ocean’s  narrowest constriction is the  Drake Passage , 600 miles (about 1,000 km) wide, between  South America  and the tip of the  Antarctic Peninsula . The structure of the ocean floor includes a  continental shelf  usually less than 160 miles (about 260 km) wide that attains its maximum width of more than 1,600 miles (2,600 km) in the vicinity of the Weddell and Ross seas.