Pacific Ocean
What is this?
The Pacific Ocean is the planet’s largest body of water. It is also the known deepest. At its deepest point (called the Challenger Deep in the Marianas Trench) if you you placed Mount Everest at the base of the trench, there would still be over a mile of ocean above it!
Where is it?
The Pacific Ocean extends from the Antarctic region in the south to the Arctic circle in the north and lies between the continents of Australia and Asia to the west and the Americas to the east.
Pacific Ocean
What animals can be found here?
The Pacific is home to a huge range of weird and wonderful creatures. From the endangered enormous gray whale to microscopic plankton. Find out more about the gray whale click through in our factfile. The Pacific is also home to some of the more familiar ocean creatures, such as jellyfish, rays and sharks. In the deeper, gloomier parts of the ocean, void of sunlight, it becomes a world of darkness ruled by prehistoric looking fish with razor-sharp teeth.
Pacific Ocean
Do people live here too?
Yes. There are many small islands in the Pacific. The Pacific Islands Region for instance consists of Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia – each sub-region with its own range of islands. Over 80% of the population in the Pacific Islands Region live on the coast with many Islander’s relying on fishing for their livelilhoods.
I never knew that!
The Pacific occupies about a third of the surface of the Earth. It is twice the size of the Atlantic Ocean and covers more than the whole land area of the planet pieced together.
