PACIFIC OCEAN                                                                   
GEOGRAPHY                                                                       
Total area: 165,384,000 km2; includes Arafura Sea, Banda Sea,                   
Bellingshausen Sea, Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Coral Sea, East China Sea,       
Gulf of Alaska, Makassar Strait, Philippine Sea, Ross Sea, Sea of Japan,        
Sea of Okhotsk, South China Sea, Tasman Sea, and other tributary water          
bodies                                                                          
                                                                                
Comparative area: slightly less than 18 times the size of the US;               
the largest ocean (followed by the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and            
Arctic Ocean); covers about one-third of the global surface; larger than        
the total land area of the world                                                
                                                                                
Coastline: 135,663 km                                                           
                                                                                
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 in the northern Pacific dominated by a clockwise,              
warm water gyre (broad, circular system of currents) and in the southern        
Pacific by a counterclockwise, cool water gyre; sea ice occurs in the           
Bering Sea and                                                                  
Sea of Okhotsk during winter and reaches maximum northern extent from           
Antarctica 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; the world's greatest depth is 10,924 meters         
in the Marianas Trench                                                          
                                                                                
Natural resources: oil and gas fields, polymetallic nodules, sand               
and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, fish                                    
                                                                                
Environment: endangered marine species include the dugong, sea                  
lion, sea otter, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in Philippine        
Sea and South China Sea; dotted with low coral islands and rugged               
volcanic islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean; 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, which kills 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                                     
                                                                                
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;         
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 from June to December is a hazard to shipping;                 
surrounded by a zone of violent volcanic and earthquake activity                
sometimes referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire                               
                                                                                
ECONOMY                                                                         
Overview: The Pacific Ocean is a major contributor to the world                 
economy and particularly to those nations its waters directly touch.            
It provides cheap 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 total 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, New Zealand,          
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                                     
                                                                                
COMMUNICATIONS                                                                  
Ports: Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong, Los Angeles (US),                         
Manila (Philippines), Pusan (South Korea), San Francisco (US), Seattle          
(US), Shanghai (China), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Vladivostok              
(USSR), Wellington (NZ), Yokohama (Japan)                                       
                                                                                
Telecommunications: several submarine cables with network focused               
on Guam and Hawaii                                                              
                                                                                
