Major seas. Characteristics of the Pacific. Rivers and seas of the Pacific Ocean. The ecological state of the ocean Brief content of the Pacific Ocean and its features

The characteristic of the Pacific Ocean indicates that it is the largest and deepest on the planet. It washes such continents as Eurasia, America, Australia and Antarctica. In the Mariana Trench, the depth of the ocean reaches 11 km.

Etymology

The first person living in Europe to visit the eastern side of the ocean was Balboa, a Spanish conquistador. When he crossed the Isthmus of Panama and, without knowing it, got into the ocean, he called it the South Sea. A few years later, he decided to try his luck. He traveled for almost four months, overcoming the ocean from the Philippines to Tierra del Fuego. After that, he was called Quiet. But the French scientist Buache, who sailed with his team and the seas of the Pacific Ocean, and its entire basin, estimating its gigantic size, called it the Great. However, this hydronym did not take root.

Salinity and properties of water in winter

Basically, the highest indicator of salts reaches 35.6%. This option is found only in the tropics due to the fact that the climate in these areas is not characterized by a large amount of precipitation, but intense evaporation can be observed here. The characteristic of the Pacific Ocean, which is found in many reference books, suggests that closer to the eastern part of the waters, salinity decreases much due to cold currents. It must be said that in temperate as well as subpolar zones, this indicator is close to the minimum mark due to constant rains and snows.

The occurrence of ice, that is, the freezing of water, directly depends on the salt content. Often they cover only the Antarctic regions, as well as the waters of the Bering, Japan, and Okhotsk Seas. On the shores of Alaska, icebergs often appear, which mainly "travel" in the Pacific Ocean.

Ecology

Due to the impact of destructive human activities, the map of the Pacific Ocean allows you to mark several areas of water that are completely polluted and cause great harm to people, as well as threaten the lives of animal species such as whales. The main pollution is oil and all kinds of waste. Because of them, the ocean is overloaded with metals, radioactive substances, which simply should not be in the water. A complete characterization of the Pacific Ocean showed that all substances that enter it are carried throughout its entire water area. The most interesting thing is that even in the body of animals living near Antarctica, similar compounds were found.

A place that attracts tourists for a long time does not look like picturesque landscapes for a long time. Most of the people come to look at the garbage patch, formed several years ago due to waste carried by the currents. The terrible thing is that it almost reaches the shores of California, Hawaii and Japan. If in 2001 the spot area was 1 billion square meters. km, and weight - 4 million tons, then at the moment this figure has increased several thousand times! Every 10 years, this landfill grows to a decent size.

Due to the fact that some birds mistake small plastic clusters for food, they themselves eat them or feed them to their chicks. As a result, these substances are not digested by the body, and the creature dies due to the impossibility of their withdrawal.

Animal and plant world

More than half of the inhabitants of the oceans live in the waters of the Pacific. Many species of fish and plants are represented here. Only phytoplankton is here more than 1300 representatives. The vegetation of the waters has 4 thousand aquatic and 29 terrestrial plants. In cold zones, kelp is common, the length of which sometimes reaches 200 m. And in the tropical - red and fucus algae.

At depth, holothurians live, which feed only on soil. The tropical waters of the ocean are several thousand times richer in fish than other waters. Here you can see sea urchins, horseshoe crabs, as well as several other species of animals that are not preserved in other oceans. Most salmon live here.

Rivers of the Pacific

All water streams that flow into the ocean are not huge, but they have a fairly high flow rate. At the moment, there is no exact number of how many streams merge with these powerful waters. Some have more than 100 streams, while others have more than a thousand.

The map of the Pacific Ocean allows you to see 40 rivers that are directly related to its basin. The largest of them is the watercourse, the mouth of which is the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the Amur.

Minerals

One cannot overlook the fact that the bottom of the Pacific Ocean contains many minerals. There you can find deposits of various minerals. In the shelves of many countries, especially such as Japan, the United States of America, Australia and others, gas and oil are produced. Tin is mined in huge quantities in Malaysia, zircon - in Australia. Ores and manganese deposits are located in the northern part of the waters. Thanks to the estimates contained in the characteristics of the Pacific Ocean, we can say for sure that these waters hide about 40% of gas and oil reserves. Hydrates are also located here, because of which in 2013 in Japan it was decided to drill wells for natural gas production in the direction from the country's capital to the northeast of the ocean.

Infrequently show their character with a restless course. At the same time, it is interesting that, while traveling on the waters, Magellan and his team did not get into a single storm for all three months of their stay here. That is why the ocean got its name. It is divided into several sides: northern and southern, the border between which runs along the equator line.

He is a champion in many respects: here is the deepest earthly cavity, and the most powerful typhoons (despite the "mild" name). Here is the largest number of seas, which is natural, based on its size. Now we will look at the seas of the Pacific Ocean, a list of their names, learn something interesting about them.

How many seas are there in the world?

To start a conversation follows from the fact that it is impossible to count the number of seas in the world, as well as in the Pacific Ocean. After all, the sea is not a lake, it never has clear boundaries. Which part of the ocean is considered a sea and which is not - this is a decision, where often subjective, and even political and economic factors play an important role.

The list of terrestrial seas is constantly changing, especially in the part where we are talking about tiny seas. Some of them, in fact, are large bays. From time to time, scientists and economists gather at special conferences to clarify the “marine” lists at them. The latest UNESCO recommendations say that 59 water regions of the planet should be considered seas. But again, these recommendations always find their opponents.

Large seas of the Pacific Ocean

To please all points of view, we first highlight the 6 largest seas of the Pacific Ocean. The area of ​​each of them is more than 1 million km² or very close to it. The existence of these marine basins is indisputable, and no one doubts. So here are our champions:

Other Pacific seas, list

Having paid tribute to these giant seas, we will add the rest of the seas of the Pacific Ocean to the list. At the moment it looks like this (although we repeat - it may differ slightly in different sources):

1. Amundsen.
2. Yellow.
3. Visayan Sea.
4. East Chinese.
5. Sea of ​​Koro.
6. Camotes.
7. Sea of ​​Mindanao.
8. Moluccan.
9. New Guinea.
10. Savu.
11. Samar.
12. Seram.
13. Sibuyan.
14. Sulu.
15. Sulawesi.
16. Solomonovo.
17. Okhotsk.
18. Fiji.
19. Flores.
20. Halmahera.
21. Javanese.

If we have singled out separately the largest seas of this ocean, we will pay tribute to the smallest ones. Although with them, as already mentioned, there are most controversial points. As a rule, these seas are bays, parts of larger seas (and sometimes just large "pockets" between large islands). The big problem is the definition of their boundaries.

It seems to be the smallest on our list, completely owned by Japan. Its area does not even reach 2 thousand km². Aki separates the east and west of the Sea of ​​Japan. Despite the size, it is in the zone of this reservoir that the powerful monsoons of Southeast Asia originate. In addition, the Aki Sea is rich in fish, primarily mackerel.

The second from the bottom in our list in terms of area, only 40 thousand km² (although this is not so small compared to the previous sea). A paradise for divers, a calm place where storms rarely blow. Located between the islands of Bali and Java. The climate here is subequatorial, humid.

The area is 740 thousand km². Despite its small size, the Banda has great depths. It is located within the Malay Archipelago, in a zone of active seismicity. One of the faults in the earth's crust passes here, so the average depth reaches 2,800 meters.

It is warm all year round in its water area, the seabed is beautiful, which also attracts scuba diving enthusiasts. Interestingly, nutmeg was grown on the tiny Banda Islands until the 19th century, keeping their location a secret. It was the only place on Earth where this nut grew.

A little more interesting

There is a lot to be said about the Pacific Ocean. Still, because its area is larger than the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe entire earth's land! The seas are the outskirts of this giant reservoir, but they also have their own characteristics and mysteries. We have already mentioned some, we will supplement what has been said with some more information:

• The Bering and Okhotsk seas are periodically covered with ice, although not continuous. Among the other seas of the Pacific Ocean, ice occurs only in the Sea of ​​Japan.
• The Sea of ​​Okhotsk has the highest sea tides in Russia.
• The Savu Sea is a "disputed area" of two oceans. Hydrologists have not decided: it is part of the Pacific Ocean or the Indian.
• The Yellow Sea is the shallowest in the ocean, its average depth is only about 60 meters. It cuts deep into the land, taking in a very large Huang He river. In the spring, it overflows, carrying millions of cubic meters of dirty water mixed with sand into the sea. Given the shallow depths, this water is capable of tinting the entire sea area in a yellowish color for several months.
• The Java Sea is considered one of the youngest not only in the Pacific Ocean, but throughout the world. It was formed in the last quarter of the Ice Age, and until that time it remained land, along which, probably, the ancestors of people came to the lands of Australia from Asia.
• The Solomon Sea, which stretches east of New Guinea, is distinguished by a particularly restless geological nature. Two small oceanic plates collide here, so there are many sharp elevation changes in the sea. There are two depressions, each more than 9 thousand meters deep, as well as a number of underwater volcanoes. It is also distinguished by the richness of nature and numerous coral reefs.

Such a list of interesting facts could be continued for a long time. In the Pacific Ocean, you can find something special, your own, which distinguishes this sea basin from others. And this is the value, it is not for nothing that this ocean is often called the Great!

The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in terms of area and depth on Earth. It is located between the continents of Eurasia and Australia in the west, North and South America in the east, Antarctica in the south.

• Area: 179.7 million km²
• Volume: 710.4 million km³
• Maximum depth: 10,994 m
• Average depth: 3984 m

The Pacific Ocean stretches approximately 15.8 thousand km from north to south and 19.5 thousand km from east to west. Square with seas

179.7 million km², average depth - 3984 m, water volume - 723.7 million km³ (without seas, respectively: 165.2 million km², 4282 m and 707.6 million km³). The greatest depth of the Pacific Ocean (and the entire World Ocean) is 10,994 m (in the Mariana Trench). The international date line runs through the Pacific Ocean along the 180th meridian.

Etymology

The first European to see the ocean was the Spanish conquistador Balboa. In 1513, he and his companions crossed the Isthmus of Panama and came to the shore of an unknown ocean. Since they reached the ocean in a bay open to the south, Balboa called it the South Sea (Spanish: Mar del Sur). On November 28, 1520, Ferdinand Magellan entered the open ocean. He crossed the ocean from Tierra del Fuego to the Philippine Islands in 3 months and 20 days. All this time the weather was calm, and Magellan called it the Pacific Ocean. In 1753, the French geographer Jean-Nicolas Buache proposed calling it the Great Ocean as the largest of the oceans. But this name has not received universal recognition, and the name Pacific Ocean remains dominant in world geography. In English-speaking countries, the ocean is called English. pacific ocean.

Until 1917, the name Eastern Ocean was used on Russian maps, which was preserved by tradition from the time when Russian explorers entered the ocean.

Asteroid (224) Oceana is named after the Pacific Ocean.

Physical and geographical characteristics

General information

Occupying 49.5% of the surface of the World Ocean and holding 53% of its water volume, the Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean on the planet. From east to west, the ocean stretches for more than 19,000 km and 16,000 from north to south. Its waters are located mostly in the southern latitudes, less - in the northern ones.

In 1951, an English expedition on the research ship Challenger recorded a maximum depth of 10,863 meters using an echo sounder. According to the results of measurements carried out in 1957 during the 25th voyage of the Soviet research vessel Vityaz (headed by Alexei Dmitrievich Dobrovolsky), the maximum depth of the chute is 11,023 m (updated data, the depth was originally reported as 11,034 m). The difficulty of measuring is that the speed of sound in water depends on its properties, which are different at different depths, so these properties must also be determined at several horizons with special instruments (such as a barometer and thermometer), and in the depth value shown by the echo sounder , amended. Studies in 1995 showed that it is about 10,920 m, and studies in 2009 - that 10,971 m. The latest study in 2011 gives a value of 10,994 m with an accuracy of ± 40 m. ”(Eng. Challenger Deep) is further from sea level than Mount Chomolungma is above it.

With its eastern edge, the ocean washes the western coasts of North and South America, with its western edge it washes the eastern coasts of Australia and Eurasia, and from the south it washes Antarctica. The border with the Arctic Ocean is the line in the Bering Strait from Cape Dezhnev to Cape Prince of Wales. The border with the Atlantic Ocean is drawn from Cape Horn along the meridian 68 ° 04 'W. or the shortest distance from South America to the Antarctic Peninsula through the Drake Passage, from Ost Island to Cape Sternek. The border with the Indian Ocean passes: south of Australia - along the eastern border of the Bass Strait to the island of Tasmania, then along the meridian 146 ° 55 'E. to Antarctica; north of Australia - between the Andaman Sea and the Strait of Malacca, further along the southwestern coast of Sumatra, the Sunda Strait, the southern coast of Java, the southern borders of the Bali and Savu seas, the northern border of the Arafura Sea, the southwestern coast of New Guinea and the western border of the Torres Strait . Sometimes the southern part of the ocean, with a northern boundary of 35 ° S. sh. (on the basis of the circulation of water and the atmosphere) up to 60 ° S. sh. (according to the nature of the bottom topography), they are attributed to the Southern Ocean, which is not officially distinguished.

Seas

The area of ​​the seas, bays and straits of the Pacific Ocean is 31.64 million km² (18% of the total ocean area), the volume is 73.15 million km³ (10%). Most of the seas are located in the western part of the ocean along Eurasia: Bering, Okhotsk, Japanese, Inner Japanese, Yellow, East China, Philippine; seas between the islands of Southeast Asia: South China, Javanese, Sulu, Sulawesi, Bali, Flores, Savu, Banda, Seram, Halmahera, Moluccas; along the coast of Australia: New Guinea, Solomonovo, Coral, Fiji, Tasmanovo; Antarctica has seas (sometimes referred to as the Southern Ocean): D'Urville, Somov, Ross, Amundsen, Bellingshausen. There are no seas along North and South America, but there are large bays: Alaska, California, Panama.

Islands

Several thousand islands scattered across the Pacific Ocean were formed by volcanic eruptions. Some of these islands were overgrown with corals, and eventually the islands again sank into the sea, leaving behind coral rings - atolls.

By the number (about 10 thousand) and the total area of ​​the islands, the Pacific Ocean occupies the first place among the oceans. In the ocean are the second and third largest islands of the Earth: New Guinea (829.3 thousand km²) and Kalimantan (735.7 thousand km²); the largest group of islands: the Greater Sunda Islands (1485 thousand km², including the largest islands: Kalimantan, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java, Banka). Other largest islands and archipelagos: New Guinea (New Guinea, Kolepom), Japanese Islands (Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku), Philippine Islands (Luzon, Mindanao, Samar, Negros, Palawan, Panay, Mindoro), New Zealand (South and North Islands), Lesser Sunda Islands (Timor, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba), Sakhalin, Moluccas (Seram, Halmahera), Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, New Ireland), Solomon Islands (Bougainville), Aleutian Islands, Taiwan, Hainan , Vancouver, Fiji Islands (Viti Levu), Hawaiian Islands (Hawaii), New Caledonia, Kodiak Archipelago, Kuril Islands, New Hebrides, Queen Charlotte Islands, Galapagos Islands, Wellington, St. Lawrence, Ryukyu Islands, Riesko, Nunivak, Santa -Ines, D'Antrecasto Islands, Samoa Islands, Revilla Gigedo, Palmer Archipelago, Shantar Islands, Magdalena, Louisiade Archipelago, Linga Archipelago, Loyalty Islands, Karaginsky, Clarence, Nelson, Princess Royal, Hanover, Commander Islands.

History of ocean formation

During the disintegration of the Pangea procontinent in the Mesozoic era into Gondwana and Laurasia, the Panthalassa ocean surrounding it began to decrease in area. By the end of the Mesozoic, Gondwana and Laurasia separated, and as their parts diverge, the modern Pacific Ocean began to form. Within the Pacific Trench, four fully oceanic tectonic plates developed during the Jurassic: the Pacific, Kula, Farallon, and Phoenix. The northwestern Kula plate was moving under the eastern and southeastern margins of the Asian continent. The northeastern Farallon oceanic plate was moving under Alaska, Chukotka and under the western margin of North America. The southeastern Phoenix oceanic plate was subducting under the western margin of South America. In the Cretaceous, the southeastern Pacific oceanic plate moved under the eastern margin of the then united Australo-Antarctic continent, as a result of which the blocks that now form the New Zealand Plateau and the underwater heights of Lord Howe and Norfolk broke away from the mainland. In the Late Cretaceous, the split of the Australo-Antarctic continent began. The Australian plate separated and began to move towards the equator. At the same time, in the Oligocene, the Pacific Plate changed its direction to the northwest. In the Late Miocene, the Farallon Plate split into two: Cocos and Nazca. The Kula plate, moving to the northwest, completely submerged (together with the northern margin of the Pacific plate) under Eurasia and under the proto-Aleutian Trench.

Today, the movement of tectonic plates continues. The axis of this movement is the mid-ocean rift zones in the South Pacific and East Pacific uplifts. To the west of this zone is the Pacific ocean's largest plate, which continues to move northwest at a speed of 6-10 cm per year, crawling under the Eurasian and Australian plates. To the west, the Pacific Plate is pushing the Philippine Plate northwest under the Eurasian Plate at a rate of 6-8 cm per year. To the east of the mid-ocean rift zone are located: in the northeast, the Juan de Fuca plate, crawling at a rate of 2-3 cm per year under the North American plate; in the central part, the Cocos plate is moving northeast under the Caribbean lithospheric plate at a rate of 6-7 cm per year; to the south is the Nazca plate, moving east, sinking under the South American plate at a rate of 4-6 cm per year.

Geological structure and bottom topography

Underwater margins of the continents

The underwater margins of the continents occupy 10% of the Pacific Ocean. The relief of the shelf shows features of transgressive plains with subaerial relict relief. Such forms are typical for underwater river valleys on the Yavan shelf and for the shelf of the Bering Sea. Ridge landforms formed by tidal currents are widespread on the Korean shelf and the shelf of the East China Sea. Various coral structures are common on the shelf of equatorial-tropical waters. Most of the Antarctic shelf lies at depths of more than 200 m, the surface is very dissected, underwater elevations of a tectonic nature alternate with deep depressions - grabens. The continental slope of North America is heavily dissected by submarine canyons. Large submarine canyons are known on the continental slope of the Bering Sea. The continental slope of Antarctica is distinguished by a large width, diversity and dissection of the relief. Along North America, the continental foot is distinguished by very large fans of turbidity flows, merging into a single sloping plain, bordering the continental slope with a wide strip.

The underwater margin of New Zealand has a peculiar continental structure. Its area is 10 times the area of ​​the islands themselves. This underwater New Zealand plateau consists of the flat-topped Campbell and Chatham uplifts and the Baunkee depression between them. On all sides it is bounded by the continental slope, bordered by the continental foot. This includes the Late Mesozoic submarine Lord Howe ridge.

transition zone

On the western margin of the Pacific Ocean there are transitional areas from the margins of the continents to the ocean floor: Aleutian, Kuril-Kamchatka, Japanese, East China, Indonesian-Philippines, Bonin-Marianskaya (with the deepest point of the ocean - the Mariana Trench, depth 11,022 m), Melanesian, Vityazevskaya, Tonga-Kermadekskaya, Macquarie. These transitional areas include deep sea trenches, marginal seas, bounded by island arcs. On the eastern outskirts there are transitional regions: Central American and Peru-Chile. They are expressed only by deep-sea trenches, and instead of island arcs, young rocky years of Central and South America stretch along the trenches.

All transitional areas are characterized by volcanism and high seismicity; they form the marginal Pacific belt of earthquakes and modern volcanism. Transitional areas on the western margin of the Pacific Ocean are located in the form of two echelons, the youngest areas in terms of the stage of development are located on the border with the ocean floor, and the more mature ones are separated from the ocean floor by island arcs and island land masses with the continental crust.

Mid-ocean ridges and ocean floor

11% of the area of ​​the Pacific Ocean floor is occupied by mid-ocean ridges, represented by the South Pacific and East Pacific Rise. They are wide, slightly dissected hills. Lateral branches depart from the main system in the form of the Chilean uplift and the Galapagos rift zone. The system of mid-ocean ridges of the Pacific Ocean also includes the Gorda, Juan de Fuca and Explorer ridges in the northeast of the ocean. The mid-ocean ridges of the ocean are seismic belts with frequent surface earthquakes and active volcanic activity. Fresh lavas, metal-bearing sediments, usually associated with hydrotherms, have been found in the rift zone.

The Pacific Rise system divides the bed of the Pacific Ocean into two unequal parts. The eastern part is less complex and shallower. Here, the Chilean uplift (rift zone) and the Nazca, Sala y Gomez, Carnegie and Coconut ridges are distinguished. These ranges divide the eastern part of the bed into the Guatemalan, Panama, Peruvian and Chilean basins. All of them are characterized by a complexly dissected hilly and mountainous bottom topography. In the area of ​​the Galapagos Islands, a rift zone is distinguished.

The other part of the bed, which lies to the west of the Pacific Rise, occupies approximately 3/4 of the entire bed of the Pacific Ocean and has a very complex relief structure. Dozens of hills and underwater ridges divide the ocean floor into a large number of basins. The most significant ranges form a system of uplifts, arched in plan, starting in the west and ending in the southeast. The Hawaiian Ridge forms the first such arc, parallel to it, the Cartographers Mountains, Markus Necker, the underwater ridge of the Line Islands form the next arc, the arc ends with the underwater base of the Tuamotu Islands. The next arc consists of the submerged bases of the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, and Samoa. The fourth arc includes the Caroline Islands and the underwater height of Kapingamarangi. The fifth arc consists of the southern group of the Caroline Islands and the Eauripik shaft. Some ridges and uplands differ in their strike from those listed above, these are the Imperial (North-Western) ridge, the uplands of Shatsky, Magellan, Hess, Manihiki. These uplands are distinguished by leveled summit surfaces and are covered with carbonate deposits of increased thickness from above.

There are active volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands and the Samoa archipelago. Around 10,000 separate seamounts, mostly of volcanic origin, are scattered along the bed of the Pacific Ocean. Many of them are guyots. The tops of some guyots are at a depth of 2-2.5 thousand m, the average depth above them is about 1.3 thousand m. The vast majority of islands in the central and western parts of the Pacific Ocean are of coral origin. Almost all volcanic islands are fringed with coral structures.

The bed and mid-ocean ridges of the Pacific Ocean are characterized by fault zones, usually expressed in the relief as complexes of linearly oriented grabens and horsts. All fault zones have their own names: Surveyor, Mendocino, Murray, Clarion, Clipperton and others. The basins and uplifts of the Pacific Ocean floor are characterized by an oceanic-type crust with a sedimentary layer thickness of 1 km in the northeast to 3 km on the Shatsky Rise and with a basalt layer thickness of 5 km to 13 km. Mid-ocean ridges have a rift-type crust characterized by increased density. Ultramafic rocks are found here, and schists have been uplifted in the Eltanin fault zone. Subcontinental (Kuril Islands) and continental crust (Japanese Islands) were found under the island arcs.

Bottom sediments

The major rivers of Asia, such as the Amur, the Yellow River, the Yangtze, the Mekong and others, carry more than 1,767 million tons of sediment per year into the Pacific Ocean. This alluvium almost completely remains in the waters of the marginal seas and bays. The largest rivers in America - the Yukon, Colorado, Columbia, Fraser, Guayas and others - provide about 380 million tons of sediment per year, and 70-80% of the suspended material is carried out into the open ocean, which is facilitated by the insignificant width of the shelf.

Red clays are widespread in the Pacific Ocean, especially in the northern hemisphere. This is due to the great depth of the ocean basins. In the Pacific Ocean, there are two belts (southern and northern) of siliceous diatom oozes, as well as a distinct equatorial belt of siliceous radiolarian deposits. Vast areas of the bottom of the southwestern ocean are occupied by coral-algal biogenic deposits. To the south of the equator, foraminiferal oozes are widespread. There are several fields of pteropod deposits in the Coral Sea. In the northern deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, as well as in the Southern and Peruvian basins, extensive fields of ferromanganese nodules are observed.

Climate

The climate of the Pacific Ocean is formed due to the zonal distribution of solar radiation and atmospheric circulation, as well as the powerful seasonal influence of the Asian continent. Almost all climatic zones can be distinguished in the ocean. In the northern temperate zone in winter, the baric center is the Aleutian minimum of pressure, which is weakly expressed in summer. To the south is the North Pacific High. Along the equator, the Equatorial depression (an area of ​​low pressure) is noted, which is replaced to the south by the South Pacific anticyclone. Further south, the pressure decreases again and then again gives way to a high pressure area over Antarctica. The direction of the wind is formed in accordance with the location of baric centers. In the temperate latitudes of the northern hemisphere, strong westerly winds prevail in winter, and weak southerly winds in summer. In the northwest of the ocean, north and northeast monsoon winds are established in winter, which are replaced by south monsoons in summer. Cyclones that occur on the polar fronts determine the high frequency of storm winds in the temperate and circumpolar zones (especially in the southern hemisphere). In the subtropics and tropics of the northern hemisphere, the northeast trade winds dominate. In the equatorial zone, mostly calm weather is observed all year round. In the tropical and subtropical zones of the southern hemisphere, a steady southeast trade wind dominates, strong in winter and weak in summer. Violent tropical hurricanes, here called typhoons, are born in the tropics (mainly in summer). They usually arise east of the Philippines, from where they move northwest and north through Taiwan, Japan and fade on the approaches to the Bering Sea. Another area where typhoons originate is the coastal regions of the Pacific Ocean adjacent to Central America. In the fortieth latitudes of the southern hemisphere, strong and constant westerly winds are observed. In the high latitudes of the southern hemisphere, the winds are subject to the general cyclonic circulation characteristic of the sub-Antarctic region of low pressure.

The distribution of air temperature over the ocean is subordinated to the general latitudinal zonality, but the western part has a warmer climate than the eastern part. In the tropical and equatorial zones, average air temperatures from 27.5 °C to 25.5 °C prevail. During the summer, the 25°C isotherm widens northward in the western part of the ocean and only slightly in the eastern, and strongly shifts northward in the southern hemisphere. Passing over the vast expanses of the ocean, the air masses are intensely saturated with moisture. On both sides of the equator in the near-equatorial zone, two narrow bands of maximum precipitation are noted, outlined by an isohyet of 2000 mm, and a relatively arid zone is expressed along the equator. In the Pacific Ocean, there is no zone of convergence of the northern trade winds with the southern ones. There are two independent zones with excessive moisture and a relatively dry zone separating them. To the east, in the equatorial and tropical zones, the amount of precipitation decreases. The most arid regions in the northern hemisphere are adjacent to California, in the southern - to the Peruvian and Chilean basins (coastal regions receive less than 50 mm of precipitation per year).

Hydrological regime

Surface water circulation

The general scheme of the currents of the Pacific Ocean is determined by the laws of the general circulation of the atmosphere. The northeast trade wind of the northern hemisphere contributes to the emergence of the Northeast Trade Wind, which crosses the ocean from the Central American coast to the Philippine Islands. Further, the current is divided into two branches: one deviates to the south and partly feeds the Equatorial countercurrent, and partly spreads over the basins of the Indonesian seas. The northern branch follows the East China Sea and, leaving it south of the island of Kyushu, gives rise to the powerful warm Kuroshio Current. This current follows north to the coast of Japan, having a noticeable effect on the climate of the Japanese coast. At 40° N. sh. The Kuroshio flows into the North Pacific Current, following east to the Oregon coast. Colliding with North America, it is divided into the northern branch of the warm Alaska Current (passing along the mainland to the Alaska Peninsula) and the southern branch of the cold California Current (along the California Peninsula, flowing into the Northeast Current, closing the circle). In the southern hemisphere, the Southeast Trade Wind forms the South Trade Wind Current, which crosses the Pacific Ocean from the coast of Colombia to the Moluccas. Between the Line and Tuamotu Islands, it forms a branch that follows the Coral Sea and further south along the coast of Australia, forming the East Australian Current. The main masses of the South Equatorial Current east of the Moluccas merge with the southern branch of the North Equatorial Current and together form the Equatorial Countercurrent. The East Australian Current flows south of New Zealand into the powerful Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which flows from the Indian Ocean and crosses the Pacific Ocean from west to east. At the southern end of South America, this current branches off to the north in the form of the Peruvian Current, which in the tropics joins the South Equatorial Current, completing the southern circle of currents. Another branch of the current of the West winds goes around South America under the name of the current of Cape Horn and goes into the Atlantic Ocean. An important role in the circulation of the waters of the Pacific Ocean belongs to the cold subsurface Cromwell Current, which flows under the South Trade Wind Current from 154° W. to the area of ​​the Galapagos Islands. In summer, El Niño is observed in the eastern equatorial part of the ocean, when a warm, slightly saline current pushes the cold Peruvian current away from the coast of South America. This stops the supply of oxygen to the subsurface layers, which leads to the death of plankton, fish and birds that feed on them, and heavy rains fall on the usually dry coast, causing catastrophic floods.

Salinity, ice formation

Tropical zones have the maximum salinity (up to a maximum of 35.5-35.6 ‰), where the intensity of evaporation is combined with a relatively small amount of precipitation. To the east, under the influence of cold currents, salinity decreases. A large amount of precipitation also lowers salinity, especially at the equator and in the western circulation zones of temperate and subpolar latitudes.

Ice in the south of the Pacific Ocean is formed in the Antarctic regions, and in the north - only in the Bering, Okhotsk and partially in the Sea of ​​Japan. From the shores of southern Alaska, a certain amount of ice is dumped in the form of icebergs, which in March - April reach 48-42 ° N. sh. The northern seas, especially the Bering Sea, supply almost the entire mass of floating ice in the northern regions of the ocean. In Antarctic waters, the limit of pack ice reaches 60-63°S. latitude, icebergs spread far to the north, up to 45 ° N. sh.

water masses

In the Pacific Ocean, surface, subsurface, intermediate, deep and bottom water masses are distinguished. The surface water mass has a thickness of 35-100 m and is distinguished by the relative uniformity of temperatures, salinity and density, which is especially characteristic of tropical waters, and the variability of characteristics due to the seasonality of climatic phenomena. This water mass is determined by heat transfer at the ocean surface, the ratio of precipitation and evaporation, and intense mixing. The same, but to a lesser extent, applies to subsurface water masses. In the subtropics and cold latitudes, these water masses are surface for half a year, and subsurface for half a year. In different climatic zones, their boundary with intermediate waters varies between 220 and 600 m. Subsurface waters are characterized by increased salinity and density, at temperatures from 13-18 ° C (in the tropics and subtropics) to 6-13 ° C (in the temperate zone). Subsurface water in warm climates is formed by sinking more saline surface water.

Intermediate water masses of temperate and high latitudes have a temperature of 3-5 ° C and a salinity of 33.8-34.7 ‰. The lower boundary of the intermediate masses is at a depth of 900 to 1700 m. Deep water masses are formed as a result of the submergence of cooled waters in the Antarctic waters and the waters of the Bering Sea and their subsequent spreading over the basins. Bottom masses of water are located at depths of more than 2500-3000 m. They are characterized by low temperature (1-2 ° C) and salinity uniformity (34.6-34.7 ‰). These waters are formed on the Antarctic shelf under conditions of strong cooling. Gradually, they spread along the bottom, fill all the depressions and penetrate through the transverse passages in the mid-ocean ridges into the Southern and Peruvian, and then into the northern basins. Compared to the bottom waters of other oceans and the South Pacific, the bottom water masses of the northern basins of the Pacific Ocean are characterized by a reduced content of dissolved oxygen. Bottom waters, together with deep waters, make up 75% of the total volume of Pacific Ocean waters.

Flora and fauna

The Pacific Ocean accounts for more than 50% of the total biomass of the World Ocean. Life in the ocean is abundant and varied, especially in the tropical and subtropical zones between the coasts of Asia and Australia, where vast areas are occupied by coral reefs and mangroves. The phytoplankton of the Pacific Ocean mainly consists of microscopic unicellular algae, numbering about 1300 species. About half of the species belong to the peridineans and somewhat less to the diatoms. In shallow water areas and in upwelling zones, most of the vegetation is concentrated. The bottom vegetation of the Pacific Ocean has about 4 thousand species of algae and up to 29 species of flowering plants. In the temperate and cold regions of the Pacific Ocean, brown algae are massively distributed, especially from the kelp group, and in the southern hemisphere there are giants from this family up to 200 m long. Fucus, large green and well-known red algae, which, along with coral polyps, are especially common reef-building organisms.

The fauna of the Pacific Ocean is 3-4 times richer in species composition than in other oceans, especially in tropical waters. In the Indonesian seas, more than 2 thousand species of fish are known, in the northern seas there are only about 300 of them. In the tropical zone of the ocean there are more than 6 thousand species of mollusks, and in the Bering Sea there are about 200 of them. For the fauna of the Pacific Ocean, the antiquity of many systematic groups and endemism. A large number of ancient species of sea urchins live here, primitive genera of horseshoe crabs, some very ancient fish that have not been preserved in other oceans (for example, Jordan, Gilbertidia); 95% of all salmon species live in the Pacific Ocean. Endemic species of mammals: dugong, fur seal, sea lion, sea otter. Gigantism is characteristic of many species of the fauna of the Pacific Ocean. In the northern part of the ocean, giant mussels and oysters are known; in the equatorial zone, the largest bivalve mollusk, the tridacna, lives, weighing up to 300 kg. In the Pacific Ocean, the ultra-abyssal fauna is most clearly represented. Under conditions of enormous pressure, low water temperature at a depth of more than 8.5 km, about 45 species live, of which more than 70% are endemic. Holothurians predominate among these species, leading a very sedentary lifestyle and capable of passing through the gastrointestinal tract a huge amount of soil, the only source of food at these depths.

Ecological problems

Human economic activity in the Pacific Ocean has led to the pollution of its waters, to the depletion of biological wealth. So, by the end of the 18th century, sea cows in the Bering Sea were completely exterminated. At the beginning of the 20th century, northern fur seals and some species of whales were on the verge of extinction, now their fishing is limited. A great danger in the ocean is the pollution of waters with oil and oil products (the main pollutants), some heavy metals, and waste from the nuclear industry. Harmful substances are carried by currents throughout the ocean. Even off the coast of Antarctica, these substances have been found in the composition of marine organisms. Ten US states are constantly dumping their waste into the sea. In 1980, more than 160,000 tons of waste were destroyed in this way, since then this figure has decreased.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch of plastic and other waste has formed in the North Pacific Ocean, formed by ocean currents, gradually concentrating garbage thrown into the ocean in one area thanks to the North Pacific Current System. This slick stretches across the North Pacific Ocean from a point about 500 nautical miles off the coast of California, past Hawaii, and narrowly misses Japan. In 2001, the mass of the garbage island was more than 3.5 million tons, and the area was more than 1 million km², which was six times the mass of zooplankton. Every 10 years, the landfill area increases by an order of magnitude.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the US military carried out atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - the only two examples of the combat use of nuclear weapons in the history of mankind. The total death toll ranged from 90 to 166 thousand people in Hiroshima and from 60 to 80 thousand people in Nagasaki. From 1946 to 1958, the United States of America carried out nuclear tests on the Bikini and Eniwetok atolls (Marshall Islands). A total of 67 explosions of atomic and hydrogen bombs were carried out. On March 1, 1954, during a surface test of a 15 megaton hydrogen bomb, the explosion produced a crater 2 km in diameter and 75 m deep, a mushroom cloud 15 km high and 20 km in diameter. As a result, Bikini Atoll was destroyed, and the territory was subjected to the largest radioactive contamination in US history and exposure of local residents. In 1957-1958, the UK carried out 9 atmospheric nuclear tests at the Christmas and Malden atolls (Line Islands) in Polynesia. In 1966-1996, France carried out 193 nuclear tests (including 46 in the atmosphere, 147 underground) on the atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa (Tuamotu Archipelago) in French Polynesia.

On March 23, 1989, the Exxon Valdez tanker, owned by ExxonMobil (USA), crashed off the coast of Alaska. As a result of the disaster, about 260,000 barrels of oil spilled into the sea, forming a slick of 28,000 km². About 2,000 kilometers of coastline were polluted with oil. This accident was considered the largest environmental disaster that has ever occurred at sea (up to the accident of the DH drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010).

Pacific coast states

States along the borders of the Pacific Ocean (clockwise):

• USA,
• Canada,
• United Mexican States,
• Guatemala,
• El Salvador,
• Honduras,
• Nicaragua,
• Costa Rica,
• Panama,
• Colombia,
• Ecuador,
• Peru,
• Chile,
• Australian Union,
• Indonesia,
• Malaysia,
• Singapore,
• Brunei Darussalam,
• Philippines,
• Thailand,
• Cambodia,
• Socialist Republic of Vietnam,
• People's Republic Of China,
• The Republic of Korea,
• Democratic People's Republic of Korea,
• Japan,
• Russian Federation.

Directly on the oceanic expanses are island states and possessions of states that are not part of the region, forming Oceania:

Melanesia:

• Vanuatu,
• New Caledonia (France),
• Papua New Guinea,
• Solomon islands,
• Fiji;

micronesia:

• Guam (USA),
• Kiribati,
• Marshall Islands,
• Nauru,
• Palau,
• Northern Mariana Islands (USA),
• Wake Atoll (USA)
• Federated States of Micronesia;

Polynesia:

• Eastern Samoa (USA),
• New Zealand,
• Samoa,
• Tonga,
• Tuvalu,
• Pitcairn (UK)
• Wallis and Futuna (France)
• French Polynesia (France).

History of Pacific exploration

The study and development of the Pacific Ocean began long before the appearance of a written history of mankind. Junks, catamarans and simple rafts were used to navigate the ocean. The expedition of 1947 on a raft of balsa logs "Kon-Tiki" under the leadership of the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl proved the possibility of crossing the Pacific Ocean in a westerly direction from central South America to the islands of Polynesia. Chinese junks made trips along the ocean coast to the Indian Ocean (for example, Zheng He's seven voyages in 1405-1433).

The first European to see the Pacific Ocean was the Spanish conquistador Vasco Nunez de Balboa, who in 1513, from one of the peaks of the mountain range on the Isthmus of Panama, “in silence” saw the boundless water surface of the Pacific Ocean stretching to the south and dubbed it the South Sea. In the autumn of 1520, the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan circled South America, breaking the strait, after which he saw new expanses of water. During the further transition from Tierra del Fuego to the Philippine Islands, which took more than three months, the expedition did not encounter a single storm, which is obviously why Magellan called the Pacific Ocean. The first detailed map of the Pacific Ocean was published by Ortelius in 1589. As a result of the expedition of 1642-1644 under the command of Tasman, it was proved that Australia is a separate mainland.

Active exploration of the ocean began in the 18th century. The leading states of Europe began to send research expeditions to the Pacific Ocean, led by navigators: the Englishman James Cook (exploration of Australia and New Zealand, the discovery of many islands, including Hawaii), the French Louis Antoine Bougainville (exploration of the islands of Oceania) and Jean-Francois La Perouse , Italian Alessandro Malaspina (mapped the entire western coast of South and North America from Cape Horn to the Gulf of Alaska). The northern part of the ocean was explored by Russian explorers S. I. Dezhnev (discovery of the strait between Eurasia and North America), V. Bering (exploration of the northern shores of the ocean) and A. I. Chirikov (exploration of the northwestern coast of North America, the northern part of the Pacific Ocean and northeast coast of Asia). During the period from 1803 to 1864, Russian sailors made 45 round-the-world and semi-circumnavigations, as a result of which the Russian military and commercial fleet mastered the sea route from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean and discovered several islands in the ocean along the way. During the round-the-world expedition of 1819-1821, under the leadership of F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev, Antarctica was discovered along with 29 islands of the Southern Ocean.

From 1872 to 1876, the first scientific ocean expedition took place on the English sailing-steam corvette Challenger, new data were obtained on the composition of the ocean waters, on the flora and fauna, on the bottom topography and soils, the first map of the depths of the ocean was compiled and the first collection was collected. deep sea animals. A round-the-world expedition on the Russian propeller-sailing corvette "Vityaz" of 1886-1889, led by oceanographer S. O. Makarov, explored the northern part of the Pacific Ocean in detail. The results of this expedition and all previous Russian and foreign expeditions, many round-the-world trips Makarov carefully studied and for the first time made a conclusion about the circular rotation and counterclockwise direction of surface currents in the Pacific Ocean. The result of the American expedition of 1883-1905 on the ship "Albatross" was the discovery of new types of living organisms and the laws of their development. A great contribution to the study of the Pacific Ocean was made by the German expedition on the ship Planet (1906-1907) and the American oceanographic expedition on the non-magnetic schooner Carnegie (1928-1929) led by the Norwegian X. W. Sverdrup. In 1949, a new Soviet research vessel "Vityaz" was launched under the flag of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Until 1979, the ship made 65 scientific voyages, as a result of which many "white spots" were closed on the maps of the underwater relief of the Pacific Ocean (in particular, the maximum depth in the Mariana Trench was measured). At the same time, research was carried out by expeditions of Great Britain - the Challenger II (1950-1952), Sweden - the Albatross III (1947-1948), Denmark - the Galatea (1950-1952) and many others, which brought a lot of new information about topography of the ocean floor, bottom sediments, life in the ocean, the physical characteristics of its waters. Within the framework of the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958), international forces (especially the USA and the USSR) carried out research, as a result of which new bathymetric and marine navigation charts of the Pacific Ocean were compiled. Since 1968, regular deep-water drilling, work on the movement of water masses at great depths, and biological research have been carried out on the American ship Glomar Challenger. On January 23, 1960, the first human dive was made to the bottom of the deepest trench in the World Ocean - the Mariana Trench. On the Trieste research bathyscaphe, US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and explorer Jacques Picard descended there. On March 26, 2012, American director James Cameron on the Deepsea Challenger made the first solo and second-ever dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The device stayed at the bottom of the depression for about six hours, during which samples of underwater soil, plants and living organisms were collected. Cameron's footage will form the basis of a National Geographic Channel science documentary.

In 1966-1974, the monograph "Pacific Ocean" was published in 13 volumes, published by the Institute of Oceanography of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1973, the Pacific Oceanological Institute named after V.I. V. I. Ilyichev, who carried out extensive studies of the Far Eastern seas and the open space of the Pacific Ocean. In recent decades, numerous measurements of the ocean have been carried out from space satellites. The result was a bathymetric atlas of the oceans released in 1994 by the US National Geophysical Data Center with a map resolution of 3-4 km and a depth accuracy of ±100 m.

Economic importance

At present, the coast and islands of the Pacific Ocean are developed and populated extremely unevenly. The largest centers of industrial development are the US coast (from the Los Angeles area to the San Francisco area), the coast of Japan and South Korea. The role of the ocean in the economic life of Australia and New Zealand is significant. The South Pacific is a "graveyard" of spacecraft. Here, far from shipping routes, decommissioned space objects are flooded.

Fishing and marine industries

The temperate and tropical latitudes of the Pacific Ocean are of the greatest commercial importance. The Pacific Ocean accounts for about 60% of the world's fish catch. Among them are salmon (pink salmon, chum salmon, coho, sim), herring (anchovy, herring, sardine), cod (cod, pollock), perch (mackerel, tuna), flounder (flounder). Mammals are being hunted: sperm whale, minke whale, fur seal, sea otter, walrus, sea lion; invertebrates: crabs, shrimps, oysters, scallops, cephalopods. A number of plants are harvested (kelp (seaweed), ahnfeltia (agaronos), seagrass eelgrass and phyllospadix), processed in the food industry and for medicine. The most productive fishery is carried out in the West-Central and North-Western parts of the Pacific Ocean. The largest fishing powers of the Pacific Ocean: Japan (Tokyo, Nagasaki, Shimonoseki), China (Zhoushan archipelago, Yantai, Qingdao, Dalian), Russian Federation (Primorye, Sakhalin, Kamchatka), Peru, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Chile, Vietnam, South Korea, North Korea, Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand, USA.

Transport routes

Important sea and air communications between the countries of the Pacific basin and transit routes between the countries of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans run through the Pacific Ocean. The most important ocean routes lead from Canada and the United States to Taiwan, China and the Philippines. The main navigable straits of the Pacific Ocean: Bering, Tatar, La Perouse, Korean, Taiwan, Singapore, Malacca, Sangar, Bass, Torres, Cook, Magellan. The Pacific Ocean is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the artificial Panama Canal, dug between North and South America along the Isthmus of Panama. Major ports: Vladivostok (general cargo, oil products, fish and seafood, timber and lumber, scrap metal, ferrous and non-ferrous metals), Nakhodka (coal, oil products, containers, metal, scrap metal, refrigerated cargo), Vostochny, Vanino (coal, oil) ( Russia), Busan (Republic of Korea), Kobe-Osaka (oil and oil products, machinery and equipment, cars, metals and scrap metal), Tokyo-Yokohama (scrap metal, coal, cotton, grain, oil and oil products, rubber, chemicals, wool, machinery and equipment, textiles, automobiles, medicines), Nagoya (Japan), Tianjin, Qingdao, Ningbo, Shanghai (all types of dry, liquid and general cargo), Hong Kong (textiles, clothing, fiber, radio and electrical goods, plastic products, machinery, equipment), Kaohsiung, Shenzhen, Guangzhou (China), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Singapore (petroleum products, rubber, food, textiles, machinery and equipment) (Singapore), Klang (Malaysia), Jakarta (Indonesia), Manila (Philippines ), Sydney (general cargo, iron ore, coal, oil and oil products, grain), Newcastle, Melbourne (Australia), Auckland (New Zealand), Vancouver (timber cargo, coal, ores, oil and oil products, chemicals and general cargo) (Canada), San Francisco, Los Angeles (petroleum and oil products, copra, chemical cargoes, timber, grain, flour, canned meat and fish, citrus fruits, bananas, coffee, machinery and equipment, jute, cellulose), Auckland, Long Beach (USA), Colon (Panama), Huasco (ores, fish, fuel, food) (Chile). The Pacific Ocean has a significant number of relatively small multifunctional ports.

Air transportation across the Pacific Ocean plays an important role. The first regular flight across the ocean was made in 1936 on the route San Francisco (USA) - Honolulu (Hawaii) - Manila (Philippines). Now the main transoceanic routes are laid through the northern and central regions of the Pacific Ocean. Airways are of great importance in domestic transportation and between the islands. In 1902, Great Britain laid the first underwater telegraph cable (12.55 thousand km long) along the ocean floor, passing through the Fanning and Fiji Islands, linking Canada, New Zealand, and the Commonwealth of Australia. Radio communication has been widely used for a long time. Now artificial earth satellites are used for communication across the Pacific Ocean, which significantly expands the capacity of communication channels between countries.

Minerals

The bottom of the Pacific Ocean hides rich deposits of various minerals. Oil and gas are produced on the shelves of China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the United States of America (Alaska), Ecuador (Guayaquil Bay), Australia (Bass Strait), and New Zealand. According to existing estimates, the subsoil of the Pacific Ocean contains up to 30-40% of all potential oil and gas reserves of the World Ocean. The largest producer of tin concentrates in the world is Malaysia, and Australia is the largest producer of zircon, ilmenite and others. The ocean is rich in ferromanganese nodules, with total surface reserves of up to 7 1012 tons. The most extensive reserves are observed in the northern deepest part of the Pacific Ocean, as well as in the South and Peruvian basins. In terms of the main ore elements, the nodules of the ocean contain manganese 7.1 1010 tons, nickel 2.3 109 tons, copper 1.5 109 tons, cobalt 1 109 tons. the Kuril Ridge and the Sakhalin Shelf in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the Nankai Trench in the Sea of ​​Japan and around the coast of Japan, in the Peru Depression. In 2013, Japan intends to begin pilot drilling to extract natural gas from methane hydrate deposits on the Pacific Ocean floor northeast of Tokyo.

Recreational resources

The recreational resources of the Pacific Ocean are characterized by considerable diversity. According to the World Tourism Organization, at the end of the 20th century, East Asia and the Pacific accounted for 16% of international tourist visits (by 2020, the share is projected to increase to 25%). The main countries of formation of outbound tourism in this region are Japan, China, Australia, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Russia, USA and Canada. Main recreational areas: Hawaiian Islands, the islands of Polynesia and Micronesia, the east coast of Australia, the Bohai Bay and Hainan Island in China, the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan, areas of cities and urban agglomerations of the coast of North and South America.

Among the countries with the largest flow of tourists (according to 2010 data from the World Tourism Organization) in the Asia-Pacific region, China (55 million visits per year), Malaysia (24 million), Hong Kong (20 million), Thailand (16 million), Macau (12 million), Singapore (9 million), Republic of Korea (9 million), Japan (9 million), Indonesia (7 million), Australia (6 million), Taiwan (6 million), Vietnam (5 million), Philippines (4 million), New Zealand (3 million), Cambodia (2 million), Guam (1 million); coastal countries of the Americas: USA (60 million), Mexico (22 million), Canada (16 million), Chile (3 million), Colombia (2 million), Costa Rica (2 million), Peru (2 million ), Panama (1 million), Guatemala (1 million), El Salvador (1 million), Ecuador (1 million).

(Visited 369 times, 1 visits today)

summary of other presentations

"Map of rivers, lakes, seas of Russia" - Rivers of Russia. Conclusions. Many large industrial cities have been built on the Volga. Laptev sea. Yenisei. Bering Sea. Seas of Russia. Lena. Baltic Sea. Baikal. Caspian Sea. Seas of the Arctic Ocean. Ob. The banks of the Lena are very poorly populated. Seas, lakes and rivers of Russia. Large stretch of coastline. Japanese Sea. Ladoga lake. Fish - more than 100 species. Rivers. Lake. Kara Sea. White Sea. Sea of ​​Azov.

"Provision of water resources in Russia" - Regulation of flow. Water consumption and water use. Protection of water resources. Agriculture. Reservoirs and canals. What is Water Resources. Water resources. Stocks. Self-esteem. Full-flowing rivers. Water resources of Russia. Location of water resources.

"What seas wash Russia" - the Atlantic Ocean. Which ocean basin does it belong to? Sturgeon. Pink salmon. Plan for comparing the seas. Only the southernmost one, the Sea of ​​Japan, does not freeze. The Caspian Sea contains 80% of the world's sturgeon stocks. Richer in resources of the Pacific Ocean. Kislogubskaya tidal power plant (Barents Sea). biological resources. Mineral resources. Sochi. Arctic Ocean. Chukchi Sea.

"Reservoirs of Russia" - Watercourses. Pacific basin. Natural waters. Caspian Sea. Wetlands. Ground water. Origin of lakes. Reservoirs of Russia. Oceans. Classification of reservoirs. Seas. Firth lakes. Swamps of the forest zone. Rivers. Permafrost. River system. Sea of ​​Azov. Lakes. Black Sea.

"Internal waters and rivers of Russia" - River regime. Swamps. Lakes. Water resources. Types of rivers. Rivers belong to the basins of three oceans. Moraine lakes. Volcanic lakes. Internal waters of Russia. Glaciers. Slope and fall of the river. Permafrost. The structure of the river. Types of inland waters. Reservoirs. Human impact on water resources. Types of river feeding. Rivers. The groundwater. Glacial tectonic lake. Tectonic lake. Thermokarst lakes.

"The seas of the Atlantic Ocean washing Russia" - Properties of the waters of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. The organic world of the ocean. With numerous straits. Salinity. Seas of the Atlantic Ocean. Atlantic Ocean. Gulf of the Black Sea. Recreational resources. Black Sea. Coast. Geographical position. Economic activity of the seas. Russia. Properties of the waters of the Black Sea. Properties of the waters of the seas of the Atlantic Ocean. Seas. salinity change. The area of ​​the seas. Sea of ​​Azov.

From the northeast, the border of the Russian Federation is washed by the waters of its seas - and the Sea of ​​​​Japan. These three seas make up the Far Eastern Seas of Russia group. The Far Eastern seas are the deepest and largest seas of our country. The territory occupied by them is almost twice the area on which are located, and. The volume of waters of the Far Eastern seas exceeds seven times the volume of the above seas.

The seas of the Pacific Ocean stretch from northeast to southwest for 5000 km. Beringovo, Okhotsk and, on the one hand, are limited by the land of the largest mainland (). And on the other, eastern side, their borders run along the Aleutian, and located in the waters of the Pacific Ocean - the largest ocean on Earth.

The basins of the Far Eastern seas occupy the territory located between the underwater parts of the mainland and the island arcs that limit the eastern border of the seas. Thus, the basin is a continental slope with a steep side on the opposite side. The basins of these seas are characterized by enormous depths, the bottom surface is flat in some areas, wavy in others. At the bottom there are large uplifts, similar to mountain ranges and isolated hills. The Sea of ​​Japan and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk are characterized by a small development of the shelf. In these seas, vast expanses have significant depths.

Sea of ​​Okhotsk in winter

These seas are characterized by a monsoon climate, which is noticeable in the change depending on the season and affects the features. Due to the fact that the seas occupy vast territories located from north to south, the climate of individual sections of the seas also depends on. The monsoonal features are most clearly seen. In the north of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and in the south, these features are less noticeable. The climate of the northern part of the Bering Sea is close to, and the southern part of the Sea of ​​Japan tends to be maritime.

There are climatic differences between the eastern and western regions of the Far Eastern seas. The western part has a somewhat cold climate, due to the influence of the Pacific Ocean. The eastern regions are characterized by a relatively warm climate, which was influenced by the mainland.

In these seas there is little continental water. It has practically no effect, since the size of these seas is very large. Only in the coastal zone, where there are large mouths, fresh water is felt in the upper layer of the sea in spring and summer. For the Far Eastern seas, water exchange with the Pacific Ocean and neighboring basins is significant. Bering and are connected with the ocean by large straits (more than 1000 - 2000 m). The Sea of ​​Japan communicates with the Pacific Ocean only through several small straits (up to 150 m). Thus, the exchange of waters at the Bering and Okhotsk Seas occurs to great depths. And the waters of the Sea of ​​Japan exchange with the ocean only the upper layers of the waters. The nature of water exchange affects the appearance of the sea and the specifics of its waters.

In all three Far Eastern seas, periods are clearly observed, which are due to the influence of the tidal Pacific Ocean. The fluctuation of the water level during high tide is due to the characteristics of the coastline and coastal. In the Penzhinsky Bay of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk, the largest tides that occur in. The tide in the Sea of ​​Japan and the Bering Sea is less than in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

Japanese Sea

The waters of the Far Eastern seas are covered with ice every year. Features of the ice cover depend on latitude and various local factors. The western regions of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk have the strongest ice cover. Low in this area are due to the influence of the mainland. Even in the north of the Bering Sea, which is located at higher latitudes, the water temperature is not as low as in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. In all Far Eastern seas, ice is annual and of local origin (ice forms and melts in sea waters).

The waters of the Bering and Okhotsk Seas are perfectly connected with the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Thus, the chemical composition of sea waters is in many respects close to oceanic ones. This is most clearly manifested in the distribution of oxygen over the levels of the water column. The waters of the Sea of ​​Japan, which are very isolated from the ocean, have a water composition different from that of the ocean. At great depths of this sea, waters containing a large amount of oxygen are observed. A similar phenomenon is not observed in Pacific waters bordering on.

Human economic activity in the Far Eastern seas is determined by their geographical location and natural features. In the Far Eastern seas, the sea is well developed. A large number of fish (sardines, mackerel, saury and other species) and other marine products (mussels, scallops, squid and seaweed) are harvested in the waters. Also in these seas, the sea is widely used, which contributes to the improvement of trade relations.

The activities of enterprises and factories of the pulp and paper and electric power industries, the processes of extracting oil and gas, housing and communal services, the development of shipbuilding and ship repair work, the functioning of the merchant and navy have a negative impact on the ecological state of the Far Eastern Seas. Polluted sewage is discharged into the waters of the seas located near the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, Sakhalin, Magadan and regions. As a result, in the Far Eastern waters located near the coast, there is a high content of oil products, salts of heavy metals, as well as pesticides. In the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the most polluted area is the waters of the Gulf of Patience. In the most difficult ecological situation is observed in the waters along the coast and in the area of ​​the Golden Horn Bay.