Distribution and main characteristics of the four oceans

The ocean area on the earth's surface is 36 1 10,000 square kilometers, of which the Pacific Ocean accounts for 49.8%, the Atlantic Ocean for 26%, the Indian Ocean for 20% and the Arctic Ocean for 4.2%. The Pacific Ocean accounts for nearly half of the world's ocean area, and the other three oceans, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Arctic Ocean, each account for half.

Pacific Ocean179.68 million square kilometers, accounting for 35.2% of the earth's surface area, exceeding 1/3, with an average water depth of 4,028 meters and a seawater volume of 723.7 million cubic kilometers. The Pacific Ocean accounts for 49.8% of the world's ocean area, almost half. The widest from east to west 19900 km, and the widest from north to south 15900 km. Bering Strait is connected to the Arctic Ocean in the north, Panama Canal, strait of magellan and Drake Strait are connected to the Atlantic Ocean in the east, Malacca Strait, sunda strait Strait and Lombok Strait are connected to the Indian Ocean in the west, and Indian Ocean Dome, Torres Strait and Timor Sea are connected to the Indian Ocean in the southeast. There are more than 2,600 large islands in the Pacific Ocean, which can be simply summarized into three groups and one arc: One arc is an arc-shaped archipelago distributed on the overseas side of the northern, western and southwestern edges of the Pacific Ocean, including the Kuril Islands such as Aleutian Islands, Japanese Islands, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan Province Province, the Philippines and Indonesian Islands. These islands are close to the mainland, with large area, many harbors, strong supply capacity and great military use value. Three groups: three islands in the central Pacific: Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Melanesian islands include Solomon, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Micronesia is a tiny archipelago, including Caroline, Mariana and gilbert islands; Polynesian islands include Hawaii, midway and society islands. For example, Cologne Islands, Hawaii Islands, Guam, Midway Island and Ryukyu Islands in Panama Basin are facing Shanghai and Okinawa Islands, so we must pay attention to them. The geographical location of these islands is of great significance to China's global outlook.

The Atlantic Ocean covers an area of 93.37 million square kilometers, with a length of 15742 kilometers from north to south and a width of 6852 kilometers from east to west, accounting for 26% of the world's ocean area, with an average water depth of 3627 meters and a seawater volume of 33.77 million cubic kilometers. It is equivalent to the sum of the areas of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. There are many islands in the Atlantic Ocean, such as the large and small Antilles, Cape Verde Islands, Madeira Islands, Cuba, Haiti and so on in the Caribbean, so we must pay attention to them.

The Indian Ocean is 74.92 million square kilometers, accounting for about 20% of the world's ocean area, with an average water depth of 3,897 meters and a seawater volume of 2910.95 million cubic kilometers. Indian Ocean plays a very important role in the world's oceans. If you control the Indian Ocean, you have the key to the world economy. The Indian Ocean enters and exits the Pacific Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean is very convenient. It is the hub of the world's four oceans, and the Persian Gulf is the oil lifeline of the world economy. The geographical position of southeast African countries on the west coast of the Indian Ocean is also of great significance to us. In the Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia Naval Base in the United States is naturally the focus of our attention. Gan Island in Maldives is 2.7 square kilometers, which is where we may set up a military base in the Indian Ocean.

The Arctic Ocean has the smallest area of 1365438+ 10,000 square kilometers. Smaller than Antarctica140,000 square kilometers. The widest point of the Arctic Ocean is about 4233 kilometers, and the narrowest point is 1.900 kilometers. Although the Arctic Ocean is small, it is of great strategic significance. Because starting from the Arctic Ocean, the distance to the western developed countries is the shortest. The existence of national naval strategic submarines in the Arctic Ocean is not only easy to hide because of the existence of ice in the Arctic Ocean, but also easy to be attacked because it is closest to the developed countries in the world. The average water depth of the Arctic Ocean is1.296m, and the seawater volume is 1.698 billion cubic kilometers.

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I Pacific Ocean-"Sea of Peace"

15 13 On September 26th, Spanish explorer Basco balboa saw this ocean from the Panamanian coast and named it "South China Sea". 1520, Portuguese navigator Magellan was entrusted by the king of Spain to lead his fleet to find a route across the East. After more than four months of hard sailing, they crossed the stormy Atlantic Ocean, crossed the strait of magellan and entered a new ocean. At that time, the weather was clear and calm, which was completely different from the previous voyage. Therefore, Magellan renamed this ocean called the South China Sea as the Sea of Peace and translated it into the Pacific Ocean.

Second, the Atlantic Ocean-"the habitat of Hercules"

The Atlantic Ocean originated from the name of Atlas in ancient Greek mythology. Prometheus broke the dogma and stole skyfire from the world, which implicated his brother Atlas. Zeus, the king of gods, forced Atlas to support pillars to separate heaven and earth, so Atlas became a hero in people's minds. At first, the Greeks named the land in northwest Africa after Atlas. Later, it was said that Atlas lived in a distant place. People thought that the endless Atlantic Ocean was Atlas's residence, so it was called this.

Three. Indian Ocean-"Ocean of the East"

The name of the Indian Ocean was first seen on the map compiled by the Central European cartographer Schell in 15 15, and marked as "Indian Ocean in the East". In addition, the word "East" is relative to the Atlantic Ocean. In the world atlas compiled by Al Darius, it is officially called "Indian Ocean". Because the ancient west knew little about the East, it was only rumored that India was a rich country in the East, so going to the East meant going to India, and the route to the East was also a route to India. 1497, Portuguese navigator Da Gama China Eastern Airlines searched for India, and he collectively referred to the ocean passing along the way as the Indian Ocean.

Fourth, the Arctic Ocean-"Arctic Ocean"

The Arctic Ocean is roughly centered at the north pole, located between the northern shores of Asia, Europe and North America, with an area of 1.365438+ 10,000 square kilometers, making it the smallest and shallowest of the four oceans in the world. Because of the cold climate all the year round, most of them are covered with ice, so they were once called "Arctic Ocean" and "Northern Ice Sea", and now they are called "Arctic Ocean".