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[[Image:Pacific Ocean.gif|thumb|right|Pacific Ocean]]

[[Image:Pacific Ocean.gif|thumb|right|Pacific Ocean]]

The '''Pacific Ocean''' is the part of the [[ocean]] between the Americas to the east, and Asia, and Australia to the west. The first European to sight the Pacific was [[Vasco_Nunez_de_Balboa|Vasco Nuñez de Balboa]] in 1513.* [[John Keats]] wrongly recorded this event in his poem [[On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer]], claiming it [[Cortez]] who discovered the Ocean.

The '''Pacific Ocean''' is the part of the [[ocean]] between the Americas to the east, and Asia, and Australia to the west. The first European to sight the Pacific was [[Vasco_Nunez_de_Balboa|Vasco Nuñez de Balboa]] in 1513.* [[John Keats]] wrongly recorded this event in his poem [[On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer]], claiming it [[Cortez]] who discovered the Ocean.

The Pacific Ocean is the world's largest ocean, and one of the fabled "[[seven seas]]." [[Ferdinand Magellan]]'s fleet crossed it on its voyage around the world. [[Scientist]]s have calculated that it has the same volume as the [[moon]],{{fact}} and may be the [[crater]] left when the moon and Earth were separated{{fact}}.

The Pacific Ocean is the world's largest ocean, and one of the fabled "[[seven seas]]." [[Ferdinand Magellan]]'s fleet crossed it on its voyage around the world. [[Scientist]]s have calculated that it has the same volume as the [[moon]], and some speculate that it may be the [[crater]] left when the moon and Earth were separated. This is the so-called "fission" theory. <ref>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tothemoon/origins.html</ref>

==Pollution problems in the Pacific==

==Pollution problems in the Pacific==

As in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans the latitudes between about 35degrees north and south were known in the past as the Horse Latitudes. It is extremely calm there, and so named because sailing ships with diminishing provisions would jettison (or more likely slaughter and eat0 horses and other livestock. They are commonly known as the doldrums.

As in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans the latitudes between about 35degrees north and south were known in the past as the Horse Latitudes. It is extremely calm there, and so named because sailing ships with diminishing provisions would jettison (or more likely slaughter and eat horses and other livestock. They are commonly known as the doldrums.

Whatever is dumped into the Pacific ends up in the Horse Latitudes. Because of air heating and cooling at the equator and poles, the wind and currents spiral to the center of this area. The technical name for this atmospheric phenomenon is the subtropical high, and the ocean current it creates is called the north Pacific central or sub-tropical gyre. The result is an area, larger than the USA, full of humanity's rubbish.  

Whatever is dumped into the Pacific ends up in the Horse Latitudes. Because of air heating and cooling at the equator and poles, the wind and currents spiral to the center of this area. The technical name for this atmospheric phenomenon is the subtropical high, and the ocean current it creates is called the north Pacific central or sub-tropical gyre. The result is an area, larger than the USA, full of humanity's rubbish.  

==References==

==References==

<references/> *J. H. Parry: The Age of Reconnaissance.

<references/>  

*J. H. Parry: The Age of Reconnaissance.

[[Category:Oceans]]

[[Category:Oceans]]