The Oceans are incredibly important to the world. Here are some fun facts about our oceans.

• The oceans cover 71% of the Earth’s surface, about 140 million square miles (362 million sq km), and contain 97% of the Earth’s water. Less than 1% is fresh water, and 2-3% is contained in glaciers and ice caps.
• An estimated 80% of all life on earth is found under the ocean surface and the oceans contain 99% of the living space on the planet. Less than 10% of that space has been explored by humans. 85% of the area and 90% of the volume constitute the dark, cold environment we call the deep sea.
• The average depth of the ocean is 3,795 m (12,200 feet ). The average height of the land is 840 m (2755 feet). The deepest point: 36,198 feet (11,033 m) in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific.
• The average depth of the Atlantic Ocean, with its adjacent seas, is 3,332 m (10931 feet); without them it is 3,926 m (12880 feet). The greatest depth, 8,381 m (27496 feet), is in the Puerto Rico Trench.
• The Pacific Ocean, the world’s largest water body, occupies a third of the Earth’s surface. The Pacific contains about 25,000 islands (more than the total number in the rest of the world’s oceans combined), almost all of which are found south of the equator. The Pacific covers an area of 179.7 million sq km (69382 557 sq mi).
• The pressure at the deepest point in the ocean is more than 11,318 tons/sq m, or the equivalent of one person trying to support 50 jumbo jets.
• The record for the deepest free dive is held by Jacques Mayol. He dove to an astounding depth of 86 m (282 feet) without any breathing equipment.
• Antarctica has as much ice as the Atlantic Ocean has water.
• The Arctic produces 10,000-50,000 icebergs annually. The amount produced in the Antarctic regions is inestimable. Icebergs normally have a four-year life-span; they begin entering shipping lanes after about three years.
• The speed of sound in water is 1,435 m/sec - nearly five times faster than the speed of sound in air.
• The highest tides in the world are at the Bay of Fundy, which separates New Brunswick from Nova Scotia. At some times of the year the difference between high and low tide is 16.3 m (53 feet), taller than a three-story building.
• Earth’s longest mountain range is the Mid-Ocean Ridge more than 50,000 km (31 068 mi) in length, which winds around the globe from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic, skirting Africa, Asia and Australia, and crossing the Pacific to the west coast of North America. It is four times longer than the Andes, Rockies, and Himalayas combined.
• The Highest Mountain is Mauna Kea, Hawaii, rises 33,474 feet (10,203 m) from its base on the ocean floor; only 13,680 feet (4,170 m) are above sea level.
• The lowest known point on Earth, called the Challenger Deep, is11,034 m (36200 feet) deep, in the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific. To get an idea of how deep that is, if you could take Mt. Everest and place it at the bottom of the trench there would still be over a mile of ocean above it. The Dead Sea is the Earth’s lowest land point with an elevation of 396 m (1299 feet) below sea level.
• The Kuroshio Current, off the shores of Japan, is the largest current. It can travel between 40-121 km/day at 1.6-4.8 kph, and extends some 1,006 m deep. The Gulf Stream is close to this current’s speed. The Gulf Stream is a well known current of warm water in the Atlantic Ocean. At a speed of 97 km/day, the Gulf Stream moves a 100 times as much water as all the rivers on earth and flows at a rate 300 times faster than the Amazon, which is the world’s largest river.
• A given area in an ocean upwelling zone or deep estuary is as productive as the same area in rain forests, most crops and intensive agriculture. They all produce between 150-500 grams of Carbon per square meter per year.
• A swallow of seawater may contain millions of bacterial cells, hundreds of thousands of phytoplankton and tens of thousands of zooplankton
• The Great Barrier Reef, measuring 1,243 miles, is the largest living structure on Earth. It can be seen from the Moon.
• More oil reaches the oceans each year as a result of leaking automobiles and other non-point sources than was spilled in Prince William Sound by the Exxon Valdez.
• Canada has the longest coastline of any country, at 56,453 miles or around 15 percent of the world’s 372,384 miles of coastlines.
• The volume of the Earth’s moon is the same as the volume of the Pacific Ocean.

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