10 Amazing Ocean Facts

Fact 01. The longest mountain range in the world is under water, called the Mid-Oceanic Ridge. This mountain range runs more than 50,000 kilometers long through the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and into the Indian and Pacific oceans. It comprises 23 percent of the Earth’s total surface.

Fact 02. The largest ocean on Earth is the Pacific Ocean, it covers around 30% of the Earth’s surface. The name meaning of Pacific Ocean is ‘peaceful sea’.

Fact 03. The Gulf of Alaska has two oceans that meet but do not mix. Creating a line between the two oceans that shows both color. It is due to a ocean of melting glaciers being composed of fresh water and other ocean has higher percentage of salt causing two oceans to have different densities and therefore making them more difficult to mix and developing foam only at their junction.

Fact 04. The oceans cover 71% (and rising) of the Earth's surface and contain 97% of the Earth's water. Less than 1% is fresh water, and 2-3% is contained in glaciers and ice caps (and is decreasing). This water is enough to fill a cube with edges over 1000 kilometers (621 miles) in length.

Fact 05. 90% of all volcanic activity occurs in the oceans. Volcanoes located under water are also known as submarine volcanoes. There are at least 1,500 active volcanoes on the surface of the earth, but it is estimated that there may be more than 10,000 volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean alone.

Fact 06. 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.

Fact 07. The density of sea water becomes more dense as it becomes colder, right down to its freezing point of -1.9°C unlike fresh water which is most dense at 4°C, well above its freezing point of 0°C. The average temperature of all ocean water is about 3.5°C.

Fact 08. More than 90% of the trade between countries is carried by ships and about half the communications between nations use underwater cables.

Fact 09. Because the architecture and chemistry of coral is so similar to human bone, coral has been used to replace bone grafts in helping human bone to heal quickly and cleanly.

Fact 10. The speed of sound in water is 1,435 m/sec. Nearly five times faster than the speed of sound in air.