Oceans are body waters that all together cover 72% of the plan et. This is really exciting, and interesting. But how many things do we know about them?
Today we are about to find out some info about the Atlantic ocean.
- The Equator divides the Atlantic Ocean into the North Atlantic Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean.
- The Atlantic is located between Americas to the West of the Atlantic Ocean basin and the continents of Europe and Africa to the East.
- Some of the most famous islands of the world are located there. Some of them are The Bahamas, Canary Islands (Spain), Azores (Portugal), and Cap Verde Islands.
- Greenland is also located in the Atlantic ocean. Greenland is the largest island of the world.
- The Atlantic is the world’s second largest ocean.
- It covers 25% of the Earth’s surface, after the Pacific Ocean.
- In size the Atlantic Ocean is comparable with roughly 6.5 times the size of the USA.
- The greatest depth is the Milwaukee Deep in Puerto Rico.
- This depth reaches 8,605 metres/28,232 ft.
- The average depth is about 3,339 metres/10,955 ft. The Mid
- -Adtlantic Ridge is an underwater (also called submarine) mountain range which extends roughly from Iceland in the north to South Georgia and South Sandwich Island south of Argentina. The ridge divides the sea into two major basins, which are over 3,000 metres/9,843 ft. in depth.
- The temperatures of the Atlantic Ocean depend on the location and on the ocean’s currents.
- The nearer to the Equator the warm the water tends to be.
- The higher temperature of 28 degrees Celsius is reached in coastal regions near the equator
- The minimum temperatures is around -2 degrees Celsius is in the polar regions.
- The word ’Atlantic ’ originates from the Greek mythology meaning ‘Sea of Atlas’.
- Atlas was the titan who had to stand on the edge of the earth and carry the heavens (celestial spheres) on his shoulders as punishment from Zeus as Atlas had fought against the Olympian gods for the control of the heavens.
- The Straits of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco and the Bosporus in Turkey are two of the most well known waterways in the Atlantic Ocean.
- During the ancient times, people used to believe that Gibraltar was literally the place where the world was ending.
- Some of the most famous ports of the Atlantic are Rotterdam (Netherlands), the biggest container port in Europe.
- Also, some of the most are the famous are in Hamburg (Germany), New York (USA), Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- Also, one of them Colon (Panama), the largest port on the Atlantic Ocean in Latin America with over 3 million containers per year!
- Leif Erikson (970-1020) is remembered as the first ‘European’ to reach North America more than 500 years before Columbus!
- The Icelander is said to have been the first man from Europe to cross the Atlantic Ocean and step onto North American land.
- He named the eastern coast of Canada ‘Vinland’, which is believed to be what is now Newfoundland.
- Without Africa’s Sahara Desert, few hurricanes would strike the eastern coast of North America.
- That’s because a wind stream called the African Easterly Jet is formed from the difference in the Sahara’s dry, hot air and the humid cooler air to the west and south. The jet pushes westerly winds over Africa’s west coast, where they sometimes pick up ocean water and form thunderstorms.
- Hurricanes are fueled by warm waters, and warmer Sahara summer winds drive some of the biggest hurricanes seen in the U.S.
- Those that form off the coast of Africa must survive wind shear (horizontal winds) to hit the East Coast with full force.
- Instruments moored in the Caribbean have detected that the Atlantic’s massive ocean circulation system is slowing down.
- Some scientists are concerned that if cold Arctic waters become warmer, the temperature difference will not be enough to drive ocean circulation at the same rate it has been moving.
- A famous song with Atlantic Ocean Waterfall.
- The Sargasso Sea in the western North Atlantic can be defined as the area where two species of Sargassum float, an area 4,000 km (2,500 mi) wide and encircled by the Gulf Stream, North Atlantic Drift, and North Equatorial Current.
- This population of seaweed probably originated from Tertiary ancestors on the European shores of the former Tethys Ocean and has, if so, maintained itself by vegetative growth, floating in the ocean for millions of years.
- Icebergs are common from early February to the end of July across the shipping lanes near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
- The ice season is longer in the polar regions, but there is little shipping in those areas.
- Hurricanes are a hazard in the western parts of the North Atlantic during the summer and autumn.
- Due to a consistently strong wind shear and a weak Intertropical Convergence Zone, South Atlantic tropical cyclones are rare.
- The Titanic shinked in the Northern Atlantic Ocean in 15th of April in 1912.
- The Atlantic has contributed significantly to the development and economy of surrounding countries. Besides major transatlantic transportation and communication routes, the Atlantic offers abundant petroleum deposits in the sedimentary rocks of the continental shelves.
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