He called this body of water pacific, due to the calmness of the water at the time ('pacific' means peaceful). When Magellan and his crew entered the Pacific Ocean after their long journey, they thought that the Spice Islands were close at hand.
The name Pacific is a version of pacify or peaceful. It was named by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1520 as he sailed through a calm patch of water on the ocean. Despite its name, the Pacific is a vast body of water teeming with activity.
For most of Magellan's voyage from the Strait of Magellan to the Philippines, the explorer indeed found the ocean peaceful; however, the Pacific is not always peaceful. Many tropical storms batter the islands of the Pacific. The lands around the Pacific Rim are full of volcanoes and often affected by earthquakes.
The Pacific Ocean is the world's largest ocean. It is also called the “peaceful sea” or Tepre Pacificum in Latin.
Cook Strait, between North & South Islands of New Zealand
Cook Strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southwest. It is 22 kilometres wide at its narrowest point and is considered to be one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world.
The Southern Ocean is not only far-off, but also unambiguously the stormiest region of the planet. Of the sectors of the Southern Ocean, the South Pacific is the most remote — there aren't even islands. It is just this vast stretch of ocean, about 10,000 kilometers between Chile and Australia.
Ben Lecomte has swum over 1,753 miles through the Pacific Ocean since he set out from the Japanese coast at Choshi in June. Along the way, during a trip he hoped would be the first recorded trans-Pacific swimming passage, he's run into turtles, been stung on the nose by jellyfish, and encountered mako sharks.
People have been known to survive for months adrift at sea in a boat that's still sound. If it's cold, you have overhead cover that will help keep you dry and blankets to keep you warm at night. This means you should be able to stave off any cold weather illness, like heat stroke and sunburn.
The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam.
The Mediterranean Sea, for example, although its own body of water is part of the Atlantic, and it often ranks as one of the safest seas in the world.
Unlike a glass of water, the ocean isn't clear. It's teaming with life, both large and microscopic. It's full of suspended sediments that are churned up by the currents, wind, upwelling, wave action or river outlets. Sometimes it's a combination of these things.
José Salvador Alvarenga holds the record for the longest solo survival at sea. He was adrift for 438 days, and traveled over 6,700 miles. Alvarenga is a fisherman, and on November 17, 2012, he set sail from the fishing village of Costa Azul in Mexico.
These zones also occur naturally in the open ocean, with the largest found in the eastern Pacific Ocean. “It remains unclear how these dead zones will change as the planet warms. So, we studied the history of the eastern Pacific dead zone in order to better predict its future behavior,” Wang said.
A person can survive for around one hour in 5C water, two hours in 10C and six hours in 15C - but if the temperature is in the high 20s then it is possible to survive for around 25 hours, he says.
Trent Grimsey holds the record for the fastest swim across the channel, completing it in 6 hours and 55 minutes. The shortest distance from New Zealand territory to Australian territory outside Antarctic claims is from Auckland Island to Macquarie Island – a distance of approximately 617 kilometres (383 mi).
Only three people have ever done that, and one was a U.S. Navy submariner. In the Pacific Ocean, somewhere between Guam and the Philippines, lies the Marianas Trench, also known as the Mariana Trench. At 35,814 feet below sea level, its bottom is called the Challenger Deep — the deepest point known on Earth.
Vescovo's trip to the Challenger Deep, at the southern end of the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench, back in May, was said to be the deepest manned sea dive ever recorded, at 10,927 meters (35,853 feet).
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean is probably the most polluted ocean in the world. The United Nations Environment Programme has estimated that 650,000,000 tons of sewage, 129,000 tons of mineral oil, 60,000 tons of mercury, 3,800 tons of lead and 36,000 tons of phosphates are dumped into the Mediterranean each year.
As a result of the merging currents of the Pacific Ocean and the Southern Ocean, the Tasman Sea can be extremely rough. Sailing conditions vary according to the season with November to March regarded as the best time to cross the Tasman Sea in order to avoid the worst winter weather.
The Irminger Sea is situated south of the Denmark Strait which separates Iceland from the east coast of Greenland by 250 miles of rough water. It is thought to be the windiest stretch of salt water on the globe and one of the stormiest places in the world.
The Tasman Sea is one of the roughest waterbodies on Earth
Wind and wave conditions on the Tasman Sea are rough for most parts of the year. Regular atmospheric depressions pass over the Sea from West to East below the 40°S latitude.
If the sea is flat you will feel no movement at all. You can't get seasick on a river cruise. Cruise ships can easily handle waves that are over 12 feet high. However, with waves of this height, you may begin to feel the ship rock and if you're prone to seasickness you may start to look for relief.
Because the North Sea is shallow, with an average depth of less than 328 feet, its waters can get choppy -- a result of tidal patterns and storms. While all this churning brings up nutrients to the surface that help its marine life thrive, it's not ideal for cruising outside of the summer months.
In fact, it's thought the shipwrecks that have been documented only represent a small fraction of the total. According to an analysis by Unesco, there are over three million resting undiscovered in the world's oceans.