News tagged with pacific ocean

Voyage to the centre of the 'Plastic Vortex'

A group of conservationists and scientists is due to set sail for an obscure corner of the Pacific Ocean in the coming months to explore a vast swirl of waste known as the "Plastic Vortex."

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 25, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (67) | comments 37

Study shows strong evidence that cloud changes may exacerbate global warming

The role of clouds in climate change has been a major question for decades. As the earth warms under increasing greenhouse gases, it is not known whether clouds will dissipate, letting in more of the sun's ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 23, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (56) | comments 15

NASA Research Finds Last Decade was Warmest on Record, 2009 One of Warmest Years

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new analysis of global surface temperatures by NASA scientists finds the past year was tied for the second warmest since 1880. In the Southern Hemisphere, 2009 was the warmest year on record.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 21, 2010 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (48) | comments 100 | with audio podcast

Solar cycle linked to global climate

Establishing a key link between the solar cycle and global climate, research led by scientists at the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 16, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (30) | comments 47

Scientists find 'great Pacific Ocean garbage patch'

Scientists have just completed an unprecedented journey into the vast and little-explored "Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch."

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 27, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (37) | comments 29

Bering Strait influenced ice age climate patterns worldwide

In a vivid example of how a small geographic feature can have far-reaching impacts on climate, new research shows that water levels in the Bering Strait helped drive global climate patterns during ice age ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 10, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (22) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Oceanic 'garbage patch' not nearly as big as portrayed in media: researchers

There is a lot of plastic trash floating in the Pacific Ocean, but claims that the "Great Garbage Patch" between California and Japan is twice the size of Texas are grossly exaggerated, according to an analysis ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 04, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (21) | comments 78 | with audio podcast

Climate change may alter natural climate cycles of Pacific

While it's still hotly debated among scientists whether climate change causes a shift from the traditional form of El Nino to one known as El Nino Modoki, online in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists now say that E ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 17, 2010 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (23) | comments 18 | with audio podcast

Experimental Scramjet aircraft set for test flight

The X-51A Waverider hypersonic scramjet project is set for its second test flight today, and the U.S. Air Force hopes it will demonstrate technology that can eventually be used for more efficient transport ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 23, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (16) | comments 17 | with audio podcast

Study: Small fluctuations in solar activity, large influence on the climate

(PhysOrg.com) -- Subtle connections between the 11-year solar cycle, the stratosphere, and the tropical Pacific Ocean work in sync to generate periodic weather patterns that affect much of the globe, according ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 27, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (16) | comments 9

One word: bioplastics

(PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, more than 250 billion pounds of plastic are produced worldwide. Much of it ends up in the world's oceans, a fact that troubles MIT biology professor Anthony Sinskey.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (15) | comments 4

Asteroid strike into ocean could deplete ozone layer

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in Texas say if a medium-sized asteroid were to crash into the ocean the ozone layer could be depleted, allowing high levels of ultraviolet radiation to reach the surface.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 27, 2010 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (17) | comments 7 | with audio podcast report

Maximum height of extreme waves up dramatically in Pacific Northwest

A major increase in maximum ocean wave heights off the Pacific Northwest in recent decades has forced scientists to re-evaluate how high a "100-year event" might be, and the new findings raise special concerns ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 25, 2010 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (19) | comments 24 | with audio podcast

Scientists describe new species of crab that "farms" methane vents

A species of crab found a thousand feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean near Costa Rica lives off the bacteria on its claws – bacteria that it fertilizes by waving them in methane and sulfide released from the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 03, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (14) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Hybrid remotely operated vehicle 'Nereus' reaches deepest part of the ocean

A new type of deep-sea robotic vehicle called Nereus has successfully reached the deepest part of the world's ocean, reports a team of U.S. engineers and scientists aboard the research vessel Kilo Moana. The dive to 10,902 ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jun 02, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (12) | comments 5

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east. At 169.2 million square kilometres (65.3 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean – and, in turn, the hydrosphere – covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about 32% of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined. The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands are deemed wholly within the South Pacific. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the Pacific and in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,798 ft).

For more information about Pacific Ocean, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: ocean , nasa , earthquake