Facts about the Oceans

1. The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world's five oceans, followed by the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean.
2. The Pacific Ocean fills nearly a complete hemisphere of the Earth's surface.
3. The Pacific Ocean, 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.
4. Antarctica has as much ice as the Atlantic Ocean has water.
5. The Arctic Ocean is the smallest ocean, holding only one percent of the Earth's seawater. This is still more than 25 times as much water as all rivers and fresh water lakes.
6. 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.
7. In 1958, the United States Coast Guard icebreaker East Wind measured the world's tallest known iceberg off western Greenland. At 550 feet it was only 5 feet 6 inches shorter than the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.
8. 10% of the earth's surface is covered with ice.
9. Scientists have speculated that 50 million billion tons or 50 quadrillion tons of water are available in world's oceans.
10. Given their sheer volume, ninety-nine percent of the living space on the planet is found in the oceans. Biologists estimate that somewhere between 500,000 and 5,000,000 marine species have yet to be discovered and described.
11. A mouthful of seawater may contain millions of bacterial cells, hundreds of thousands of phytoplankton and tens of thousands of zooplankton.
12. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is regarded as the world’s largest living structure measuring at 1,243 miles.
13. The Mid-Ocean Ridge stretches 46,000 miles (74,000 km), more than four times the lengths of the Andes, Rockies, and Himalayas combined.
14. A slow cascade of cold water beneath the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland sinks 2.2 miles (3.5 km), over three-and-a-half times farther than the tallest waterfall on land, Venezuela's Angel Falls.
15. The average depth of the oceans is 2.5 miles (4 km). The deepest point lies in the Mariana Trench, 6.8 miles (10.9 km) down. By way of comparison, Mount Everest is only 5.5 miles (8.8 km) high. Mariana trench is about 2,550 kilometres (1,580 mi) long with an average width of  69 kilometres (43 mi). The deepest spot of the trench is called Challenger Deep.
16. The record for the deepest free dive is held by Jacques Mayol. He dove to an astounding depth of 86 external m without any breathing equipment.
17. Water pressure at the deepest point in the ocean is more than 8 tons per square inch, the equivalent of one person trying to hold 50 jumbo jets.

18. Fishermen harvest over 4 million tons each year from bays and open oceans.
19. Fish supply the greatest percentage of the world's protein consumed by humans.
20. El Niño is the most unique example of oceans and atmosphere interaction that causes a chain reaction in climate across the globe. That climate has significant impact on humans, business and overall economics of various countries -- i.e. El Niño patterns contributed to the 1995 rains in California which caused flooding and ultimately raised the price of wine and other vegetables from the region. Also, the warm 1995 winter in the Northeast had significant impact on the skiing industry.
21. Ninety percent of all volcanic activity occurs in the oceans. In 1993, scientists located the largest known concentration of active volcanoes on the sea floor in the South Pacific. This area, the size of New York state, hosts 1,133 volcanic cones and sea mounts. Two or three could erupt at any moment.
22. 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 53 feet 6 inches, the equivalent of a three-story building.
23. The oceans cover 71 percent of the Earth's surface and contain 97 percent of the Earth's water. Less than 1 percent is fresh water, and 2-3 percent is contained in glaciers and ice caps.
24. Earth's longest mountain range is the Mid-Ocean Ridge, 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.
25. 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
26. At the deepest point in the ocean the pressure is more than 8 tons per square inch, or the equivalent of one person trying to support 50 jumbo jets.
27. At 39 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of almost all of the deep ocean is only a few degrees above freezing.
28. The top ten feet of the ocean hold as much heat as our entire atmosphere.
29. Under the enormous pressures of the deep ocean, sea water can reach very high temperatures without boiling. A water temperature of 400 degrees C has been measured at one hydrothermal vent.
30. If mined, all the gold suspended in the world's sea water would give each person on Earth 9 pounds.
31. Although Mount Everest, at 29,028 feet, is often called the tallest mountain on Earth, Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano on the island of Hawaii, is actually taller. Only 13,796 feet of Mauna Kea stands above sea level, yet it is 33,465 feet tall if measured from the ocean floor to its summit.
32. If the ocean's total salt content were dried, and spread evenly over Earth's land surface it would form a layer more than 500 feet thick (152.4 meters), about the height of a 40-story building.
33. Undersea earthquakes and other disturbances cause tsunamis, or great waves. The largest recorded tsunami measured 210 feet above sea level when it reached Siberia's Kamchatka Peninsula in 1737.
34. It is estimated that the sea floor contains 1,333 active volcanoes.
35. The Antarctic Ice Sheet is almost twice the size of the United States.
36. The speed of sound in water is 1,435 external m/sec - nearly five times faster than the speed of sound in air.
37. The pressure at the deepest point in the ocean is more than 11,318 external tons/sq m, or the equivalent of one person trying to support 50 jumbo jets.
38. Air pollution is responsible for 33% of the toxic contaminants that end up in oceans and coastal waters.
39. Oil is one of the ocean's "greatest" resources. Nearly one-third of the world's oil comes from offshore fields in our oceans. Areas most popular for oil drilling are the Arabian Gulf, the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
40. More than 90% of the trade between countries is carried by ships and about half the communications between nations use underwater cables.
41. Swordfish and marlin are the fastest fish in the ocean reaching speeds up to 121 external kph in quick bursts; bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) may reach sustained speeds up to 90 external kph.
42. Blue whales are the largest animals on our planet ever (exceeding the size of the greatest known dinosaurs) and have hearts the size of small cars.
43. 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.
44. Three-quarters of the world's mega-cities are by the Ocean.
45. The total length of the world's coastlines is about 315,000 miles, enough to circle the Equator 12 times.
46. Although coral reefs comprise less than 0.5 per cent of the ocean floor, it is estimated that more than 90 per cent of marine species are directly or indirectly dependent on them.

Sources:

http://aquarius.nasa.gov/education-salinity.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Trench

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Mayol

http://marinebio.org/marinebio/facts/

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/oceans-eng.htm