26-30 Pacific Ocean Facts

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26. The USA owns a 0.012 square km island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean called Kingman Reef. – Source

27. Macquarie Island is the only place in the Pacific Ocean where rocks from the mantle are exposed at or above sea level. – Source

28. The Pacific Ocean at its widest point is more than five times the diameter of the moon. – Source

29. The United States DoD maintains a 280 ft. tall radar platform that is semi-submersible and self-propelled in the Pacific Ocean. – Source

30. The bikini was named after the U.S. nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean. The designer hoped to cause an “explosive commercial and cultural reaction” just like the bomb. – Source

31-35 Pacific Ocean Facts

31. The Pacific Ocean’s name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. He named it “Mar Pacífico” meaning “Peaceful sea” as he encountered favorable winds on reaching the ocean. – Source

32. There is an island in the Pacific Ocean where a dead U.S. soldier and Prince Philip are gods. – Source

33. In 2012, Russ George did an unauthorized “Geoengineering experiment” of dumping ~ 100 tonnes of iron sulfate into the Pacific Ocean. The hope was to “lock carbon into the deep ocean over the long term”. – Source

34. The Ryou-Un Maru, a ship that broke free from Japan after the tsunami of 2011, crossed the Pacific Ocean with no crew and made its way to U.S. waters where it was shot and sunk by the U.S. Coast Guard. – Source

35. As many as six supercontinents are thought to have formed and broken up prior to Pangaea. Roughly 400 million years pass between each repetition of the supercontinent cycle, which is currently causing the Pacific Ocean to shrink until yet another supercontinent will someday be formed. – Source

36-40 Pacific Ocean Facts

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36. A rare Pacific Ocean bird was driven to extinction because all of them were eaten by starving Japanese soldiers in WWII. – Source

37. There is an actual underwater post office in the South Pacific Ocean. – Source

38. The depth of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean is greater than the cruising altitude of a commercial airliner. – Source

39. In Central Panama, the sun rises over the Pacific Ocean and sets over the Atlantic Ocean. – Source

40. The Malenesian people, who are native to the Pacific Ocean, can have naturally blonde hair. One of the few places outside of Europe where this trait is known to have evolved independently. – Source

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Fact List, Our World, Science,

Last Update: July 13, 2018