Terrain: surface dominated by two large gyres (broad, circular systems of currents), one in the northern Pacific and another in the southern Pacific; in the northern Pacific, sea ice forms in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk in winter; in the southern Pacific, sea ice from Antarctica reaches its northernmost extent in October; the ocean floor in the eastern Pacific is dominated by the East Pacific Rise, while the western Pacific is dissected by deep trenches, including the Mariana Trench, which is the world's deepest at 10,924 m
major surface currents: clockwise North Pacific Gyre formed by the warm Kuroshio Current in the west, the North Pacific Current in the north, the cold California Current in the east, and the North Equatorial Current in the south; the counterclockwise South Pacific Gyre composed of the warm East Australian Current in the west, the South Pacific Current in the south, the cold Peru (Humbolt) Current in the east, and the South Equatorial Current in the north
Definition: This entry contains a brief description of the topography.
Source: CIA World Factbook - This page was last updated on January 20, 2018
