The Pacific Ocean Is Larger Than All Land on Earth Combined

The Pacific Ocean dwarfs everything else on our planet. At 60 million square miles, it covers more surface area than all of Earth’s landmasses put together. This single ocean holds more than half of the world’s free water and reaches depths of over 36,000 feet at the Mariana Trench — deeper than Mount Everest is tall. The Pacific is so enormous that it touches five continents and stretches across nearly half the globe. Its name comes from the Latin word for peaceful, given by explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1520 after sailing through calm waters. Yet this ocean generates some of the most powerful forces on Earth including massive typhoons and the Ring of Fire, a chain of volcanoes and earthquake zones that circles its edges.