87-418: Belton Regio (formerly Cthulhu Macula or Cthulhu Regio ) is a prominent surface feature of the dwarf planet Pluto . It is an elongated dark region along Pluto's equator, 2,990 km (1,860 mi) long and one of the darkest features on its surface. After its discovery in 2015, the feature was provisionally named after the fictional deity Cthulhu from the works of H. P. Lovecraft and others, as it
174-648: A central lagoon . Important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Modern humans first reached the western Pacific in the Paleolithic , at around 60,000 to 70,000 years ago. Originating from a southern coastal human migration out of Africa, they reached East Asia , Mainland Southeast Asia , the Philippines, New Guinea , and then Australia by making the sea crossing of at least 80 kilometres (50 mi) between Sundaland and Sahul . It
261-447: A series of troughs in northeastern Belton Regio, west of Tombaugh Regio. Ammonia-rich cryolavas appear to have erupted from Virgil Fossae and several nearby sites and covered an area of several thousand square kilometers; the fact that the ammonia's spectral signal was detectable when New Horizons flew by Pluto suggests that Virgil Fossae is no older than one billion years and potentially far younger, as galactic cosmic rays would destroy all
348-471: A transition zone, along with Neptune's moon Triton , between icy satellites like the mid-sized moons of Uranus and Saturn , and rocky satellites such as Jupiter's Io . Pluto has no magnetic field. South Pacific Ocean Main five oceans division: Further subdivision: The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions . It extends from the Arctic Ocean in
435-542: Is 4,280 m (14,040 ft; 2,340 fathoms), putting the total water volume at roughly 710,000,000 km (170,000,000 cu mi). Due to the effects of plate tectonics , the Pacific Ocean is currently shrinking by roughly 2.5 cm (1 in) per year on three sides, roughly averaging 0.52 km (0.20 sq mi) a year. By contrast, the Atlantic Ocean is increasing in size. Along
522-466: Is differentiated, with the rocky material having settled into a dense core surrounded by a mantle of water ice. Pluto's abundant surface volatiles imply that Pluto is either completely differentiated (and thus has liberated all of the volatiles that had been locked away in its water ice) or formed within less than a million years after the circumstellar disk was cleared (when volatiles were still available to be incorporated into Pluto). The diameter of
609-434: Is meanwhile a smooth plain, probably formed through large cryovolcanic eruptions, like Vulcan Planum on Charon. This part appears to be younger than the alpine terrain to the east, but there are nevertheless several large craters located in this region. The western 'tail' region of Belton Regio was imaged in much lower resolution than the eastern part, but it can be inferred that this is a hilly landscape bordered by mountains to
696-491: Is not known with any certainty what level of maritime technology was used by these groups – the presumption is that they used large bamboo rafts which may have been equipped with some sort of sail. The reduction in favourable winds for a crossing to Sahul after 58,000 B.P. fits with the dating of the settlement of Australia, with no later migrations in the prehistoric period. The seafaring abilities of pre-Austronesian residents of Island South-east Asia are confirmed by
783-532: Is one of the most contrastive bodies in the Solar System, with as much contrast as Saturn 's moon Iapetus . The color varies between charcoal black, dark orange and white. New Horizons data suggest equally variable surface ages for Pluto, with ancient, dark, mountainous terrain occurring alongside the bright, flat, effectively craterless Sputnik Planitia and various terrains of intermediate age and color. Pluto's surface color changed between 1994 and 2003:
870-466: Is probably solid nitrogen can be seen flowing from the planitia into adjacent depressions and craters. Nitrogen from the plain appears to have been carried via the atmosphere and deposited in a thin layer of ice on uplands to the east and south of the plain, forming the large bright eastern lobe of Tombaugh Regio . Glaciers appear to be flowing back into the planitia through valleys from these eastern highlands. Mountains several kilometres high occur along
957-470: Is still expanding, probably due to this internal ocean; this is the first concrete evidence that Pluto's interior is still liquid. Pluto is proposed to have a thick water-ice lithosphere , based on the length of individual faults and lack of localized uplift. Differing trends in the faults suggest previously active tectonics, though its mechanisms remain unknown. The DLR Institute of Planetary Research calculated that Pluto's density-to-radius ratio lies in
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#17327727760181044-444: Is the only planetary body other than Earth on which penitentes have been identified. Although penitentes have been hypothesized on Jupiter's satellite Europa , current theories suggest they may require an atmosphere to form. Moores and his colleagues hypothesize that Pluto's penitentes grow only during periods of high atmospheric pressure, at a rate of approximately 1 centimeter per orbital cycle. These penitentes appear to have formed in
1131-497: Is thought to be season-dependent and influenced more by solar insolation and topography than by subsurface processes. Maps produced from images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), together with Pluto's light curve and the periodic variations in its infrared spectra, indicate that Pluto's surface is very varied, with large differences in both brightness and color, with albedos between 0.49 and 0.66. Pluto
1218-697: The Americas , although evidence for this remains inconclusive. The first contact of European navigators with the western edge of the Pacific Ocean was made by the Portuguese expeditions of António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão , via the Lesser Sunda Islands , to the Maluku Islands , in 1512, and with Jorge Álvares 's expedition to southern China in 1513, both ordered by Afonso de Albuquerque from Malacca . The eastern side of
1305-424: The Americas , more than 25,000 islands, large and small, rise above the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Multiple islands were the shells of former active volcanoes that have lain dormant for thousands of years. Close to the equator, without vast areas of blue ocean, are a dot of atolls that have over intervals of time been formed by seamounts as a result of tiny coral islands strung in a ring within surroundings of
1392-520: The Bering Sea in the Arctic to the northern extent of the circumpolar Southern Ocean at 60°S (older definitions extend it to Antarctica 's Ross Sea ), the Pacific reaches its greatest east–west width at about 5°N latitude , where it stretches approximately 19,800 km (12,300 mi) from Indonesia to the coast of Colombia – halfway around the world, and more than five times
1479-976: The North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean (or more loosely the South Seas ). The Pacific Ocean can also be informally divided by the International Date Line into the East Pacific and the West Pacific , which allows it to be further divided into four quadrants, namely the Northeast Pacific off the coasts of North America , the Southeast Pacific off South America , Northwest Pacific off Far Eastern / Pacific Asia , and
1566-601: The Pacific War ; however, by the end of that war, Japan was defeated and the U.S. Pacific Fleet was the virtual master of the ocean. The Japanese-ruled Northern Mariana Islands came under the control of the United States. Since the end of World War II, many former colonies in the Pacific have become independent states . The Pacific separates Asia and Australia from the Americas. It may be further subdivided by
1653-738: The Sirena Deep , is also located in the Mariana Trench. The western Pacific has many major marginal seas , including the Philippine Sea , South China Sea , East China Sea , Sea of Japan , Sea of Okhotsk , Bering Sea , Gulf of Alaska , Gulf of California , Mar de Grau , Tasman Sea , and the Coral Sea . In the early 16th century , Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and sighted
1740-532: The South Pacific . In many of Lovecraft's stories, particularly The Whisperer in Darkness , the transneptunian planet Yuggoth is implied to be the same as Pluto, which was discovered around the time Lovecraft was writing the stories. The name received positive reaction from the press and social media, with a Chicago Tribune editorial supporting the name and its democratic origin. It was reported that
1827-725: The Southern Hemisphere . The North Equatorial Current , driven westward along latitude 15°N by the trade winds , turns north near the Philippines to become the warm Japan or Kuroshio Current . Turning eastward at about 45°N , the Kuroshio forks and some water moves northward as the Aleutian Current , while the rest turns southward to rejoin the North Equatorial Current. The Aleutian Current branches as it approaches North America and forms
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#17327727760181914-710: The Southwest Pacific around Oceania . The Pacific Ocean's mean depth is 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench , located in the northwestern Pacific, is the deepest known point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,928 meters (35,853 feet). The Pacific also contains the deepest point in the Southern Hemisphere , the Horizon Deep in the Tonga Trench , at 10,823 meters (35,509 feet). The third deepest point on Earth,
2001-685: The Strait of Magellan to the Philippines , the explorer indeed found the ocean peaceful; however, the Pacific is not always peaceful. Many tropical storms batter the islands of the Pacific. The lands around the Pacific Rim are full of volcanoes and often affected by earthquakes . Tsunamis , caused by underwater earthquakes, have devastated many islands and in some cases destroyed entire towns. The Martin Waldseemüller map of 1507
2088-818: The Western Hemisphere . The Southern Pacific Ocean harbors the Southeast Indian Ridge crossing from south of Australia turning into the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge (north of the South Pole ) and merges with another ridge (south of South America) to form the East Pacific Rise which also connects with another ridge (south of North America) which overlooks the Juan de Fuca Ridge . For most of Magellan's voyage from
2175-583: The crab claw sail ) – it is likely that the progressive development of these technologies were related to the later steps of settlement into Near and Remote Oceania. Starting at around 2200 BCE, Austronesians sailed southwards to settle the Philippines . From, probably, the Bismarck Archipelago they crossed the western Pacific to reach the Marianas Islands by 1500 BCE, as well as Palau and Yap by 1000 BCE. They were
2262-908: The Atlantic, the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent the entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western side of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines . The 18th century marked the beginning of major exploration by the Russians in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands , such as the First Kamchatka expedition and the Great Northern Expedition , led by
2349-533: The Atlantic. The andesite line is the most significant regional distinction in the Pacific. A petrologic boundary, it separates the deeper, mafic igneous rock of the Central Pacific Basin from the partially submerged continental areas of felsic igneous rock on its margins. The andesite line follows the western edge of the islands off California and passes south of the Aleutian arc , along
2436-735: The Chilean coast, the South Equatorial Current divides; one branch flows around Cape Horn and the other turns north to form the Peru or Humboldt Current . The climate patterns of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres generally mirror each other. The trade winds in the southern and eastern Pacific are remarkably steady while conditions in the North Pacific are far more varied with, for example, cold winter temperatures on
2523-844: The Danish-born Russian navy officer Vitus Bering . Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest , reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and colonized Polynesia , and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii , and the North American Pacific Northwest . In 1768, Pierre-Antoine Véron , a young astronomer accompanying Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his voyage of exploration, established
2610-679: The Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions encountered the Caroline Islands , the Aru Islands , and Papua New Guinea . In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan. In 1564, five Spanish ships carrying 379 soldiers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi , and colonized the Philippines and Mariana Islands . For the remainder of the 16th century, Spain maintained military and mercantile control, with ships sailing from Mexico and Peru across
2697-802: The Pacific Ocean to the Philippines via Guam , and establishing the Spanish East Indies . The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries, linking Manila and Acapulco , in one of the longest trade routes in history. Spanish expeditions also arrived at Tuvalu , the Marquesas , the Cook Islands , the Solomon Islands , Vanuatu , the Marshalls and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. Later, in
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2784-518: The Pacific Ocean's irregular western margins lie many seas, the largest of which are the Celebes Sea , Coral Sea , East China Sea (East Sea), Philippine Sea , Sea of Japan , South China Sea (South Sea), Sulu Sea , Tasman Sea , and Yellow Sea (West Sea of Korea). The Indonesian Seaway (including the Strait of Malacca and Torres Strait ) joins the Pacific and the Indian Ocean to
2871-512: The Pacific in recorded history. They were part of a Spanish expedition to the Spice Islands that would eventually result in the first world circumnavigation . Magellan called the ocean Pacífico (or "Pacific" meaning, "peaceful") because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn , the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until
2958-653: The Philippines already in 7000 BCE. Additional earlier migrations into Insular Southeast Asia, associated with Austroasiatic-speakers from Mainland Southeast Asia, are estimated to have taken place already in 15000 BCE. At around 1300 to 1200 BCE, a branch of the Austronesian migrations known as the Lapita culture reached the Bismarck Archipelago , the Solomon Islands , Vanuatu , Fiji , and New Caledonia . From there, they settled Tonga and Samoa by 900 to 800 BCE. Some also back-migrated northwards in 200 BCE to settle
3045-654: The United States. Significant contributions to oceanographic knowledge were made by the voyages of HMS Beagle in the 1830s, with Charles Darwin aboard; HMS Challenger during the 1870s; the USS Tuscarora (1873–76); and the German Gazelle (1874–76). In Oceania, France obtained a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853, respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro negotiated
3132-464: The ammonia in the upper meter of the crust in that time and solar radiation could destroy the surface ammonia 10 to 10000 times more quickly. The subsurface reservoir from which this cryomagma emerged may have been separate from Pluto's subsurface ocean. Pluto's density is 1.87 g/cm . Because the decay of radioactive elements would eventually heat the ices enough for the rock to separate from them, scientists think that Pluto's internal structure
3219-481: The andesite line and include New Guinea, the islands of New Zealand, and the Philippines. Some of these islands are structurally associated with nearby continents. High islands are of volcanic origin, and many contain active volcanoes. Among these are Bougainville , Hawaii, and the Solomon Islands. The coral reefs of the South Pacific are low-lying structures that have built up on basaltic lava flows under
3306-408: The andesite line. Within the closed loop of the andesite line are most of the deep troughs, submerged volcanic mountains, and oceanic volcanic islands that characterize the Pacific basin. Here basaltic lavas gently flow out of rifts to build huge dome-shaped volcanic mountains whose eroded summits form island arcs, chains, and clusters. Outside the andesite line, volcanism is of the explosive type, and
3393-594: The arctic, icing from October to May can present a hazard for shipping while persistent fog occurs from June to December. A climatological low in the Gulf of Alaska keeps the southern coast wet and mild during the winter months. The Westerlies and associated jet stream within the Mid-Latitudes can be particularly strong, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, due to the temperature difference between
3480-525: The base of a counter-clockwise circulation in the Bering Sea . Its southern arm becomes the chilled slow, south-flowing California Current . The South Equatorial Current , flowing west along the equator, swings southward east of New Guinea , turns east at about 50°S , and joins the main westerly circulation of the South Pacific, which includes the Earth-circling Antarctic Circumpolar Current . As it approaches
3567-679: The center of the formation. When New Horizons first sent back data from Pluto, Pluto was thought to be losing hundreds of tons of its atmosphere an hour to ultraviolet light from the Sun; such an escape rate would be too great to be resupplied by comet impacts. Instead, nitrogen was thought to be resupplied either by cryovolcanism or by geysers bringing it to the surface. Images of structures that imply upwelling of material from within Pluto, and streaks possibly left by geysers, support this view. Subsequent discoveries suggest that Pluto's atmospheric escape
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3654-465: The core is hypothesized to be approximately 1700 km , 70% of Pluto's diameter. It is possible that such heating continues today, creating a subsurface ocean layer of liquid water and ammonia some 100 to 180 km thick at the core–mantle boundary. Studies based on New Horizon' s images of Pluto reveal no signs of contraction (as would be expected if Pluto's internal water had all frozen and turned into ice II ) and imply that Pluto's interior
3741-540: The dark spots on Pluto has not yet been explained. The presence of craters within Belton indicates that it is perhaps billions of years old, in contrast to the adjacent bright, craterless Sputnik Planitia , which may be as little as 100 million years old; however, some areas of Belton Regio are smoother and much more modestly cratered, and may be intermediate in age. The eastern 'head' region consists mostly of heavily cratered 'alpine' terrain. The middle part of Belton Regio
3828-459: The diameter of the Moon. Its geographic center is in eastern Kiribati south of Kiritimati , just west from Starbuck Island at 4°58′S 158°45′W / 4.97°S 158.75°W / -4.97; -158.75 . The lowest known point on Earth – the Mariana Trench – lies 10,911 m (35,797 ft ; 5,966 fathoms ) below sea level. Its average depth
3915-402: The difference between temperatures aloft and sea surface temperatures is the greatest; however, each particular basin has its own seasonal patterns. On a worldwide scale, May is the least active month, while September is the most active month. November is the only month in which all the tropical cyclone basins are active. The Pacific hosts the two most active tropical cyclone basins , which are
4002-493: The east and the islands of Kiribati in the southeast. Melanesia, to the southwest, includes New Guinea , the world's second largest island after Greenland and by far the largest of the Pacific islands. The other main Melanesian groups from north to south are the Bismarck Archipelago , the Solomon Islands , Santa Cruz , Vanuatu , Fiji and New Caledonia . The largest area, Polynesia , stretching from Hawaii in
4089-505: The east coast of Russia contrasting with the milder weather off British Columbia during the winter months due to the preferred flow of ocean currents . In the tropical and subtropical Pacific, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects weather conditions. To determine the phase of ENSO, the most recent three-month sea surface temperature average for the area approximately 3,000 km (1,900 mi) to
4176-403: The eastern edge of the Kamchatka Peninsula , the Kuril Islands , Japan, the Mariana Islands , the Solomon Islands , and New Zealand's North Island . The dissimilarity continues northeastward along the western edge of the Andes Cordillera along South America to Mexico, returning then to the islands off California. Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, New Guinea, and New Zealand lie outside
4263-410: The eighteenth century. Magellan stopped at one uninhabited Pacific island before stopping at Guam in March 1521. Although Magellan himself died in the Philippines in 1521, Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano led the remains of the expedition back to Spain across the Indian Ocean and round the Cape of Good Hope , completing the first world circumnavigation in 1522. Sailing around and east of
4350-487: The equator into northern (North Pacific) and southern (South Pacific) portions. It extends from the Antarctic region in the South to the Arctic in the north. The Pacific Ocean encompasses approximately one-third of the Earth's surface, having an area of 165,200,000 km (63,800,000 sq mi) – larger than Earth's entire landmass combined, 150,000,000 km (58,000,000 sq mi). Extending approximately 15,500 km (9,600 mi) from
4437-469: The equator, which can have a salinity as low as 34 parts per thousand, is less salty than that found in the mid-latitudes because of abundant equatorial precipitation throughout the year. The lowest counts of less than 32 parts per thousand are found in the far north as less evaporation of seawater takes place in these frigid areas. The motion of Pacific waters is generally clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere (the North Pacific gyre ) and counter-clockwise in
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#17327727760184524-420: The first completely documented European landing in Australia (1606), in Cape York Peninsula , and Abel Janszoon Tasman circumnavigated and landed on parts of the Australian continental coast and arrived at Tasmania and New Zealand in 1642. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a mare clausum – a sea closed to other naval powers. As the only known entrance from
4611-420: The first humans to reach Remote Oceania , and the first to cross vast distances of open water. They also continued spreading southwards and settling the rest of Maritime Southeast Asia , reaching Indonesia and Malaysia by 1500 BCE, and further west to Madagascar and the Comoros in the Indian Ocean by around 500 CE. More recently, it is suggested that Austronesians expanded already earlier, arriving in
4698-423: The great "Southern Sea" which he named Mar del Sur (in Spanish). Afterwards, the ocean's current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favorable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico , which in Portuguese means 'peaceful sea'. Top large seas: Across the continents of Asia, Australia and
4785-439: The incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888. By occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations. By 1900 nearly all Pacific islands were in control of Britain, France, United States, Germany, Japan, and Chile. Although the United States gained control of Guam and the Philippines from Spain in 1898, Japan controlled most of the western Pacific by 1914 and occupied many other islands during
4872-417: The islands in the world. There are about 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands entirely within the Pacific Ocean can be divided into three main groups known as Micronesia , Melanesia and Polynesia . Micronesia, which lies north of the equator and west of the International Date Line , includes the Mariana Islands in the northwest, the Caroline Islands in the center, the Marshall Islands to
4959-519: The islands of eastern Micronesia (including the Carolines , the Marshall Islands , and Kiribati ), mixing with earlier Austronesian migrations in the region. This remained the furthest extent of the Austronesian expansion into Polynesia until around 700 CE when there was another surge of island exploration. They reached the Cook Islands , Tahiti , and the Marquesas by 700 CE; Hawaiʻi by 900 CE; Rapa Nui by 1000 CE; and finally New Zealand by 1200 CE. Austronesians may have also reached as far as
5046-507: The last few tens-of-millions of years, an idea supported by the sparsity of craters in the region, making Tartarus Dorsa one of the youngest regions on Pluto. Cutting through both Tartarus Dorsa and Pluto's heavily cratered northern terrain (and thus formed more recently than both) is a set of six canyons radiating from a single point; the longest, informally named Sleipnir Fossa, is over 580 kilometers long. These chasms are thought to have originated from pressures caused by material upwelling at
5133-403: The name Cthulhu may be submitted to the IAU as an official name. Cthulhu Macula was initially called a regio , but was renamed as the largest of the maculae that span Pluto's equator. On 22 September 2023, the name "Belton Regio" was approved by the IAU for the feature, after astronomer Michael J. Belton . Geology of Pluto The geology of Pluto consists of the characteristics of
5220-468: The north to New Zealand in the south, also encompasses Tuvalu , Tokelau , Samoa , Tonga and the Kermadec Islands to the west, the Cook Islands , Society Islands and Austral Islands in the center, and the Marquesas Islands , Tuamotu , Mangareva Islands , and Easter Island to the east. Islands in the Pacific Ocean are of four basic types: continental islands, high islands, coral reefs and uplifted coral platforms. Continental islands lie outside
5307-435: The north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica ) in the south, and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east. At 165,250,000 square kilometers (63,800,000 square miles) in area (as defined with a southern Antarctic border), this largest division of the World Ocean and the hydrosphere covers about 46% of Earth's water surface and about 32% of
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#17327727760185394-485: The northern Philippines , but also earlier groups associated with Austroasiatic-speakers , resulting in the modern peoples of Island Southeast Asia and Oceania. A later seaborne migration is the Neolithic Austronesian expansion of the Austronesian peoples . Austronesians originated from the island of Taiwan c. 3000 –1500 BCE. They are associated with distinctive maritime sailing technologies (notably outrigger boats , catamarans , lashed-lug boats, and
5481-438: The northern polar region brightened and the southern hemisphere darkened. Pluto's overall redness also increased substantially between 2000 and 2002. These rapid changes probably relate to seasonal condensation and sublimation of portions of Pluto's atmosphere , amplified by Pluto's extreme axial tilt and high orbital eccentricity . Sputnik Planitia appears to be composed of ices more volatile, softer and more dense than
5568-433: The northwestern Pacific and the eastern Pacific. Pacific hurricanes form south of Mexico, sometimes striking the western Mexican coast and occasionally the Southwestern United States between June and October, while typhoons forming in the northwestern Pacific moving into southeast and east Asia from May to December. Tropical cyclones also form in the South Pacific basin , where they occasionally impact island nations. In
5655-399: The ocean was encountered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached a new ocean. He named it Mar del Sur ("Sea of the South" or "South Sea" ) because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. In 1520, navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his crew were the first to cross
5742-439: The ocean's surface. One of the most dramatic is the Great Barrier Reef off northeastern Australia with chains of reef patches. A second island type formed of coral is the uplifted coral platform, which is usually slightly larger than the low coral islands. Examples include Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and Makatea in the Tuamotu group of French Polynesia . The volume of the Pacific Ocean, representing about 50.1 percent of
5829-409: The planet's total surface area, larger than its entire land area (148,000,000 km (57,000,000 sq mi)). The centers of both the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere , as well as the oceanic pole of inaccessibility , are in the Pacific Ocean. Ocean circulation (caused by the Coriolis effect ) subdivides it into two largely independent volumes of water that meet at the equator ,
5916-464: The quest for Terra Australis ("the [great] Southern Land"), Spanish explorations in the 17th century, such as the expedition led by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós , arrived at the Pitcairn and Vanuatu archipelagos, and sailed the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea, named after navigator Luís Vaz de Torres . Dutch explorers, sailing around southern Africa, also engaged in exploration and trade; Willem Janszoon , made
6003-403: The region is speculated to be the result of a "tar" made of complex hydrocarbons called tholins covering the surface, which form from methane and nitrogen in the atmosphere interacting with ultraviolet light and cosmic rays . Tholins have been observed on other planetary bodies, such as Iapetus , Umbriel , and in the atmosphere of Titan , although the irregular and disconnected nature of
6090-450: The settlement of Buka by 32,000 B.P. and Manus by 25,000 B.P. Journeys of 180 kilometres (110 mi) and 230 kilometres (140 mi) are involved, respectively. The descendants of these migrations today are the Negritos , Melanesians , and Indigenous Australians . Their populations in maritime Southeast Asia , coastal New Guinea , and Island Melanesia later intermarried with the incoming Austronesian settlers from Taiwan and
6177-452: The southeast of Hawaii is computed, and if the region is more than 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) above or below normal for that period, then an El Niño or La Niña is considered in progress. In the tropical western Pacific, the monsoon and the related wet season during the summer months contrast with dry winds in the winter which blow over the ocean from the Asian landmass. Worldwide, tropical cyclone activity peaks in late summer, when
6264-425: The southwestern and southern edges of Sputnik Planitia. Water ice is the only ice detected on Pluto that is strong enough at Plutonian temperatures to support such heights. Belton Regio and other dark areas have many craters and signatures of solid methane. The dark red color is thought to be due to tholins falling out of Pluto's atmosphere. The mid-northern latitudes display a variety of terrain reminiscent of
6351-596: The surface of Triton . A polar cap consisting of solid methane "diluted in a thick, transparent slab of solid nitrogen" is somewhat darker and redder. The western part of Pluto's northern hemisphere consists of an extensive, highly distinctive set of 500-meter-high mountains informally named Tartarus Dorsa; the spacing and shape of the mountains looks similar to scales or to tree bark. A January 2017 Nature paper by Dr. John Moores and his colleagues identified these icy ridges as penitentes . Penitentes are icy depressions formed by erosion and surrounded by tall spires. Pluto
6438-502: The surface, crust, and interior of Pluto . Because of Pluto's distance from Earth, in-depth study from Earth is difficult. Many details about Pluto remained unknown until 14 July 2015, when New Horizons flew through the Pluto system and began transmitting data back to Earth. When it did, Pluto was found to have remarkable geologic diversity, with New Horizons team member Jeff Moore saying that it "is every bit as complex as that of Mars". The final New Horizons Pluto data transmission
6525-433: The tallest peaks known on Pluto at present. They are lightly cratered and thus geologically young, although not as young as Sputnik Planitia. They are characterized by a large summit depression and hummocky flanks. This represents the first time large potentially cryovolcanic constructs have been clearly imaged anywhere in the Solar System. A 2019 study identified a second likely cryovolcanic structure around Virgil Fossae,
6612-564: The theme of "creatures related to underworld mythologies." " Cthulhu " was the most popular name in this category of the poll, and by 14 July 2015, it was used by the New Horizons team to refer to the feature. It was named after the fictional deity from the works of H. P. Lovecraft and others, which initially appeared in Lovecraft's 1928 short story " The Call of Cthulhu ", as a malevolent entity hibernating within an underwater city in
6699-804: The tropics and Antarctica, which records the coldest temperature readings on the planet. In the Southern hemisphere, because of the stormy and cloudy conditions associated with extratropical cyclones riding the jet stream, it is usual to refer to the Westerlies as the Roaring Forties, Furious Fifties and Shrieking Sixties according to the varying degrees of latitude. The ocean was first mapped by Abraham Ortelius ; he called it Maris Pacifici following Ferdinand Magellan 's description of it as "a pacific sea" during his circumnavigation from 1519 to 1522. To Magellan, it seemed much more calm (pacific) than
6786-526: The water-ice bedrock of Pluto, including nitrogen , carbon monoxide and solid methane. A polygonal convection cell structure is visible over much of the planitia. No craters have been found, indicating that its surface must be less than 10 million years old. A number of mechanisms are proposed to explain the absence of craters, including cryovolcanism (volcanoes erupting volatiles instead of magma), convective overturn, and viscous relaxation – processes that would erase negative topography. Glaciers of what
6873-586: The west, and Drake Passage and the Strait of Magellan link the Pacific with the Atlantic Ocean on the east. To the north, the Bering Strait connects the Pacific with the Arctic Ocean . As the Pacific straddles the 180th meridian , the West Pacific (or western Pacific , near Asia) is in the Eastern Hemisphere , while the East Pacific (or eastern Pacific , near the Americas) is in
6960-782: The west. Higher-resolution images of the border between the two regions indicate that lighter material from Sputnik Planitia, composed of nitrogen , carbon monoxide , and methane ices, may be invading and overlaying the easternmost part of the dark Belton Regio. As of 30 July 2015, the eastern "head" region had been imaged in much higher resolution than the western "tail" region. Belton Regio contains many craters and linear features that have also been given informal names. Oort Crater , K. Edgeworth Crater , and Elliot Crater are large craters along Belton's northern edge; Brinton Crater , Harrington Crater , and H. Smith Crater are near Belton's eastern edge, and Virgil Fossa and Beatrice Fossa are linear depressions in Belton's interior. The feature
7047-534: The width of the Pacific with precision for the first time in history. One of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by European powers, and later Japan and
7134-434: The world's oceanic water, has been estimated at some 714 million cubic kilometers (171 million cubic miles). Surface water temperatures in the Pacific can vary from −1.4 °C (29.5 °F), the freezing point of seawater, in the poleward areas to about 30 °C (86 °F) near the equator. Salinity also varies latitudinally, reaching a maximum of 37 parts per thousand in the southeastern area. The water near
7221-553: Was first identified in the initial image, first published on 8 July 2015, of Pluto returned after the New Horizons probe recovered from an anomaly that temporarily sent it into safe mode. NASA initially referred to it as "the Whale" in reference to its overall shape. Surface features of Pluto were initially given provisional, informal names that are selected from a list generated from an online poll conducted earlier in 2015, along
7308-565: Was most popular name in its category in an online poll conducted earlier that year. In 2023, an official name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union honoring astronomer Michael J. Belton . The macula lies west of the Sputnik Planitia region of Tombaugh Regio , also known as Pluto's "heart", and to the east of Meng-P'o , the easternmost of Pluto's " Brass Knuckles ". The dark color of
7395-412: Was overestimated by several thousand times and thus Pluto could theoretically keep its atmosphere without geological assistance, though evidence of ongoing geology remains strong. Two possible cryovolcanoes, Wright Mons and Piccard Mons , have been identified in topographic maps of the region south of Sputnik Planitia , near the south pole. Both are over 150 km across and at least 4 km high,
7482-495: Was received on 25 October 2016. In June 2020, astronomers reported evidence that Pluto may have had a subsurface ocean , and consequently may have been habitable , when it was first formed. More than 98 percent of Pluto's surface consists of solid nitrogen , with traces of methane and carbon monoxide . The face of Pluto oriented toward Charon contains more solid methane, whereas the opposite face contains more nitrogen and solid carbon monoxide. Distribution of volatile ices
7569-583: Was the first to show the Americas separating two distinct oceans. Later, the Diogo Ribeiro map of 1529 was the first to show the Pacific at about its proper size. (Inhabited dependent territories are denoted by the asterisk (*), with names of the corresponding sovereign states in round brackets. Associated states in the Realm of New Zealand are denoted by the hash sign (#).) Territories with no permanent civilian population. The Pacific Ocean has most of
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