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100-768: It also provides air navigation services within the Accra Flight Information Region (FIR), which comprises the airspace over the Republic of Ghana and a large area over the Atlantic Ocean in the Gulf of Guinea . Togo and Benin took over their Airspace in 2015. The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) was established by PNDC Law 151 on May 16, 1986, to provide air navigation services, operate and manage all aerodromes in Ghana, as well as regulate

200-524: A Tuscan physician and botanist, wrote that the tomato was eaten fried in oil there. The first Italian cookbook to include tomato sauce, Lo Scalco alla Moderna ("The Modern Steward"), was written by Italian chef Antonio Latini and was published in two volumes in 1692 and 1694. In 1790, the use of tomato sauce with pasta appeared for the first time, in the Italian cookbook L'Apicio Moderno ("The Modern Apicius "), by chef Francesco Leonardi . Alongside

300-492: A World Heritage Site for their geological value, four of them are considered of "Outstanding Universal Value" based on their cultural and natural criteria: Þingvellir , Iceland; Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture , Portugal; Gough and Inaccessible Islands , United Kingdom; and Brazilian Atlantic Islands: Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas Reserves, Brazil. Continental shelves in

400-506: A Navy Sonic Depth Finder to draw a continuous map across the bed of the Atlantic. This involved little guesswork because the idea of sonar is straightforward with pulses being sent from the vessel, which bounce off the ocean floor, then return to the vessel. The deep ocean floor is thought to be fairly flat with occasional deeps, abyssal plains , trenches , seamounts , basins , plateaus , canyons , and some guyots . Various shelves along

500-721: A branch of the Gulf Stream which flows northward from the Grand Banks ; and the Subpolar Front , an extension of the North Atlantic Current, a wide, vaguely defined region separating the subtropical gyre from the subpolar gyre. This system of currents transports warm water into the North Atlantic, without which temperatures in the North Atlantic and Europe would plunge dramatically. North of

600-669: A container, the calabash , both of which persisted in their new home. The medieval explorations, visits, and brief residence of the Norsemen in Greenland , Newfoundland , and Vinland in the late 10th century and 11th century had no known impact on the Americas. Many scientists accept that possible contact between Polynesians and coastal peoples in South America around the year 1200 resulted in genetic similarities and

700-573: A new entity, the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), was incorporated on 17 January 2006 to manage and operate all government-owned airports in the country. The Ghana Civil Aviation (Amendment) Acts of 2016 (Act 906) and 2019 (Act 985) were passed to expand the GCAA’s functions, incorporating international conventions and enhancing its safety and regulatory roles. In August 2024, the new Ghana Civil Aviation Act 2024 (Act 1120)

800-534: A variety of bees, such as Melipona or Trigona , European bees ( Apis mellifera )—were more productive, delivering a honey with less water content and allowing for an easier extraction from beehives—were introduced in New Spain, becoming an important part of farming production. The Mapuche of Araucanía were fast to adopt the horse from the Spanish, and improve their military capabilities as they fought

900-416: A weak Intertropical Convergence Zone , South Atlantic tropical cyclones are rare. The Atlantic Ocean is underlain mostly by dense mafic oceanic crust made up of basalt and gabbro and overlain by fine clay, silt and siliceous ooze on the abyssal plain. The continental margins and continental shelf mark lower density, but greater thickness felsic continental rock that is often much older than that of

1000-621: Is a complex of four water masses, two that form by deep convection in the open ocean – classical and upper Labrador sea water – and two that form from the inflow of dense water across the Greenland-Iceland-Scotland sill – Denmark Strait and Iceland-Scotland overflow water. Along its path across Earth the composition of the NADW is affected by other water masses, especially Antarctic bottom water and Mediterranean overflow water. The NADW

1100-467: Is fed by a flow of warm shallow water into the northern North Atlantic which is responsible for the anomalous warm climate in Europe. Changes in the formation of NADW have been linked to global climate changes in the past. Since human-made substances were introduced into the environment, the path of the NADW can be traced throughout its course by measuring tritium and radiocarbon from nuclear weapon tests in

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1200-498: Is found off the eastern coast of Canada. Surface water temperatures, which vary with latitude, current systems, and season and reflect the latitudinal distribution of solar energy, range from below −2 °C (28 °F) to over 30 °C (86 °F). Maximum temperatures occur north of the equator, and minimum values are found in the polar regions. In the middle latitudes, the area of maximum temperature variations, values may vary by 7–8 °C (13–14 °F). From October to June

1300-575: Is interrupted by larger transform faults at two places: the Romanche Trench near the Equator and the Gibbs fracture zone at 53°N . The MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other. The MAR rises 2–3 km (1.2–1.9 mi) above the surrounding ocean floor and its rift valley is the divergent boundary between

1400-854: Is intersected by two perpendicular ridges: the Azores–Gibraltar Transform Fault , the boundary between the Nubian and Eurasian plates , intersects the MAR at the Azores triple junction , on either side of the Azores microplate, near the 40°N . A much vaguer, nameless boundary, between the North American and South American plates, intersects the MAR near or just north of the Fifteen-Twenty fracture zone , approximately at 16°N . In

1500-729: Is now northern and central Brazil. The formation of the Central American Isthmus closed the Central American Seaway at the end of the Pliocene 2.8 Ma ago. The formation of the isthmus resulted in the migration and extinction of many land-living animals, known as the Great American Interchange , but the closure of the seaway resulted in a "Great American Schism" as it affected ocean currents, salinity, and temperatures in both

1600-794: Is now the Carpathian region, that were similar to the Sargasso Sea. It is possible that the population in the Sargasso Sea migrated to the Atlantic as the Tethys closed at the end of the Miocene around 17 Ma. The origin of the Sargasso fauna and flora remained enigmatic for centuries. The fossils found in the Carpathians in the mid-20th century often called the "quasi-Sargasso assemblage", finally showed that this assemblage originated in

1700-985: The Iliad and the Odyssey , this all-encompassing ocean was instead known as Oceanus , the gigantic river that encircled the world; in contrast to the enclosed seas well known to the Greeks: the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In contrast, the term "Atlantic" originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the West African coast. The term " Aethiopian Ocean ", derived from Ancient Ethiopia ,

1800-741: The Age of Discovery , it was known for separating the New World of the Americas ( North America and South America ) from the Old World of Afro-Eurasia ( Africa , Asia , and Europe ). Through its separation of Afro-Eurasia from the Americas, the Atlantic Ocean has played a central role in the development of human society, globalization, and the histories of many nations. While the Norse were

1900-531: The Arauco War against Spanish colonizers. Until the arrival of the Spanish, the Mapuches had largely maintained chilihueques ( llamas ) as livestock. The Spanish introduction of sheep caused some competition between the two domesticated species. Anecdotal evidence of the mid-17th century shows that by then sheep far outnumbered llamas. The decline of llamas reached a point in the late 18th century when only

2000-668: The Caribbean . The cultures of both hemispheres were significantly impacted by the migration of people, both free and enslaved, from the Old World to the New. European colonists and African slaves replaced indigenous populations across the Americas, to varying degrees. The number of Africans taken to the New World was far greater than the number of Europeans moving there in the first three centuries after Columbus. The new contacts among

2100-564: The Carpathian Basin from where it migrated over Sicily to the central Atlantic where it evolved into modern species of the Sargasso Sea. The location of the spawning ground for European eels remained unknown for decades . In the early 19th century it was discovered that the southern Sargasso Sea is the spawning ground for both the European and American eel and that the former migrate more than 5,000 km (3,100 mi) and

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2200-610: The Columbian exchange while occasionally hosting naval battles. Such naval battles, as well as growing trade from regional American powers like the United States and Brazil , both increased in degree during the early 20th century, and while no major military conflicts have taken place in the Atlantic recently, the ocean remains a core component of trade around the world. The Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Europe and Africa to

2300-530: The Equator . The oldest known mentions of an "Atlantic" sea come from Stesichorus around mid-sixth century BC (Sch. A. R. 1. 211): Atlantikôi pelágei (Ancient Greek: Ἀτλαντικῷ πελάγει , ' the Atlantic sea ' , etym . ' Sea of Atlas ' ) and in The Histories of Herodotus around 450 BC (Hdt. 1.202.4): Atlantis thalassa (Ancient Greek: Ἀτλαντὶς θάλασσα , ' Sea of Atlas ' or '

2400-474: The Icelandic Low produces frequent storms. Icebergs are common from early February to the end of July across the shipping lanes near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland . The ice season is longer in the polar regions, but there is little shipping in those areas. Hurricanes are a hazard in the western parts of the North Atlantic during the summer and autumn. Due to a consistently strong wind shear and

2500-486: The Mapuche of Araucania resisted the adoption of Spanish technology, holding to their ancestral customs . Indigenous people have often been seen as static recipients of transatlantic encounters, but thousands of Native Americans crossed the ocean during the sixteenth century, some by choice. The Atlantic slave trade consisted of the involuntary immigration of 11.7 million Africans, primarily from West Africa, to

2600-684: The North American and Eurasian plates in the North Atlantic and the South American and African plates in the South Atlantic. The MAR produces basaltic volcanoes in Eyjafjallajökull , Iceland, and pillow lava on the ocean floor. The depth of water at the apex of the ridge is less than 2,700 m (1,500 fathoms ; 8,900  ft ) in most places, while the bottom of the ridge is three times as deep. The MAR

2700-616: The North Atlantic Drift is thought to have at least some influence on climate. For example, the Gulf Stream helps moderate winter temperatures along the coastline of southeastern North America, keeping it warmer in winter along the coast than inland areas. The Gulf Stream also keeps extreme temperatures from occurring on the Florida Peninsula. In the higher latitudes, the North Atlantic Drift, warms

2800-514: The North Atlantic oscillation , occurs. On average, the Atlantic is the saltiest major ocean; surface water salinity in the open ocean ranges from 33 to 37 parts per thousand (3.3–3.7%) by mass and varies with latitude and season. Evaporation, precipitation, river inflow and sea ice melting influence surface salinity values. Although the lowest salinity values are just north of the equator (because of heavy tropical rainfall), in general,

2900-555: The Scotia Sea , and other tributary water bodies. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km (69,510 mi) compared to 135,663 km (84,297 mi) for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km (41,100,000 sq mi) or 23.5% of the global ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km (74,471,500 cu mi) or 23.3% of

3000-638: The meridional overturning circulation (MOC), the northward heat transport of which is threatened by anthropogenic climate change. Large variations in the subpolar gyre on a decade-century scale, associated with the North Atlantic oscillation , are especially pronounced in Labrador Sea Water , the upper layers of the MOC. The South Atlantic is dominated by the anti-cyclonic southern subtropical gyre. The South Atlantic Central Water originates in this gyre, while Antarctic Intermediate Water originates in

3100-458: The thermocline of the subtropical gyre. The Sargasso Sea in the western North Atlantic can be defined as the area where two species of Sargassum ( S. fluitans and natans ) float, an area 4,000 km (2,500 mi) wide and encircled by the Gulf Stream , North Atlantic Drift , and North Equatorial Current . This population of seaweed probably originated from Tertiary ancestors on

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3200-578: The 1870s, the Challenger expedition discovered parts of what is now known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, or: An elevated ridge rising to an average height of about 1,900 fathoms [3,500 m; 11,400 ft] below the surface traverses the basins of the North and South Atlantic in a meridianal direction from Cape Farewell, probably its far south at least as Gough Island, following roughly

3300-618: The 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean. The Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs and seas. These include the Baltic Sea , Black Sea , Caribbean Sea , Davis Strait , Denmark Strait , part of the Drake Passage , Gulf of Mexico , Labrador Sea , Mediterranean Sea , North Sea , Norwegian Sea , almost all of

3400-485: The 1960s and CFCs . The clockwise warm-water North Atlantic Gyre occupies the northern Atlantic, and the counter-clockwise warm-water South Atlantic Gyre appears in the southern Atlantic. In the North Atlantic, surface circulation is dominated by three inter-connected currents: the Gulf Stream which flows north-east from the North American coast at Cape Hatteras ; the North Atlantic Current ,

3500-650: The Americas as late as the 1880s, when large plantations were established in the Caribbean. The Manila galleon trading network introduced American plants such as chayote and papaya into Southeast Asia; these were incorporated into the cuisines there. Long before the arrival of the Spaniards, cultivators brought wild tomatoes from Central America to South America. Soon after Columbus's visit, tomatoes were brought to Spain, and from there to other European countries, including Italy. In 1544, Pietro Andrea Mattioli ,

3600-434: The Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries, far outnumbering the about 3.4 million Europeans who migrated, most voluntarily, to the New World between 1492 and 1840. The prevalence of African slaves in the New World was related to the demographic decline of New World peoples and the need of European colonists for labor. Another reason for the demand for slaves was the cultivation of crops such as sugar cane suitable for

3700-452: The Americas from Africa, probably by the slave trade. Many people in Africa had acquired immunity. Europeans suffered higher rates of death than did people of African descent when exposed to yellow fever in the Americas, as numerous epidemics swept the colonies and sugar plantations. On the other hand, European exploration of tropical areas was aided by the New World discovery of quinine ,

3800-647: The Americas provided the Old World with new arable landscapes suitable for growing sugarcane and coffee . Coffee, introduced in the Americas circa 1720 from Africa and the Middle East, and sugarcane, introduced from the Indian subcontinent to the Spanish West Indies , subsequently became the primary commodity crops and exported goods of extensive Latin American plantations. Introduced to India by

3900-425: The Americas spread around the world, including potatoes , maize , tomatoes , and tobacco . Before 1500, potatoes were not grown outside of South America . By the 18th century, they were cultivated and consumed widely in Europe and had become important crops in both India and North America. Potatoes eventually became an important staple food in the diets of many Europeans, contributing to an estimated 12 to 25% of

4000-432: The Americas, including maize and sweet potatoes , contributing to population growth there. On a larger scale, the introduction of potatoes and maize to the Old World improved people's nutrition throughout the Eurasian landmass, enabling more varied and abundant food production. Cassava and maize can have negative consequences when overused (for example, the nutritional diseases pellagra and konzo ). The discovery of

4100-429: The Atlantic and Pacific. Marine organisms on both sides of the isthmus became isolated and either diverged or went extinct. Columbian exchange The Columbian exchange , also known as the Columbian interchange , was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the New World (the Americas ) in the Western Hemisphere , and the Old World ( Afro-Eurasia ) in the Eastern Hemisphere , from

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4200-407: The Atlantic are wide off Newfoundland, southernmost South America, and northeastern Europe. In the western Atlantic carbonate platforms dominate large areas, for example, the Blake Plateau and Bermuda Rise . The Atlantic is surrounded by passive margins except at a few locations where active margins form deep trenches : the Puerto Rico Trench (8,376 m or 27,480 ft maximum depth) in

4300-468: The Atlantic include the Challenger expedition and the German Meteor expedition ; as of 2001 , Columbia University 's Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and the United States Navy Hydrographic Office conduct research on the ocean. The MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2,000 m (6,600 ft) along most of its length, but

4400-403: The Atlantic north of the equator. The coldest zones are in high latitudes, with the coldest regions corresponding to the areas covered by sea ice. Ocean currents influence the climate by transporting warm and cold waters to other regions. The winds that are cooled or warmed when blowing over these currents influence adjacent land areas. The Gulf Stream and its northern extension towards Europe,

4500-455: The Atlantic sea ' ) where the name refers to "the sea beyond the pillars of Heracles " which is said to be part of the sea that surrounds all land. In these uses, the name refers to Atlas , the Titan in Greek mythology , who supported the heavens and who later appeared as a frontispiece in medieval maps and also lent his name to modern atlases . On the other hand, to early Greek sailors and in ancient Greek mythological literature such as

4600-409: The Bahamas, while coarse river outwash sands and silt are common in shallow shelf areas like the Georges Bank . Coarse sand, boulders, and rocks were transported into some areas, such as off the coast of Nova Scotia or the Gulf of Maine during the Pleistocene ice ages. The break-up of Pangaea began in the central Atlantic, between North America and Northwest Africa, where rift basins opened during

4700-524: The Columbian exchange may have been the spread of syphilis from the native people of the Caribbean Sea to Europe. The history of syphilis has been well-studied, but the origin of the disease remains a subject of debate. There are two primary hypotheses: one proposes that syphilis was carried to Europe from the Americas by the crew of Christopher Columbus in the early 1490s, while the other proposes that syphilis previously existed in Europe but went unrecognized. The first written descriptions of syphilis in

4800-404: The European shores of the former Tethys Ocean and has, if so, maintained itself by vegetative growth , floating in the ocean for millions of years. Other species endemic to the Sargasso Sea include the sargassum fish , a predator with algae-like appendages which hovers motionless among the Sargassum . Fossils of similar fishes have been found in fossil bays of the former Tethys Ocean, in what

4900-400: The GCAA, as stipulated in the new Act 1120 (as amended) includes the inter alia: (Source: GCAA www.gcaa.com.gh ) Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions , with an area of about 85,133,000 km (32,870,000 sq mi). It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During

5000-405: The Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. This period also saw the first stages of the uplift of the Atlas Mountains. The exact timing is controversial with estimates ranging from 200 to 170 Ma. The opening of the Atlantic Ocean coincided with the initial break-up of the supercontinent Pangaea , both of which were initiated by the eruption of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), one of

5100-403: The Mapuche from Mariquina and the Huequén next to Angol raised the species. In the Chiloé Archipelago the introduction of pigs by the Spanish proved a success. They could feed on the abundant shellfish and algae exposed by the large tides . In the other direction, the turkey and the Muscovy duck were New World domestic animals transferred to Europe. The first manifestation of

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5200-407: The Native American population died in epidemics within the first 100–150 years following 1492. Nunn and Qian also refer to the calculations of the scientist David Cook, in which in some cases no one survived due to diseases. The deadliest Old World diseases in the Americas were smallpox, measles , whooping cough , chicken pox , bubonic plague , typhus , and malaria . Yellow fever was brought to

5300-418: The New World. The term was first used in 1972 by the American historian and professor Alfred W. Crosby in his environmental history book The Columbian Exchange . It was rapidly adopted by other historians and by journalists. In 1972, Alfred W. Crosby , an American historian at the University of Texas at Austin , published the book The Columbian Exchange , thus coining the term. His primary focus

5400-468: The North Atlantic Gyre, the cyclonic North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre plays a key role in climate variability. It is governed by ocean currents from marginal seas and regional topography, rather than being steered by wind, both in the deep ocean and at sea level. The subpolar gyre forms an important part of the global thermohaline circulation . Its eastern portion includes eddying branches of the North Atlantic Current which transport warm, saline waters from

5500-452: The Old World came in 1493. The first large outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1494–1495 among the army of Charles VIII during its invasion of Naples . Many of the crew members who had served with Columbus had joined this army. After the victory, Charles's largely mercenary army returned to their respective homes, spreading "the Great Pox" across Europe and killing up to five million people. The Columbian exchange of diseases in

5600-429: The Portuguese, chili peppers and potatoes from South America in turn became integral parts of Indian cuisine , and starting the process of making curry an international dish. Because crops traveled widely but at least initially their endemic fungi did not, for a limited time yields were somewhat higher in the new regions to which they were introduced, a form of ecological release or " yield honeymoon ". However,

5700-437: The South Atlantic, and the "Atmospheric Bridge", which evaporates subtropical Atlantic waters and exports it to the Pacific. The Atlantic Ocean consists of four major, upper water masses with distinct temperature and salinity. The Atlantic subarctic upper water in the northernmost North Atlantic is the source for subarctic intermediate water and North Atlantic intermediate water. North Atlantic central water can be divided into

5800-430: The adoption by Polynesians of an American crop, the sweet potato . However, it was only with the first voyage of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and his crew to the Americas in 1492 that the Columbian exchange began, resulting in major transformations in the cultures and livelihoods of the peoples in both hemispheres. Because of the new trading resulting from the Columbian exchange, several plants native to

5900-412: The atmosphere over the oceans, keeping the British Isles and northwestern Europe mild and cloudy, and not severely cold in winter, like other locations at the same high latitude. The cold water currents contribute to heavy fog off the coast of eastern Canada (the Grand Banks of Newfoundland area) and Africa's northwestern coast. In general, winds transport moisture and air over land areas. Every winter,

6000-416: The aviation industry in the country. The development of Ghana’s aviation industry dates back to 1918 when the idea of aerial transportation for the then Gold Coast was conceived. Starting as a unit within the Public Works Development in 1930, Civil Aviation was granted Departmental status in 1953, under the Ministry of Transport and Communications. It remained a Department until May 16, 1986, when it assumed

6100-473: The climatic conditions of the new lands. The Africans were less likely to die, too, from those diseases that had been brought to the New World. Enslaved Africans helped shape an emerging African-American culture in the New World. They participated in both skilled and unskilled labor. For example, according to the work of James L. Watson , slaves were involved in handicraft production. They could also work as ordinary workers, and as managers of small enterprises in

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6200-425: The east, and the Americas to the west. As one component of the interconnected World Ocean , it is connected in the north to the Arctic Ocean , to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and the Southern Ocean in the south. Other definitions describe the Atlantic as extending southward to Antarctica . The Atlantic Ocean is divided in two parts, the northern and southern Atlantic, by

6300-431: The east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe: the Strait of Gibraltar (where it connects with the Mediterranean Sea  – one of its marginal seas  – and, in turn, the Black Sea , both of which also touch upon Asia) and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean. The 20° East meridian , running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In

6400-544: The eastern and western North Atlantic central water since the western part is strongly affected by the Gulf Stream and therefore the upper layer is closer to underlying fresher subpolar intermediate water. The eastern water is saltier because of its proximity to Mediterranean water. North Atlantic central water flows into South Atlantic central water at 15°N . There are five intermediate waters: four low-salinity waters formed at subpolar latitudes and one high-salinity formed through evaporation. Arctic intermediate water flows from

6500-406: The exchange of pathogens has continued alongside globalization, and crops have declined back toward their endemic yields. The Spanish were the first Europeans to grow cacao , in 1590. Though cacao was usually consumed by European populations in the form of sweets and was at first treated as an expensive luxury item, chocolate helped with fatigue and provided energy. As for vanilla , the pods of

6600-415: The field. The scientific consensus is that humans first came to the New World from Siberia thousands of years ago. There is little additional evidence of contacts between the peoples of the Old World and those of the New World, although the literature speculating on pre-Columbian trans-oceanic journeys is extensive. The first inhabitants of the New World brought with them small domestic dogs and, possibly,

6700-534: The fields. This widespread knowledge among African slaves eventually led to rice becoming a staple food in the New World. Citrus fruits and grapes were brought to the Americas from the Mediterranean. At first planters struggled to adapt these crops to New World climates, but by the late 19th century they were cultivated more consistently. Bananas were introduced into the Americas in the 16th century by Portuguese sailors, who brought them from West Africa. Despite this early introduction, they were little consumed in

6800-478: The first effective treatment for malaria . Cinchona trees from the Andes were processed and quinine was obtained from their bark. Europeans suffered from this disease, but some indigenous populations had developed at least partial resistance to it. In Africa, resistance to malaria has been associated with other genetic changes among sub-Saharan Africans and their descendants, which can cause sickle-cell disease . The resistance of sub-Saharan Africans to malaria in

6900-430: The first known humans to cross the Atlantic, it was the expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492 that proved to be the most consequential. Columbus' expedition ushered in an age of exploration and colonization of the Americas by European powers , most notably Portugal , Spain , France , and the United Kingdom . From the 16th to 19th centuries, the Atlantic Ocean was the center of both an eponymous slave trade and

7000-426: The global population resulted in the interchange of many species of crops and livestock , which supported increases in food production and population in the Old World. American crops such as maize , potatoes , tomatoes , tobacco , cassava , sweet potatoes , and chili peppers became important crops around the world. Old World rice , wheat , sugar cane , and livestock , among other crops, became important in

7100-431: The highest by an African country at the time after the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) concluded its Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) in April 2019. Again, Parliament passed the Air Navigation Services Agency Bill on November 4, 2020, creating the legal framework for the establishment of an autonomous entity out of GCAA, in line with the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) of ICAO. The role of

7200-879: The intentional introductions of cultivated plants that were Crosby's focus, many wild plants and weeds of cultivation were transferred in both directions, permanently affecting the ecology of many parts of the world. Initially, the Columbian exchange of animals largely went in one direction, from Europe to the New World, as the Eurasian regions had domesticated many more animals. Horses , donkeys , mules , pigs , cattle , sheep , goats , chickens , dogs , cats , and bees were rapidly adopted by native peoples for transport, food, and other uses. The Plains Indians , for example, made extensive use of horses for hunting. While mesoamerican peoples, Mayas in particular, already practiced apiculture , producing wax and honey from

7300-437: The late 15th century on. It is named after the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and is related to the European colonization and global trade following his 1492 voyage . Some of the exchanges were deliberate while others were unintended. Communicable diseases of Old World origin resulted in an 80 to 95 percent reduction in the indigenous population of the Americas from the 15th century onwards, and their extinction in

7400-517: The latter 2,000 km (1,200 mi). Ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream transport eel larvae from the Sargasso Sea to foraging areas in North America, Europe, and northern Africa. Recent but disputed research suggests that eels possibly use Earth's magnetic field to navigate through the ocean both as larvae and as adults. The climate is influenced by the temperatures of the surface waters and water currents as well as winds. Because of

7500-666: The limits of the oceans and seas in 1953, but some of these definitions have been revised since then and some are not recognized by various authorities, institutions, and countries, for example the CIA World Factbook . Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas vary. The Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait , Greenland Sea , Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea . To

7600-501: The lowest values are in the high latitudes and along coasts where large rivers enter. Maximum salinity values occur at about 25° north and south , in subtropical regions with low rainfall and high evaporation. The high surface salinity in the Atlantic, on which the Atlantic thermohaline circulation is dependent, is maintained by two processes: the Agulhas Leakage/Rings , which brings salty Indian Ocean waters into

7700-514: The margins of the continents constitute about 11% of the bottom topography with few deep channels cut across the continental rise. The mean depth between 60°N and 60°S is 3,730 m (12,240 ft), or close to the average for the global ocean, with a modal depth between 4,000 and 5,000 m (13,000 and 16,000 ft). In the South Atlantic the Walvis Ridge and Rio Grande Rise form barriers to ocean currents. The Laurentian Abyss

7800-664: The maximum depth, the Milwaukee Deep in the Puerto Rico Trench , is 8,376 m (27,480 ft). Top large seas: The bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR). It runs from 87°N or 300 km (190 mi) south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 54°S . Expeditions to explore the bathymertry of

7900-732: The most extensive and voluminous large igneous provinces in Earth's history associated with the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event , one of Earth's major extinction events . Theoliitic dikes , sills , and lava flows from the CAMP eruption at 200 Ma have been found in West Africa, eastern North America, and northern South America. The extent of the volcanism has been estimated to 4.5 × 10  km (1.7 × 10  sq mi) of which 2.5 × 10  km (9.7 × 10  sq mi) covered what

8000-571: The north to become the source for North Atlantic deep water, south of the Greenland-Scotland sill. These two intermediate waters have different salinity in the western and eastern basins. The wide range of salinities in the North Atlantic is caused by the asymmetry of the northern subtropical gyre and a large number of contributions from a wide range of sources: Labrador Sea, Norwegian-Greenland Sea, Mediterranean, and South Atlantic Intermediate Water. The North Atlantic deep water (NADW)

8100-425: The ocean's great capacity to store and release heat, maritime climates are more moderate and have less extreme seasonal variations than inland climates. Precipitation can be approximated from coastal weather data and air temperature from water temperatures. The oceans are the major source of atmospheric moisture that is obtained through evaporation. Climatic zones vary with latitude; the warmest zones stretch across

8200-479: The other direction was by far deadlier. The peoples of the Americas previously had no exposure to European and African diseases and little or no immunity. An epidemic of swine influenza beginning in 1493 killed many of the Taino people inhabiting Caribbean islands. The pre-contact population of the island of Hispaniola was probably at least 500,000, but by 1526, fewer than 500 were still alive. Spanish exploitation

8300-627: The outlines of the coasts of the Old and the New Worlds. The remainder of the ridge was discovered in the 1920s by the German Meteor expedition using echo-sounding equipment. The exploration of the MAR in the 1950s led to the general acceptance of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics . Most of the MAR runs under water but where it reaches the surfaces it has produced volcanic islands. While nine of these have collectively been nominated

8400-497: The plant after chemical treatment acquired an aroma, which was then used both in cooking and in perfumery. Rice , originally from Asia, became widely planted in the New World; European planters there relied upon the skills of African slaves to cultivate it. Georgia , South Carolina , Cuba , and Puerto Rico were major centers of rice production during the colonial era . Enslaved Africans brought their knowledge of water control, milling, winnowing , and other agrarian practices to

8500-651: The pond" or "on the other side of the pond" or "across the pond", rather than to discuss the ocean itself. The term dates to 1640, first appearing in print in a pamphlet released during the reign of Charles I , and reproduced in 1869 in Nehemiah Wallington 's Historical Notices of Events Occurring Chiefly in The Reign of Charles I , where "great Pond" is used in reference to the Atlantic Ocean by Francis Windebank , Charles I's Secretary of State . The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) defined

8600-561: The population growth in Afro-Eurasia between 1700 and 1900. The introduction of the potato to the Old World accounts for 47 percent of the increase in urbanization between 1700 and 1900. Cassava was introduced from South America by the Portuguese in the 16th century, and gradually replaced sorghum and millet as Africa's most important food crop. Spanish colonizers of the 16th century introduced new staple crops to Asia from

8700-518: The population of the Inca Empire a few years before the arrival of the Spanish. The ravages of Old World diseases and Spanish exploitation reduced the Mexican population from an estimated 20 million to barely more than a million in the 16th century. The indigenous population of Peru decreased from about 9 million in the pre-Columbian era, to 600,000 in 1620. An estimated 80–95 percent of

8800-438: The seafloor. The oldest oceanic crust in the Atlantic is up to 145 million years and is situated off the west coast of Africa and the east coast of North America, or on either side of the South Atlantic. In many places, the continental shelf and continental slope are covered in thick sedimentary layers. For instance, on the North American side of the ocean, large carbonate deposits formed in warm shallow waters such as Florida and

8900-486: The southern United States and the Caribbean contributed greatly to the specific character of the Africa-sourced slavery in those regions. The movement of people between New and Old Worlds caused cultural exchanges, extending to what Pieter Emmer has called "a clash of cultures". This involved the transfer of European values to indigenous cultures, such as the concept of private property in regions where property

9000-644: The status of a corporate body under the Ministry. In November 2004, PNDC Law 151, was amended with the enactment of the Ghana Civil Aviation Act, 2004 (Act 678). The Act mandated the ceding of the airport management function of GCAA to a new entity to enable the Authority focus on its core mandate of regulating the air transport industry and providing air navigation services. In line with the Act,

9100-551: The subtropics to the northeastern Atlantic. There this water is cooled during winter and forms return currents that merge along the eastern continental slope of Greenland where they form an intense (40–50  Sv ) current which flows around the continental margins of the Labrador Sea . A third of this water becomes part of the deep portion of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). The NADW, in turn, feeds

9200-421: The surface is usually covered with sea ice in the Labrador Sea , Denmark Strait , and Baltic Sea. The Coriolis effect circulates North Atlantic water in a clockwise direction, whereas South Atlantic water circulates counter-clockwise. The south tides in the Atlantic Ocean are semi-diurnal; that is, two high tides occur every 24 lunar hours. In latitudes above 40° North some east–west oscillation, known as

9300-428: The total volume of the Earth's oceans. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km (31,570,000 sq mi) and has a volume of 305,811,900 km (73,368,200 cu mi). The North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km (16,020,000 sq mi) (11.5%) and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km (15,550,000 sq mi) (11.1%). The average depth is 3,646 m (11,962 ft) and

9400-636: The upper layers of the circumpolar region, near the Drake Passage and the Falkland Islands. Both these currents receive some contribution from the Indian Ocean. On the African east coast, the small cyclonic Angola Gyre lies embedded in the large subtropical gyre. The southern subtropical gyre is partly masked by a wind-induced Ekman layer . The residence time of the gyre is 4.4–8.5 years. North Atlantic Deep Water flows southward below

9500-424: The western Atlantic and South Sandwich Trench (8,264 m or 27,113 ft) in the South Atlantic. There are numerous submarine canyons off northeastern North America, western Europe, and northwestern Africa. Some of these canyons extend along the continental rises and farther into the abyssal plains as deep-sea channels. In 1922, a historic moment in cartography and oceanography occurred. The USS Stewart used

9600-494: Was applied to the southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century. During the Age of Discovery , the Atlantic was also known to English cartographers as the Great Western Ocean . The pond is a term often used by British and American speakers in reference to the northern Atlantic Ocean, as a form of meiosis , or ironic understatement. It is used mostly when referring to events or circumstances "on this side of

9700-540: Was mapping the biological and cultural transfers that occurred between the Old and New Worlds . He studied the effects of Columbus 's voyages between the two – specifically, the global diffusion of crops, seeds, and plants from the New World to the Old, which radically transformed agriculture in both regions. His research made a lasting contribution to the way scholars understand the variety of contemporary ecosystems that arose due to these transfers. His 2004 book Ecological Imperialism presented further research in

9800-460: Was often viewed as communal, universal monogamy (though many indigenous peoples were already monogamous), the role of women and children in the social system, and different concepts of labor, including slavery. Christianity was brought to the indigenous peoples by priests and monks from Europe. Tobacco was used in the Old World as medicine and currency, while in the New World, it was the subject of religious customs. Some New World peoples such as

9900-575: Was part of the cause of the near-extinction of the native people. In 1518, smallpox was first recorded in the Americas and became the deadliest imported Old World disease. Forty percent of the 200,000 people living in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan , later Mexico City , are estimated to have died of smallpox in 1520 during the war of the Aztecs with conquistador Hernán Cortés . Epidemics, possibly of smallpox, spread from Central America , devastated

10000-553: Was promulgated. The law repealed Act 678 and its amendments, Acts 906 and 985. The new Act re-established the Authority as an autonomous entity responsible for aviation safety and security.  Act 1120 also ensures compliance with new ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices and strengthens the Ghanaian civil aviation system by ensuring there is in place a robust and modern legal framework to guide all aviation operations. Ghana, obtained an effective Implementation (EI) rate of 89.89%,

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