Islands of the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest
body of water on Earth — covering a third of its surface — with a surface area in the region
of 180 million km². Its waters contain an unknown number of islands and reefs — more than all
the other oceans and seas combined — the vast majority of these being found both south and west,
leaving the eastern and northern Pacific regions largely devoid of any land masses. The number of islands
within the Pacifc is often estimated to be between 20,000 and 30,000, although the true figure is likely
far greater.
Extending from the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean in the north to the shores of Antarctica in the south, the Pacific Ocean spans across 14,500 km of latitude. From west to east the Pacific stretches from the Indonesian islands and eastern coasts of Asia and Australia for up to 17,000 km to the shores of the Americas. Around its western margins are numerous seas, such as the Coral Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, Yellow Sea and Philippine Sea; in the south its southern waters mingle with those of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans — in a region often referred to as the Southern Ocean.
In the north, northeast and northwest are the volcanic island-arc systems that form part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, including the Aleutian Islands, Kuril Islands, the islands of Japan and the Mariana Islands. In the west and southwest are the four great groupings that are traditionally used to describe the islands of the Pacific: Indonesia, Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. Together they form the super-region known as Oceania.