The Pacific Ocean is Earth’s largest ocean, covering more than one-third of the planet’s surface.
It stretches from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and lies between Asia and Australia on one side and the Americas on the other. Its area is larger than all of Earth’s land area combined, depending on the boundaries used for measurement.
The Pacific contains the Mariana Trench, whose deepest known point is Challenger Deep. It also includes thousands of islands and is bordered by the volcanic and earthquake-prone Ring of Fire.
The name Pacific comes from the Latin pacificus, meaning peaceful. Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan used a related name after encountering relatively calm waters during part of his 1520 crossing, though the ocean is frequently affected by major storms and tsunamis.