My Ocean
Everything you need to know about the Atlantic Ocean
Location and Width
The Atlantic Ocean has a total area of about 106,400,000 square kilometers. It covers approximately 20% of the earth's surface and separates the continents of Europe and Africa from America. It is second in size only to the Pacific Ocean.
The Atlantic is, generally speaking, an S shaped portion of water.
Natural Resources
The main biological resources are to to be found on the coasts of South America, that are full of fish. These can also be found in Southern Africa, along with a huge quantity of plants. In addition to fish and plants, the Atlantic Ocean is also full of sponges, sea anemones, horseshoe crabs and sea turtles.
The main mineral resources are petroleum and natural gas, lying under the continental shelves and slopes. The parts of the Atlantic Ocean with the most petroleum and natural gas are the United Kingdom and Norway, important for trade since the 1970s. The biggest petrol deposit is in the Lake Maracaibo, off the coasts of Venezuela.
Creatures living in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Wolffish Pair
These fish find a home 16000 meters under water. They can be about 1.5 meters long at their maximum length, and have a diet which mainly consists in hard-shelled mollusks, crabs and sea urchins.
Giant Spider Crab
They might be the largest arthropods on earth. They roam in the ocean at about 300 meters depth, and can be up to 3.7 meters long. Most of them are found in Japan, but they freely thrive in the Atlantic Ocean as well.
Vampire Squid
A Vampire Squid is a creature that lurks in the deepest part of the ocean. It is comfortable at 3000 meters under ground. It can live with nearly no oxygen at all, and its name was given to him because of his tentacles, that it can wrap around itself like a cloak.
Lowest Temperature: -10°. Highest Temperature: 40°.
Pollution
The pollution of water is mainly connected to ocean dumping and shipping. The most visible effects of pollution on water are the overloading of nitrogen and phosphates and algae growing in excessive quantities. This will eventually reduce the quantity of oxygen in the sea and that will result with many forms of life in the ocean dying. The areas of the Atlantic Ocean that are mainly polluted are: the Baltic Sea, the English Channel and the Gulf of Guinea.