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{{Five oceans}}
The '''Pacific Ocean''' is the largest and deepest of Earth's five [[Borders of the oceans|oceanic divisions]]. It extends from the [[Arctic Ocean]] in 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
At {{convert|165250000|km2|sp=us|abbr=off}} 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 the planet's total surface area, larger than its entire land area ({{convert|148,000,000 |sqkm|abbr=on}}).<ref name="ebc">"[https://www.britannica.com/place/Pacific-Ocean Pacific Ocean]". ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica|Britannica Concise]].'' 2008: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.</ref> The centers of both the [[Land and water hemispheres|Water Hemisphere]] and the [[Western Hemisphere]], as well as the [[Pole of inaccessibility#Oceanic pole of inaccessibility|oceanic pole of inaccessibility]], are in the Pacific Ocean. Ocean circulation (caused by the [[Coriolis effect]]) subdivides it<ref>{{cite web|url=https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_currents/04currents1.html|title=The Coriolis Effect|publisher=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|accessdate=April 8, 2022}}</ref> into two largely independent volumes of water that meet at the [[equator]], 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 East]]ern/[[Pacific Asia]], and the '''Southwest Pacific''' around [[Oceania]].
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