There are many interesting facts about the Atlantic Ocean.  The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest ocean in the world.  The Atlantic covers 17% of the Earth's total surface and 26% of the Earth's ocean surface.  It is between North/South America and Africa/Europe.  The Atlantic has an average depth of about 12,100 feet.  The widest part of the Atlantic, between Mexico and Spain is 5,000 miles wide.  The narrowest is about 1,800 miles.  The far northern and southern parts of the Atlantic Ocean have cold winters and short cool summers.  Water temperatures range from 86 degrees farenheit near the equator to just below freezing in the far northern and southern areas.
 
 

     The first Atlantic explorers were supposedly the Phoenicians who were great traders in the Mediterranean region. At about 450 B.C., a Phoenician expedition sailed south along the African coast searching for new lands and people  to trade with.  At about 1000A.D. Lief Erickson, a Viking explorer, sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to America.  He called it Vinland.  No one was sure where Vinland was because he made no maps. No other explorers heard of his trips to North America.
    In 1492, Christopher Columbus left Spain to cross the Atlantic Ocean to get to Asia. No one believed he could do it because they thought the world was flat.  Columbus, however, thought the world was round. He expected to get to Asia but sailed into the land mass now called North America.
      After Columbus, European exploration increased and many new routes were established.  The Atlantic Ocean now became a main route for trade between Europe and America.  Today, it still remains a main artery for travel and trade, and is widely fished by the countries along its shores

        Huge barges from New York are dumping garbage in the Atlantic Ocean.  They take it out about ten miles from shore and dump the garbage into the ocean.  Some of our country's man made toxins have been found in whales.

     The salinity of the surface waters in the open ocean ranges from 33 to 37  parts per thousand and varies with latitude and season.  Although the minimum salinity values are found north of the equator, most of the time the lowest values are in the high latitudes and along the coasts where larger rivers flow into the ocean.

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Aquatic Life