Atlantic — LLMpedia

Atlantic
CIA · Public domain · source
Name	Atlantic Ocean
Type	Ocean
Area	106400000 km2
Max depth	8740 m
Basin countries	United States; Canada; Brazil; Argentina; United Kingdom; Ireland; France; Spain; Portugal; Morocco; Western Sahara; Mauritania; Senegal; Guinea; Sierra Leone; Liberia; Ivory Coast; Ghana; Togo; Benin; Nigeria; Cameroon; Gabon; Angola; Namibia; South Africa; Iceland; Norway; Sweden; Denmark; Netherlands; Belgium; Germany; Poland; Lithuania; Latvia; Estonia; Russia; Finland; Algeria; Tunisia; Libya; Egypt; Israel; Lebanon; Syria; Turkey; Cyprus; Greece; Italy; Malta; Albania; Montenegro; Croatia; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Slovenia; Monaco; Vatican City; San Marino

Contents

Atlantic

The Atlantic is the second-largest ocean, connecting the continents of North America, South America, Europe, and Africa and linking major seas such as the Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. It has been central to episodes including the Age of Discovery, the Transatlantic slave trade, and modern geopolitics involving states like the United States, United Kingdom, and Brazil. Its currents, basins, and margins have shaped the development of institutions such as the International Maritime Organization and treaties like the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Etymology and naming

The name derives from classical sources associated with Greek mythology, including references to Atlas (mythology), and appears in works by authors such as Homer, Herodotus, and Strabo. Renaissance cartographers like Gerardus Mercator and explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci propagated nomenclature used by states including Spain and Portugal during the Age of Discovery. Scholarly debates in the eras of Pierre-Simon Laplace and Alexander von Humboldt contrasted classical etymology with evolving geographic terminology adopted by institutions like the Royal Geographical Society.

The ocean is bounded to the west by North America and South America, to the east by Europe and Africa, to the north by the Arctic Ocean via passages near Greenland and Iceland, and to the south by the convergence with the Southern Ocean near Antarctica and the Drake Passage. Major marginal seas and gulfs include the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea, while large island groups include the Bermuda, the Canary Islands, the Azores, the Cape Verde Islands, and the British Isles. Notable straits and passages include the Strait of Gibraltar, the Danish Straits, and the Sunda Strait (via connected Indo-Pacific routes), which have shaped naval strategies of powers like Spain, France, and the Netherlands.

The mid-ocean ridge system, particularly the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, forms a divergent plate boundary between the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate plus the South American Plate and the African Plate, producing seafloor spreading documented by researchers such as Harry Hess and Marie Tharp. Abyssal plains, fracture zones like the Romanche Fracture Zone, and features such as the Sargasso Sea basin result from tectonics and sedimentation studied by institutions including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Thermohaline circulation, involving the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift, interacts with deep water formation in the Labrador Sea and Greenland Sea, central to models by climatologists like Wallace Broecker.

Atlantic climate gradients span from tropical systems influenced by the Intertropical Convergence Zone and hurricanes tracked by agencies like the National Hurricane Center to subpolar conditions governed by interactions with the Polar Front and ice dynamics around Greenland and Iceland. Marine ecosystems vary from coral reefs in the Caribbean and off Brazil to kelp forests near South Africa and upwelling zones off West Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. Biodiversity includes iconic taxa studied by institutions like the Smithsonian Institution and species such as Atlantic cod, humpback whale, loggerhead sea turtle, and pelagic assemblages in the Sargasso Sea; conservation listings involve the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Exploration milestones include voyages by Vikings to Newfoundland, expeditions of Christopher Columbus linking Europe and the Americas, circumnavigation by Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, and scientific surveys by explorers like James Cook and hydrographers in the Challenger expedition. The ocean facilitated trade networks exemplified by the Triangular trade and conflicts such as the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II, involving navies of the United States Navy, Royal Navy, and Kriegsmarine. Colonial empires of Spain, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands relied on Atlantic routes to administer territories in the Caribbean and Americas.

The Atlantic supports fisheries targeting stocks of Atlantic cod, herring, and tuna, managed under regional bodies like the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas and the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission. Energy resources include offshore oil and gas basins exploited by firms in Norway, United Kingdom, and Brazil, and growing offshore wind farms developed in waters near United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. Major shipping lanes link ports such as New York City, Rotterdam, Shanghai (via interoceanic transshipment), Santos, and Lisbon and are regulated through organizations like the International Maritime Organization and subject to trade routes integral to agreements like the North Atlantic Treaty's strategic context.

Anthropogenic pressures include overfishing documented by the Food and Agriculture Organization, plastic pollution highlighted by researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara, and hydrocarbon spills such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill with transboundary impacts. Climate-driven changes—sea level rise, ocean acidification, and shifts in thermohaline circulation—affect coasts from Florida to the Sahel and are the focus of assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Conservation measures involve marine protected areas designated under frameworks promoted by the Convention on Biological Diversity and regional initiatives by entities like the NATO and the European Union to coordinate maritime stewardship.

Category:Oceans