defense is the responsibility of the US and that will not change when the UN
trusteeship terminates if the Compact of Free Association with the US goes
into effect

:Pacific Ocean Geography

Total area:
165,384,000 km2
Land area:
165,384,000 km2; includes Arafura Sea, Banda Sea, Bellingshausen Sea, Bering
Sea, Bering Strait, Coral Sea, East China Sea, Gulf of Alaska, Makassar
Strait, Philippine Sea, Ross Sea, Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, South China
Sea, Tasman Sea, and other tributary water bodies
Comparative area:
slightly less than 18 times the size of the US; the largest ocean (followed
by the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean); covers about
one-third of the global surface; larger than the total land area of the
world
Coastline:
135,663 km
Disputes:
some maritime disputes (see littoral states)
Climate:
the western Pacific is monsoonal - a rainy season occurs during the summer
months, when moisture-laden winds blow from the ocean over the land, and a
dry season during the winter months, when dry winds blow from the Asian land
mass back to the ocean
Terrain:
surface in the northern Pacific dominated by a clockwise, warm-water gyre
(broad, circular system of currents) and in the southern Pacific by a
counterclockwise, cool-water gyre; sea ice occurs in the Bering Sea and Sea
of Okhotsk during winter and reaches maximum northern extent from Antarctica
in October; the ocean floor in the eastern Pacific is dominated by the East
Pacific Rise, while the western Pacific is dissected by deep trenches; the
world's greatest depth is 10,924 meters in the Marianas Trench
Natural resources:
oil and gas fields, polymetallic nodules, sand and gravel aggregates, placer
deposits, fish
Environment:
endangered marine species include the dugong, sea lion, sea otter, seals,
turtles, and whales; oil pollution in Philippine Sea and South China Sea;
dotted with low coral islands and rugged volcanic islands in the
southwestern Pacific Ocean; subject to tropical cyclones (typhoons) in
southeast and east Asia from May to December (most frequent from July to
October); tropical cyclones (hurricanes) may form south of Mexico and strike
Central America and Mexico from June to October (most common in August and
September); southern shipping lanes subject to icebergs from Antarctica;