3
Telecommunications:
broadcast stations - 1 AM, 1 FM, 2 TV; 1 Pacific Ocean INTELSAT earth
station

*Pacific Islands, Trust Territory of the (Palau), Defense Forces

Note:
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

Location:
body of water between the Western Hemisphere and Asia/Australia
Map references:
Asia, North America, Oceania, South America, Standard Time Zones of the
World
Area:
total area:
165.384 million km2
comparative area:
about 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
note:
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
Coastline:
135,663 km
International 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 currents in the northern Pacific are dominated by a clockwise,
warm-water gyre (broad circular system of currents) and in the southern
Pacific by a counterclockwise, cool-water gyre; in the northern Pacific sea
ice forms in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk in winter; in the southern
Pacific sea ice from Antarctica reaches its northernmost extent 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, including the
world's deepest, the 10,924 meter 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;