General information: According to Simplyyellowpages, the Atlantic Ocean remains the second largest of the world’s five oceans (smaller than the Pacific Ocean, but larger than the Indian, Southern, and Arctic Oceans). The Kiel Canal (Germany), Øresund (Denmark and Sweden), the Bosphorus (Turkey), the Strait of Gibraltar (Morocco and Spain) and the Gulf of St. Lawrence are strategic important waterways. The coastal waters of the central and southern Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States are of great importance for commerce and recreation. In the spring of 2000, by decision of the International Hydrographic Organization, the boundaries of the fifth world ocean, formed by the southern parts of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, were determined. The new ocean extends from the coast of Antarctica north to 60°S. sh., which coincides with the boundaries defined by the Antarctic Treaty. Geography
Geography
Location: body of water between Africa, Europe, the Southern Ocean and America.
Geographical coordinates: 0° 00′ s. latitude, 25° 00′ W
Reference map: Area
: total: 76.762 million km2; note: includes the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caribbean Sea, Davis Strait, Danish Strait, part of the Drake Passage, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Norwegian Sea, most of the Scottish Sea and other waters of the Atlantic Ocean Basin.
Comparative area: slightly less than 6.5 US area.
Land borders:
Coastline: 111,866 km.
Maritime claims:
Climate: tropical cyclones (hurricanes) originating off the African coast near Cape Verde and moving west to the Caribbean Sea; hurricanes are most frequent from August to November, but may also occur from May to December.
Terrain: the surface is usually covered with sea ice from October to June in the Labrador Sea, the Danish Strait and the Baltic Sea; warm-water rings (wide ring-shaped systems of currents) running clockwise are observed in the North Atlantic, and warm-water rings running counterclockwise are observed in the South Atlantic; The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs along the ocean floor, cutting through the entire Atlantic basin from north to south.
Maximum and minimum heights: lowest point: Milwaukee Trench in the Puerto Rico Trench -8,605 m; highest point: sea level 0 m.
Natural resources: oil and gas deposits, fish, marine mammals (seals and whales), sand and gravel, gold placers, polymetallic nodules, precious stones.
Land Use:
Irrigated Land:
Natural Hazards: Icebergs are frequent in the Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, and the Northwest Atlantic from February to August, sometimes as far as Bermuda and Madeira; icing to which ship superstructures are exposed in the extreme northern regions of the Atlantic from October to May; continuous fogs, which may present a danger at sea from May to September; hurricanes (from May to December).
Current environmental issues: the danger of extinction from the face of the earth of species such as manatees, seals, sea lions, turtles and whales; fishing with drift nets, accelerating the decline of fish populations and leading to international conflicts; urban debris pollution on the east coast of the United States, the south coast of Brazil, and the east coast of Argentina; oil slicks in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Venezuela, Mediterranean and North Seas; pollution by industrial waste and urban waste of the Baltic, North and Mediterranean seas.
International agreements on environmental protection:
Note to the section “Geography”: the areas of the most intensive navigation are the Dardanelles, the Strait of Gibraltar, the approach to the Panama and Suez Canals; straits of strategic importance include the Strait of Dover, the Strait of Florida, the Straits of Mona, the Sound (Øresund), the Windward Strait; The equator divides the Atlantic Ocean into northern and southern parts. Economy
Economics
Economy Overview: The Atlantic Ocean contains some of the busiest shipping lanes between and within the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Other economic activities include natural resource exploitation such as fishing, aragonite sand dredging (Bahamas), oil and natural gas extraction (Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and North Sea). Transport
Transport
Ports and harbors: Alexandria (Egypt), Algiers (Algeria), Antwerp (Belgium), Barcelona (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Le Havre (France), Hamburg (Germany) ), Gdansk (Poland), Dakar (Senegal), Casablanca (Morocco), Colon (Panama), Copenhagen (Denmark), Las Palmas (Canary Islands, Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), London (UK), Marseille (France) ), Montreal (Canada), Montevideo (Uruguay), Naples (Italy), New Orleans (USA), New York (USA), Oran (Algeria), Oslo (Norway), Piraeus (Greece), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Rotterdam (Netherlands), St. Petersburg (Russia), Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland).
