Geography Stats: compare key data on Pacific Ocean & United States

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STAT	Pacific Ocean	United States	HISTORY
Area > A note	includes Bali Sea, Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Coral Sea, East <a href=/country/ch><a href=/country/ch>China</a></a> Sea, Flores Sea, Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of Tonkin, <a href=/encyclopedia/Java-programming-language><a href=/encyclopedia/Java-programming-language>Java</a></a> Sea, <a href=/encyclopedia/Philippines>Philippine</a> Sea, Savu Sea, Sea of <a href=/country/ja>Japan</a>, Sea of Okhotsk, <a href=/kp/South>South</a> <a href=/country/ch><a href=/country/ch>China</a></a> Sea, Tasman Sea, Timor Sea, and other tributary <a href=/kp/water>water</a> bodies	includes only the 50 states and <a href=/encyclopedia/Washington,-DC><a href=/encyclopedia/Washington,-DC>District of Columbia</a></a>
Area > Comparative	about 15 times the size of the US; covers about 28% of the global surface; larger than the total land area of the world	about half the size of Russia; about three-tenths the size of Africa; about half the size of South America (or slightly larger than Brazil); slightly larger than China; more than twice the size of the European Union
Area > Comparative to US places	about 15 times the size of the US; covers about 28% of the global surface; larger than the total land area of the world	about half the size of Russia; about three-tenths the size of Africa; about half the size of South America (or slightly larger than Brazil); slightly larger than China; more than twice the size of the European Union
Area > Note	includes Bali Sea, Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Coral Sea, East China Sea, Gulf of Alaska, Gulf of Tonkin, Philippine Sea, Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, South China Sea, Tasman Sea, and other tributary water bodies	includes only the 50 states and District of Columbia
Area > Total	155.56 million sq km Ranked 1st. 16 times more than United States	9.83 million sq km Ranked 4th.
Climate	planetary air pressure systems and resultant wind patterns exhibit remarkable uniformity in the south and east; trade winds and westerly winds are well-developed patterns, modified by seasonal fluctuations; tropical cyclones (hurricanes) may form south of Mexico from June to October and affect Mexico and Central America; continental influences cause climatic uniformity to be much less pronounced in the eastern and western regions at the same latitude in the North Pacific Ocean; 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 landmass back to the ocean; tropical cyclones (typhoons) may strike southeast and east Asia from May to December	mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
Coastline	135,663 km Ranked 2nd. 7 times more than United States	19,924 km Ranked 9th.
Elevation extremes > Highest point	sea level 0 m	Mount McKinley (Denali) 6,194 m (highest point in North America)
Geographic coordinates	0 00 N, 160 00 W	38 00 N, 97 00 W
Note	the major chokepoints are the Bering Strait, Panama Canal, Luzon Strait, and the Singapore Strait; the Equator divides the Pacific Ocean into the North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean; dotted with low coral islands and rugged volcanic islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean	world's third-largest country by size (after Russia and Canada) and by population (after China and India); Mt. McKinley is highest point in North America and Death Valley the lowest point on the continent
Location	body of water between the Southern Ocean, Asia, Australia, and the Western Hemisphere	North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico
Map references	Other	North America
Natural hazards	surrounded by a zone of violent volcanic and earthquake activity sometimes referred to as the "Pacific Ring of Fire"; 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); cyclical El Nino/La Nina phenomenon occurs in the equatorial Pacific, influencing weather in the Western Hemisphere and the western Pacific; ships subject to superstructure icing in extreme north from October to May; persistent fog in the northern Pacific can be a maritime hazard from June to December	tsunamis; volcanoes; earthquake activity around Pacific Basin; hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts; tornadoes in the Midwest and Southeast; mud slides in California; forest fires in the west; flooding; permafrost in northern Alaska, a major impediment to development
Natural resources	oil and gas fields, polymetallic nodules, sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, fish	coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, rare earth elements, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber
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 Mariana Trench, which is the world's deepest	vast central plain, mountains in west, hills and low mountains in east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska; rugged, volcanic topography in Hawaii

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