ATLANTIC OCEAN
GEOGRAPHY
Total area: 82,217,000 km2; includes Baltic Sea, Black Sea,
Caribbean Sea, Davis Strait, Denmark Strait, Drake Passage, Gulf of
Mexico, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Weddell Sea, and
other tributary water bodies

Comparative area: slightly less than nine times the size of the US;
second-largest of the world's four oceans (after the Pacific Ocean, but
larger than Indian Ocean or Arctic Ocean)

Coastline: 111,866 km

Climate: tropical cyclones (hurricanes) develop off the coast of
Africa near Cape Verde and move westward into the Caribbean Sea;
hurricanes can occur from May to December, but are most frequent from
August to November

Terrain: surface usually covered with sea ice in Labrador Sea,
Denmark Strait, and Baltic Sea from October to June; clockwise warm
water gyre (broad, circular system of currents) in the north Atlantic,
counterclockwise warm water gyre in the south Atlantic; the ocean floor
is dominated by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a rugged north-south centerline
for the entire Atlantic basin; maximum depth is 8,605 meters in the
Puerto Rico Trench

Natural resources: oil and gas fields, fish, marine mammals (seals
and whales), sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic
nodules, precious stones

Environment: endangered marine species include the manatee, seals,
sea lions, turtles, and whales; municipal sludge pollution off eastern
US, southern Brazil, and eastern Argentina; oil pollution in Caribbean
Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Lake Maracaibo, Mediterranean Sea, and North Sea;
industrial waste and municipal sewage pollution in Baltic Sea, North Sea,
and Mediterranean Sea; icebergs common in Davis Strait, Denmark Strait,
and the northwestern Atlantic from February to August and have been
spotted as far south as Bermuda and the Madeira Islands; icebergs from
Antarctica occur in the extreme southern Atlantic

Note: ships subject to superstructure icing in extreme north
Atlantic from October to May and extreme south Atlantic from May to
October; persistent fog can be a hazard to shipping from May to
September; major choke points include the Dardanelles, Strait of
Gibraltar, access to the Panama and Suez Canals; strategic straits
include the Dover Strait, Straits of Florida, Mona Passage, The Sound
(Oresund), and Windward Passage; north Atlantic shipping lanes subject
to icebergs from February to August; the Equator divides the Atlantic
Ocean into the North Atlantic Ocean and South Atlantic Ocean

ECONOMY
Overview: Economic activity is limited to exploitation of natural
resources, especially fish, dredging aragonite sands (The Bahamas), and
crude oil and natural gas production (Caribbean Sea and North Sea).

COMMUNICATIONS
Ports: Alexandria (Egypt), Algiers (Algeria), Antwerp (Belgium),
Barcelona (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Casablanca (Morocco),
Colon (Panama), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dakar (Senegal), Gdansk (Poland),
Hamburg (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Las Palmas (Canary Islands, Spain),
Le Havre (France), Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad; USSR),
Lisbon (Portugal), London (UK), Marseille (France), Montevideo (Uruguay),
Montreal (Canada), Naples (Italy), New Orleans (US), New York (US),
Oran (Algeria), Oslo (Norway), Piraeus (Greece), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil),
Rotterdam (Netherlands), Stockholm (Sweden)

Telecommunications: numerous submarine cables with most between
continental Europe and the UK, North America and the UK, and in the
Mediterranean; numerous direct links across Atlantic via INTELSAT
satellite network

Note: Kiel Canal and Saint Lawrence Seaway are two important
waterways



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