Discoveries after discoveries. Exploration of the Pacific Ocean. History of Pacific Ocean exploration

Average depth- 3988 m. The deepest point of the ocean (it is also the deepest point in the world) is located in the Mariana Trench and is called the Challenger Deep (11.022 m).
. Average temperature: 19-37°C. The widest part of the Pacific Ocean is located at equatorial-tropical latitudes, so surface water temperatures are significantly higher than in other oceans.
. Dimensions: area - 179.7 million sq. km, volume - 710.36 million sq. km.

To imagine how big the Pacific Ocean is, there are enough numbers: it occupies a third of our planet and makes up almost half of the World Ocean.

Salinity - 35-36 ‰.

Pacific Currents

Alaskan- washes the western coast of North America and reaches the Bering Sea. It spreads to great depths, right down to the bottom. Current speed: 0.2-0.5 m/s. Water temperature: 7-15°C.

East Australian- the largest off the Australian coast. It starts at the equator (Coral Sea) and runs along the east coast of Australia. Average speed is 2-3 knots (up to 7). Temperature - 25°C.

Kuroshio(or Japanese) - washes the southern and eastern shores of Japan, carrying warm waters South China Sea in northern latitudes. It has three branches: East Korean, Tsushima and Soya. Speed: 6 km/h, temperature 18-28°C.

North Pacific- continuation of the Kuroshio current. It crosses the ocean from west to east, and near the coast of North America it branches into the Alaskan (goes to the north) and California (to the south). Near the coast of Mexico, it turns and crosses the ocean in the opposite direction (North Trade Wind Current) - all the way to Kuroshio.

South Passatnoe- flows in southern tropical latitudes, stretches from east to west: from the shores South America(Galapagos Islands) to the coasts of Australia and New Guinea. Temperature - 32°C. Gives rise to the Australian Current.

Equatorial countercurrent (or inter-trade current)- stretches from west to east between the North Passat and South Passat currents.

Cromwell's current- a subsurface countercurrent that passes under the South Passat. Speed ​​70-150 cm/sec.

Cold:

Californian- the western branch of the North Pacific Current, flows along the western coasts of the United States and Mexico. Speed ​​- 1-2 km/h, temperature 15-26°C.

Antarctic Circumpolar (or Western Winds Current)— circles the entire globe between 40° and 50° S. Speed ​​0.4-0.9 km/h, temperature 12-15 °C. This current is often called the "Roaring Forties", as powerful storms rage here. The Peruvian Current branches off from it in the Pacific Ocean.

Peruvian Current (or Humboldt Current)- flows from south to north from the coast of Antarctica along the western coast of Chile and Peru. Speed ​​0.9 km/h, temperature 15-20 °C.

Underwater world of the Pacific Ocean

The flora and fauna of the underwater world in the Pacific Ocean is the richest and most diverse. Almost 50% of all living organisms in the World Ocean live here. The most densely populated area is considered to be the area near the Great Balier Reef.

All Live nature ocean is located according to climatic zones- in the north and south it is scarcer than in the tropics, but the total number of each species of animal or plant is greater here.

The Pacific Ocean produces more than half of the world's seafood catch. Of the commercial species, the most popular are salmon (95% of the world catch), mackerel, anchovies, sardines, horse mackerel, and halibut. There is limited whale fishing: baleen whales and sperm whales.

The richness of the underwater world is eloquently demonstrated by the following figures:

• more than 850 species of algae;
• more than 100 thousand species of animals (of which over 3800 species of fish);
• about 200 species of animals living at a depth of more than 7 thousand km;
• more than 6 thousand species of mollusks.

The Pacific Ocean is home to the largest number of endemics (animals that are found only here): dugongs, fur seals, sea otters, sea lions, sea cucumbers, polychaetes, leopard sharks.

The nature of the Pacific Ocean has only been studied about 10 percent. Every year scientists discover more and more new species of animals and plants. For example, in 2005 alone, more than 2,500 new species of mollusks and more than 100 species of crustaceans were discovered.

Pacific exploration

According to scientific research, the Pacific Ocean is the oldest on the planet. Its formation began in the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic, that is, more than 140 million years ago. The exploration of the ocean began long before the advent of writing. People who lived on the shores of the greatest water area have been using the gifts of the ocean for thousands of years ago. Thus, Thor Heyerdahl's expedition on the Kon-Tiki balsa raft confirmed the scientist's theory that the islands of Polynesia could have been populated by people from South America who were able to cross the Pacific Ocean on the same rafts.

For Europeans, the history of ocean exploration is officially dated from September 15, 1513. On this day, traveler Vasco Nunez de Balboa first saw the expanse of water stretching to the horizon, and dubbed it the South Sea.

According to legend, the ocean received its name from F. Magellan himself. During his trip around the world, the great Portuguese for the first time circled South America and ended up in the ocean. Having sailed along it for more than 17 thousand kilometers and without experiencing a single storm during all this time, Magellan christened the ocean the Pacific. It was only later research that proved him wrong. The Pacific Ocean is actually one of the most turbulent oceans. It is here that the largest tsunamis occur, and typhoons, hurricanes and storms occur here more often than in other oceans.

From then on, active exploration of the largest ocean on the planet began. We list only the most significant discoveries:

1589 - A. Ortelius publishes the world's first detailed map of the ocean.

1642-1644 - the ocean conquers A. Tasman and opens a new continent - Australia.

1769-1779 - three voyages around the world by D. Cook and exploration of the southern part of the ocean.

1785 - voyage of J. La Perouse, exploration of the southern and northern parts of the ocean. The mysterious disappearance of the expedition in 1788 still haunts the minds of researchers.

1787-1794 - the journey of A. Malaspina, who compiled detailed map west coast of America.

1725-1741 - two Kamchatka expeditions led by V.I. Bering and A. Chirikov, study of the northern and northwestern parts of the ocean.

1819-1821 - trip around the world by F. Bellingshausen and M. Lazarev, discovery of Antarctica and islands in the southern part of the ocean.

1872-1876 - the world's first scientific expedition to study the Pacific Ocean was organized on the corvette Challenger (England). Maps of depths and bottom relief were compiled, and a collection of ocean flora and fauna was collected.

1949-1979 - 65 scientific voyages of the ship "Vityaz" under the flag of the USSR Academy of Sciences (measuring the depth of the Mariana Trench and detailed maps of the underwater relief).

1960 - first dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

1973 - creation of the Pacific Oceanological Institute (Vladivostok)

Since the 90s of the twentieth century, a comprehensive study of the Pacific Ocean has begun, which combines and systematizes all the data obtained. Currently, the priority areas are geophysics, geochemistry, geology and commercial use of the ocean floor.

Since the discovery of the Challenger Deep in 1875, only three people have descended to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench. The last dive took place on March 12, 2012. And the brave diver was none other than the famous film director James Cameron.

Many representatives of the fauna of the Pacific Ocean are characterized by gigantism: giant mussels and oysters, the tridacna clam (300 kg).

There are over 25 thousand islands in the Pacific Ocean, more than in all other oceans combined. Here is also the oldest island on the planet - Kauai, whose age is estimated at 6 million years.

More than 80% of tsunamis are “born” in the Pacific Ocean. The reason for this is the large number of underwater volcanoes.

The Pacific Ocean is full of secrets. There are many mystical places here: the Devil's Sea (near Japan), where ships and planes disappear; the bloodthirsty island of Palmyra, where everyone who remains there perishes; Easter Island with its mysterious idols; Truk Lagoon, where the largest military equipment cemetery is located. And in 2011, a sign island was discovered near Australia - Sandy Island. It appears and disappears, as evidenced by numerous expeditions and Google satellite photos.

The so-called Garbage Continent was discovered in the north of the ocean. This is a large garbage heap containing over 100 million tons of plastic waste.

10.02.2016

The Pacific Ocean is part ancient ocean Panthalassa, which split into parts after the collapse and subsequent movement in different directions of parts of the Pangea supercontinent about 150 million years ago.

The coasts of North and South America, Asia and numerous islands have been inhabited by various peoples since ancient times, so exploration of the Pacific Ocean occurred long before written evidence about it appeared. Thus, it is known that the Bismarck Archipelago (a group of islands in Melanesia) was inhabited about 30-35 thousand years ago. Presumably, the ancient Lapita people originated from there.

Archaeologists have discovered traces of the existence of the Lapita people on many islands of Polynesia and Micronesia and in Hawaii. Without writing and, obviously, possessing primitive knowledge of navigation, representatives of the most ancient peoples, nevertheless, were able to colonize land in different parts of the ocean, using simple rafts, junks and catamarans. The fact that it is possible to cross the Pacific Ocean on the simplest ships has been confirmed experimentally.

In 1947, the expedition of the Norwegian archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl traveled on balsa wood rafts from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands. Several centuries before the beginning of our era, the ancient Chinese civilization reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean, spreading along the Yellow River. Sailing along the marginal seas, the Chinese discovered, in particular, the modern Japanese islands and the Korean Peninsula.

In the IV-VII centuries AD there already existed sea ​​route from China to India. It is known that merchant ships visited the Philippines and the islands of Micronesia. First detailed descriptions Chinese travels across the Pacific Ocean began in the 15th century, when the Ming Dynasty Emperor sent seven naval expeditions under the leadership of Zheng He.

In the 16th century, Europeans also reached the Pacific Ocean. More precisely, they could have been here before, but it was the voyage of the Portuguese Di Abreu and Serran in 1512 that was officially documented: in search of precious spices, they sailed from the Malacca Peninsula to the island of Ambon in the Moluccas archipelago. Just a year later, in 1513, the Spaniard Nunez de Balboa reached the eastern coast of the ocean, passing through the Isthmus of Panama.

Ferdinand Magellan's voyage across the Pacific Ocean in 1520 is known not only for his geographical discoveries, but also for the fact that during the 3-month journey his ship sailed from Tierra del Fuego to the Philippines and never encountered a storm. It was then that the ocean received the name “Pacific” from Magellan, which still exists today. In 1589, summarizing the data of various navigators, the Flemish cartographer Ortelius published the first detailed map of the Pacific Ocean.

In the 17th-18th centuries, the development of the Pacific Ocean by Europeans was very active. The Dutchman Tasman, as a result of his voyages, proved that Australia is a separate continent, discovered New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji. The Englishman James Cook, during his expeditions around the world, explored these islands and put them on maps, and also established contacts with the natives.

The Italian Malaspina studied and mapped the entire western coast of both Americas. French explorers also traveled to the Pacific islands, exploring opportunities for trade, hunting, and colonization of the land. The main explorers of the northern part of the ocean were Russian travelers: Dezhnev, Bering, Chirikov.

In the South Pacific, the greatest success of Russian navigators was the discovery of Antarctica by Bellingshausen and Lazarev in 1819-1821. In the 19th century during round the world expedition Ivan Krusenstern and Yuri Lisyansky, and later Otto Kotzebue, not only explored the “white spots” on the world map, but also carried out oceanographic work: they measured depths, pressure, temperature, and salinity of water.

In the 20th century, British, German, Soviet and American scientists and navigators made a huge contribution to the study of the Pacific Ocean. Since the ocean is a zone of economic, political and scientific interests of many countries around the world, various international activities are currently being carried out to explore it.

The first information about the Pacific Ocean was collected by the peoples who inhabited its shores. The ancient Chinese, several centuries BC, sailed the seas adjacent to their country and had an idea of ​​​​the open waters of the ocean.

The Polynesians sailed between the numerous islands of Oceania. They were wonderful sailors. The directions they needed were suggested by the starry sky, constant winds and currents, which they studied perfectly. Unlike the Greeks, who did not dare to move away from the shores, the Polynesians traveled to the vast expanses of the largest of the Earth's oceans.

Information about the oceans of the world reached Europe only during the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. Its discovery is associated with the name of the conquistador Vasco Iunez de Balboa. In 1510, he enlisted in an expedition that set off from Hispaniola to help the San Sebastian fortress founded by A. Ojeda (in the territory of modern Colombia). In search of gold, Balboa began several trips to the lands of Indian caciques (leaders). At the same time, any attempts at resistance from the outside local residents were brutally suppressed.

After some time, having recruited volunteers in the colony, Balboa sent a message to the Spanish king about a new expedition. At court, this idea was supported and funds were allocated, but Pedro Arias Davila was put in charge of the expedition. He was a wealthy nobleman, managed to show himself during the Reconquista and had influential patrons. He disliked Balboa for his independence and talent.

An expedition of two thousand soldiers and sailors left Spain in April 1514. But Balboa set out on a campaign without waiting for reinforcements. In his detachment there were only 190 Spaniards and several hundred Indian porters from friendly tribes. Their path ran through mountain ranges, forest wilds, and sometimes bogs. And yet, the Spaniards crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached the Pacific Ocean, which Vasco Nunez called the South Sea. On its shores, the conquistador read out the traditional royal charter, which begins with the words: “Taking possession for the Spanish crown of these seas, shores, harbors with everything that is located in them...”

The “South Sea” became the Pacific Ocean thanks to the outstanding Port Tuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan. He prepared a plan for a large expedition to search for a western route to Asia and proposed it to the Spanish king Charles I. Members of the royal council liked Magellan's statement that the Moluccas, according to the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, should belong to Spain and that the shortest route to them was through the strait in existence which Magellan was quite sure of. The only source of his confidence were maps on which the passage to the “South Sea” was plotted without any basis and much further to the north than it actually was. There were many similar maps at that time, which depicted non-existent straits and islands, mountains and rivers.

However, an agreement was nevertheless concluded, according to which the Spaniards equipped five ships and provided the expedition with food for two years.

On September 20, 1519, the Spanish flotilla, led by a Portuguese navigator, set off on a long, dangerous journey. At the end of December she reached La Plata Bay. For several weeks, travelers explored it in search of a passage to the South Sea, but everything was useless.

When the expedition began wintering in a convenient bay located on the east coast of South America, three ships mutinied. Some of the officers demanded that all decisions on further voyage be agreed upon with them. They believed that it was necessary to return the caravels and go to the “Spicy Islands” by the eastern route - around Africa. With decisive and deliberate actions, Magellan was able to suppress the rebellion. He ordered one of the conspirators to be quartered, the other two were put ashore, the rest were pardoned.

After wintering, the persistent search for a passage continued. Once again the statement was confirmed that faith is more valuable than knowledge. In October 1520, the expedition entered the long, 575-kilometer Strait (later called the Strait of Magellan). Sailing through its labyrinths, the sailors at night saw land in the south with the lights of fires. Magellan gave it the appropriate name - Land of Fires (Terra del Fuego).

After more than a month of wandering, the expedition found itself in the largest of the planet's oceans. The ocean waters greeted the travelers favorably: there were no storms during the voyage, and Magellan called the open ocean the Pacific.

Despite the calmness of the oceanic spaces, the journey became an ordeal. The flotilla covered almost 17 thousand km, but discovered only two deserted islands, now called San Pablo and Shark Island. Supplies ran out and sailors were dying of scurvy. A member of the expedition and its chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, wrote: “We ate crackers, but they were no longer crackers, but cracker dust mixed with worms... It stinks very much of rat urine. We have been drinking rotten yellow water for many days. We also used cowhide, which covered the mainmast... We soaked it in sea ​​water for four to five days, after which they were placed on hot coals for a few minutes and eaten. We ate sawdust. The rats were sold for a pivducat each, but even for that price it was impossible to get them.”

Finally, at the beginning of March 1521, two inhabited islands from the Mariana group appeared on the horizon. Magellan called them Thieves because the inhabitants stole a lot of things from the sailors. A skirmish occurred during which the natives lost seven and the Spaniards had a stolen boat. Having captured only a few supplies, the sailors again weighed anchor and went to sea. After some time, the travelers approached the flowering island of Samar from the Philippine Islands group. The local natives turned out to be hospitable. The sailors received plenty of food and fresh water. Trade began. Magellan and the local leader exchanged visits. Magellan persistently began to spread Christianity among the inhabitants of the island. Soon the ships moved on.

The fleet was approaching the island of Cebu. Magellan understood that his journey was coming to an end. Establishing contact with the already discovered lands of the Old World was only a matter of time.

One native who came from him already understood the language of Magellan’s servant, whom he had taken from Malacca.

While the ships were anchored off the island of Cebu, civil strife began between the ruler of this island and the leader of the tribe on the island of Mactan. Magellan felt he had to support his new friends and entered the war. He took forty crew members with him and set off for Mactan on several large boats. But there were so many natives that the Spanish detachment was thrown back to the shore and was forced to escape by running to the boats. The sailors from Magellan's boat covered the retreat of the others. Twice the commander's helmet was knocked off his head, but he returned it again and continued to shoot. Magellan was wounded in the leg, a poisoned arrow hit him in the face, and he, already waist-deep in water, did not stop fighting. But at that moment, when he looked back to make sure that all the people were safely in the boats, the blow of a wooden sword knocked him down. The ranks of the natives closed over the great navigator.

Two ships reached the Moluccas, but only one was able to continue the journey to Spain with a cargo of spices; it had the eloquent name “Victoria”. The crew of this ship, led by Captain Juan El Cano, sailed around Africa and reached the shores of Spain on September 6, 1522. Eighteen sailors remained on board the ship and were greeted as heroes.

The scientific result of the expedition was enormous: the sailors set off in a western direction and returned from the east, which indisputably proved that the Earth has a spherical shape, and the World Ocean is a single whole. The ideas that had prevailed since ancient times about the predominance of land area over oceanic spaces were refuted.

After F. Magellan discovered Tierra del Fuego, sailors decided to find out how far to the south it extends. Then they did not know that this was a relatively small archipelago, and assumed that Tierra del Fuego was part of a huge continent - the same one that is depicted on the map of the outstanding scientist Q. Ptolemy. As is known, in his work “Geography” he outlined a complete set of geographical information the ancient world. In the south of the globe, the ancient scientist located an unknown continent, “balancing” the land masses of the Northern Hemisphere. C. Ptolemy called it “The Unknown Southern Land” (Terra australis incognita).

The hypothesis of a symmetrical structure of the earth's surface, although it did not receive universal recognition, still played a certain role in the revival of the ancient theory. Interest in it was fueled by the fact that Europeans hoped to find the coveted gold and spices in the “Unknown Southern Land”.

At first it especially attracted the sailors of Spain. After the conquest of Peru, they often traveled from the Pacific coast of the country to the west, to the Philippine Islands. Confidence in the existence of the mainland was further strengthened after one of the Spanish navigators, Alvaro Neira, where Mendaña left Callao (the coast of Peru) in 1567 and discovered an entire archipelago east of New Guinea. The navigator mistook one of its high volcanic islands, covered with dense equatorial vegetation, for the legendary Southern continent.

The traveler compared the open lands with the legendary country of Ophir, from which the biblical king Solomon received gold. Despite the fact that this valuable metal was not found on the islands, Mendaña named them Solomon. The navigator returned to Peru, and then, with the support of Madrid, equipped a flotilla to transport five hundred settlers to the islands he had discovered. Here he lived for twenty long years, trying to improve the life of the colony. During this time, no Europeans visited the archipelago, so Mendaña hoped to reach the “Unknown Southern Land” on his own.

Although Mendaña's colonial abilities turned out to be mediocre, the government entrusted him with command of a new expedition in 1595. However, he was met with disappointment, which is typical for many travelers who set out in search of Terra australis incognita. Mendaña was able to discover four islands in the Marquesas group and the island of Santa Cruz (Holy Cross). The Marquesas Islands are one of the most important archipelagos in Polynesia, that part of Oceania where Europeans have not yet penetrated to Mendaña. The navigator gave them the name in honor of the wife of the Viceroy of Peru - the Marchioness of Cañete.

The islands seemed like an earthly paradise to the Spaniards. Mountainous, covered with dense forests, they, unlike Solomon Islands, stood out for their mild nature and healthy climate. There was plenty of fresh water everywhere. On Santa Cristina, where the expedition's temporary base was located, villages with wooden houses, covered with reeds.

However, after the murder of one of the local leaders, a war began. Then there was a mutiny of soldiers. These bad weathers undermined Meng-dan's health, and in 1595 he died. His wife, chief helmsman Pedro Quiros and part of the crew managed to reach the main Spanish base in the area - Manila (Philippines). Only two years later, Quiros found himself in Lima with the sad news of the death of Mendaña and more than two hundred members of the expedition.

Mendaña's voyage took place near territories that, according to the Treaty of Tordesillas, were included in the zone of influence of Portugal. At that time, an entire colonial empire had already arisen in this small European country, stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Strait of Malacca. The Portuguese Viceroy of India, located in Goa (the coast of India), was subordinate to five governors who ruled Mozambique, Hormuz, Muscat, Ceylon and Malacca.

Having such a huge territory under its control, the Port Tugals were of little concern about the “Unknown Southern Land”. Lack of human and financial resources has hampered further exploration of the areas. The Portuguese needed to establish governance in the already captured lands. Some discoveries were even kept secret, so to speak, until better times. However, this was also typical for the Spaniards, and then for the Dutch. Thus, maps of the Solomon Islands were securely hidden by the Spaniards in secret archives.

In 1605, a new expedition set out from Peru on three ships to search for the “Unknown Southern Land.” It was led by Pedro Quiros, who was the chief helmsman of the second Mendaña expedition.

Quiros immediately displeased the teams by throwing all the dice overboard and reading out an order in which the soldiers and sailors were ordered not to drink wine, not to swear, and not to oppress, offend or rob the natives in any way in case of landing on any land. Maybe it’s thanks to this that during the long voyage to southern seas The Quiros expedition did not lose a single person. This is an unprecedented case in the history of Spanish sea voyages.