The average depth of the world's oceans is about 2.65 miles (about 4.3 km), and more than half the ocean is more than 1.85 miles (about 3 km) deep. The Pacific Ocean has a slightly deeper average depth than the Atlantic Ocean, with an average depth of about 2.6 miles (about 4.2 km), compared with the Atlantic's average depth of 2.05 miles (about 3.3 km).
More facts about oceans:
- The shallowest ocean is the Arctic Ocean, with an average depth of about 0.65 miles (about 1 km). The Southern Ocean — also known as the Antarctic Ocean — is thought to be the deepest ocean, with an average depth of 2.5 to 3.1 miles (about 4 to 5 km), followed by the Pacific Ocean and then the Indian Ocean, where the average depth is about 2.36 miles (about 3.8 km).
- The deepest part of the ocean is the Challenger Deep, which is in the Pacific Ocean and is about 6.8 miles (about 11 km) deep. Part of an area called the Mariana Trench, it is more than 1 mile (1.61 km) deeper than Mount Everest is tall.
- There are five main divisions of the ocean, and they cover more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface.
