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- The oceans occupy nearly 71% of our planet's surface
- More than 97% of all our planet's water is contained in the ocean
- The top ten feet of the ocean hold as much heat as our entire atmosphere
- The average depth of the ocean is more than 2.5 miles
- The oceans provide 99 percent of the Earth's living space- the largest space in our universe known to be inhabited by living organisms
- More than 3.5 billion people depend on the ocean for their primary source of food. In 20 years, this number could double to 7 billion.
- Mount Everest (the highest point on the Earth's surface 5.49 miles) is more than 1 mile shorter than the Challenger Deep (the deepest point in the ocean at 6.86 miles)
- The longest continuous mountain chain known to exist in the Universe resides in the ocean at more than 40,000 miles long
- The Antarctic ice sheet that forms and melts over the ocean each year is nearly twice the size of the United States
- The average temperature of the oceans is 2ºC, about 39ºF
- Water pressure at the deepest point in the ocean is more than 8 tons per square inch, the equivalent of one person trying to hold 50 jumbo jets.
- The worlds oceans contain nearly 20 million tons of gold
- The blue whale, the largest animal on our planet ever (exceeding the size of the greatest dinosaurs) still lives in the ocean; it's heart is the size of a Volkswagen
- Fish supply the greatest percentage of the world's protein consumed by humans
- Plastic waste kills up to 1 million sea birds, 100,000 sea mammals and countless fish each year. Plastic remains in our ecosystem for years harming thousands of sea creatures everyday.
- Less than one half a per cent of marine habitats are protected -- compared with 11.5 per cent of global land area.
- The High Seas -- areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction -- cover almost 50 per cent of the Earth's surface. They are the least protected part of the world.
