Atlantic Ocean Geography

The Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. In the north and northeast, it is separated from the Arctic Ocean by the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Greenland, Iceland, Jan Mayen, Svalbard, and mainland Europe. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, and Barents Sea. To the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar (where it connects with the Mediterranean Sea, one of its marginal seas, and, in turn, the Black Sea), and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the border being defined by the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica. While some authorities show the Atlantic Ocean extending south to Antarctica, others show it as bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean. In the southwest, the Drake Passage connects it to the Pacific Ocean. A man-made link between the Atlantic and Pacific is provided by the Panama Canal. Beside those mentioned, other large bodies of water adjacent to the Atlantic are the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, Hudson Bay, the Arctic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Celtic Sea.

Covering approximately 22% of Earth's surface, the Atlantic Ocean is second only to the Pacific Ocean in size. With its adjacent seas it occupies an area of about 106,400,000 square kilometers (41,100,000 sq mi); without them, it has an area of 82,400,000 square kilometres (31,800,000 sq mi). The land area that drains into the Atlantic is four times that of either the Pacific or Indian oceans. The volume of the Atlantic Ocean with its adjacent seas is 354,700,000 cubic kilometers (85,100,000 cu mi) and without them 323,600,000 cubic kilometres (77,640,000 cu mi).

The average depths of the Atlantic, with its adjacent seas, is 3,339 meters (10,936 ft); without them it is 3,926 metres (12,881 ft). The greatest depth, 8,605 metres (28,232 ft), is in the Puerto Rico Trench. The width of the Atlantic varies from 2,848 kilometers (1,770 mi) between Brazil and Sierra Leone to over 6,400 km (4,000 mi) in the south.