Habitat Protection: Atlantic

The Atlantic Ocean separates the Americas from western Europe and Africa and extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Antarctic in the south, forming the second largest ocean in the world after the Pacific.

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Overview

The Atlantic Ocean separates the Americas from western Europe and Africa and extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Antarctic in the south, forming the second largest ocean in the world after the Pacific.The Atlantic has an average depth of 3,900 m due to a giant plateau about 3,000 m deep which makes up most of its seabed. This plateau is linked to the large depressions at the edges of it and reaching the 8,800 m in the vicinity of Puerto Rico.

 

The most striking feature of the Atlantic seabed is a large underwater mountain chain that crosses it from north to south, called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which forms in the limit of four tectonic plates: Eurasian, North American, South American and African. The ocean floor is believed to be quite flat, generally speaking, although there are many seamounts (link) like the Gorringe (link), along with some deep pits.

Another great feature of this ocean is the Gulf Stream, an ocean current that moves a large mass of warm water from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Atlantic. This current reaches a depth of 100 m and is more than 1000 km wide  for most of its trajectory and provides Europe with a relatively warm climate given its latitude.