Eastern Pacific High Sea

Along the North American side of the Pacific, open ocean stretches eastward to the American continent and westward toward Asia and Australia. The Pacific covers about 165.25 million square kilometres and holds roughly half of the world's ocean water, making this edge of the basin a gateway to an enormous maritime space. The Northeast Pacific is one of four quadrants defined by the International Date Line and the Equator.

Surface movement follows the North Pacific gyre in a generally clockwise direction. The North Equatorial Current runs west near 15°N under the trade winds; off East Asia it supports the warm Kuroshio current. Farther east, the flow turns south and helps feed the chilled California Current along North America. Near the opposite edge of the basin, winds are steadier in the south and east, while North Pacific weather is more variable.

From the early sixteenth century, European voyages tied this ocean to Atlantic and Asian routes. Balboa reached its eastern shore across Panama in 1513, and Magellan's expedition entered it in 1520. Spanish ships later crossed from Mexico and Peru to the Philippines; Manila galleons connected Acapulco and Manila through one of history's longest trade routes.